I’m a single mom of a little one. When I have the surgery my son will be 2. He likes to snuggle up next me. I know I won’t be able to pick him up and I have family willing to help me but for how long before I start feeling better? Just trying to plan ahead. Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to make this the easiest on my kiddo.

My surgeon wouldn't let me pick up anything weighing more than 10 pounds for the first three weeks, and then he said to "work my way up" after that, but no restrictions. I'm guessing you will have similar restrictions, depending on your surgeon.

Just let him know mommy has "boo-boos" (or whatever you use to explain a hurt spot) and he needs to be gentle. He should be able to snuggle up next to you fairly quickly, but wiggling around might cause discomfort.

In the gastric sleeve general discussion there is a thread that's rate your recovery. Most people had a really easy recovery, and not much pain at all. The key is to keep active and walking around, which with a little one you won't have a problem with. If it was me, I would get a little help maybe the first couple days. I'm 11 weeks out and I have teenagers so I was lucky to have them on school vacation to "help" me. Make sure to ask your surgeon if you'll have a drain so he won't yank on it or worse, my kids just thought mine was gross but from what I've seen a lot of people didn't have one. The recovery i suppose is just different for everyone, some people don't have pain just gas, some people are just uncomfortable and some people feel nauseous and some feel awesome.

Thank you. Yes my family said they’ll help where they can. I’m moving my son to a toddler bed so I won’t be picking him up. I’ve also been exercising and trying to change my eating ahead of time. I’ll look for that discussion thread too.