Climbing & Pregnancy

Hey everyone.

My girlfriend is 13-week pregnant and after necessary big break during first quarter, we would like to keep on climbing while possible :) We're expecting a little girl for December!

Does anyone have recommendations and personal experiences to share? At what stage is recommended to use maternity harness? Is there any good article about it?

Thanks,

Alipio.

Alipio Loyola wrote:

Hey everyone.

My girlfriend is 13-week pregnant and after necessary big break during first quarter, we would like to keep on climbing while possible :) We're expecting a little girl for December!

Does anyone have recommendations and personal experiences to share? At what stage is recommended to use maternity harness? Is there any good article about it?

Thanks,

Alipio.

For pregnancy/full body harness, it seems most use one, but some people prefer just a larger harness. More of a comfort thing it seems than a medical need.

My wife was leading easy multi-pitch until she was showing basically. Lots of TR heroing/following after that. In Reno the vibe with a lot of preggos was do what you are comfy with until it isn’t comfy anymore. You don’t see a tons of bouldering bumps, but not 0.

best of luck! Enjoy ropes while they are still easy, then embrace outdoor bouldering or find a really awesome third wheel.

Hi Alipio,

I wish that I had had a pregnancy harness when I was pregnant. I used a mish-mash of bigger harnesses and extra webbing to extend them, but I think a dedicated pregnancy harness would have been more comfortable and probably safer.

A couple of other things to keep in mind: pregnancy changed my brain’s risk assessment calculator. I went from being comfortable leading at my limit to following and top roping easier routes. It’s like a switch in my brain got flipped and leading was suddenly very stressful. Once I was no longer pregnant and the hormones abated, so did the fear.

The flood of hormones also affected my joints, specifically the hormone “Relaxin.” I would pull down on a hold and feel my wrist or elbow or shoulder start to separate. Later in my pregnancy, even picking up a backpack or a bag of groceries would often do this. I basically quit climbing at about 5-6 months to protect my joints.

These are just my personal experiences and everyone is different, so your girlfriend might not have these issues. Recently two of my acquaintances in our local climbing gym were pregnant and they each climbed until literally their last few days of pregnancy!

Best wishes to you and your girlfriend!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

My doctor told me not to try new sports, but that it was ok to continue any sports I already knew. I used a pregnancy harness once my main harness no longer fit easily around 5 ish months, and I mostly top roped as the bulge got bigger. Overhangs were too much, but otherwise I just enjoyed the movement of climbing until well into my 8th month. Pregnancy is nothing to be scared of as long as you listen to your body and recognize that everyone’s body is different. It’s not a competition, you do you and let the next person do something different if that feels better to them. I enjoyed visualizing my baby climbing with me, and I liked visualizing my breaths giving them energy as I climbed. I have two outdoorsy teens so it must have worked!

there are lots of threads on this topic so use the search for more opinions.