How to have a fitness routine with a baby

07/18/2017

Written by: Sophia Nguyen

It’s absolutely astonishing just how much time a new baby can take up! Although it only drinks, sleeps and cries, taking care of a newborn is a full-time job, one that usually falls on the mother. For the exhausted new mother, everything else takes a back seat to looking after her precious bundle of joy. In taking care of the baby and other pressing household chores, all that the mother has times for are probably a few morsels of food and some much-needed sleep.

However, in this busy schedule, the time for exercising is pushed way back into the background. This is definitely a bad decision that most moms make since they are so pressed for time, because the minimum amount of postpartum exercise is crucial for moms to get back to their original health. Whether you have had a vaginal delivery or a C-section, the more you can find the time to exercise as a new mother, the quicker you will be able to feel like yourself.

Even later, when the baby is a little older and wiser, it is important that moms keep up with their fitness routines despite the busy schedule they have taking care of their children.

Make Time with the Baby

For most new moms, leaving the baby with someone for even an hour to go for a workout is not really an option. In such cases, it is important that you create a fitness routine with the baby in it. Unless you are very serious about working out and require a few hours at a time to maintain your health, most simple workouts can be designed around your baby throughout the day.

• Get a Jogging Stroller

Invest in a jogging stroller. These specially built strollers are made for moms on the go, and are steady enough for you to jog along with them. Even if you are fast, you won’t have to worry about the stroller losing balance or topping over, because they were made for this purpose specially. With the right jogging stroller to keep your child comfortable, you can carry on with your running and not have to look for a reliable babysitter at any time of the day.

• Dance with your Baby

Dancing is not just a great exercise, but a fun one too, more so when you can involve your baby in it. If your baby is old enough, they can participate in the performance with you, but if they are too young for random movements and sudden jerks, they can be in the audience as you put on a show. With your baby watching safely from a bouncy chair or a baby seat, you can dance to your heart’s content until you are sweating as in a real workout. It’s not just you who’s going to enjoy your dancing sessions; your baby is going to love seeing you move to a funky score.

• Invest in a Home Exercise Equipment

If you are serious about getting back to shape quickly and willing to spend for it, invest in a good exercise machine, i.e. a treadmill or an elliptical machine, or a stationary bicycle. This is something even your partner or any other adult member of the house can use, not just you. Make sure that you get a machine that is silent, so that you can use it when the baby is asleep or playing on its own.

With home exercise equipment, you can sneak in 30-minute workout sessions anytime you want, without having to look for someone to take care of your baby or to find a gym that has babysitting services. If you don’t have the budget to spend in a hi-tech machine at the moment, you can just get smaller and less complicated equipment that is just as effective, such as a pull-up bar, kettle bells and dumb bells, or even a skipping rope.

• Do Plies and Lunges

Not just for losing weight, plies and lunges are great to tone your body after giving birth. More importantly, these are simple exercises that you can do safely while holding your baby in your arms. Baby plies are great for toning your hips and thighs, while lunges will strengthen your calf muscles and your abdomen. With regular plies and lunges, you will also be able to tone your hamstrings, quadriceps and buttocks.

Finding time to do anything with a new baby is hard; making time for a few workout sessions is almost impossible. But if you can involve your baby in these exercise sessions, you won’t need to feel guilty about having to spend time away from them. Creating a fitness routine around your time with your baby could be the brilliant idea you had been looking for in your journey getting back to shape.

~ Sophia Nguyen is the founder of “Healthy Baby Happy Earth” website. She is a blogger, and she loves writing about babies and helping the parents by providing only the most useful information.