Baby carrier exercises

This week I thought I would share some ideas for exercising while carrying a baby.

We don't have a double buggy and so for the last four months I have been pushing the toddler and carrying the baby.  That alone is pretty good exercise if I keep up a decent pace, but twice a week I try to do an all round workout with other mums in a local park.  The biggest challenge in these park sessions is keeping the baby settled during our session.  

Usually she falls asleep in the baby carrier on the way to the park.  When we arrive I get the toddler out of the buggy, lie the seat down and try to transfer the baby from the carrier into the buggy without waking her.  Every time I fail!  She is grumpy about her rude awakening and doesn't easily settle and I flit between trying to exercise and trying to calm her.

To avoid this difficult situation I adapt some of the exercises and do them while still carrying her.  Here are my suggestions for a baby carrier workout:

• Warm-up by power walking (never run with your baby in a carrier as their little heads are not supported and will shake about).  I stick to power walking while pushing the buggy for cardio work too.   
• I find that the baby carrier reminds to keep my back straight and hold my tummy in when doing squats and lunges.    
• Lots of floor work you can do against a park bench, including press-ups, an adapted plank and supported leg rotations.  You can also do tricep dips against a bench. 
• I find upper body stretches a bit harder to do but try to stretch out as best I can.  Standing tall with arms above my head helps me to stretch out my back from the ache of carrying the baby.
• The baby carrier and the buggy can be good aids for remembering your posture, and therefore strengthening your core.  The buggy is also a good prop for balancing exercises when the baby carrier alters your centre of gravity.

The extra weight can make a workout that much tougher, so don't be too ambitious!  If anyone else does baby carrier workouts I would love to know how you get on and what exercises you do. 

    

Balancing

One of the exercises that we do in the park is a three-way balance: standing on one leg with the other leg and arms outstretched and, if possible, closing your eyes and trying to stay upright.  The balance improves core stability.  My balance has never been very good, I find it difficult to stand on two feet with my eyes closed!  When we do this balance I don't close my eyes but I keep practising with my eyes open and one day I will close them.  I will probably topple very quickly but I'm sure that in time I will be able to manage a few seconds.


Being a mother of two children is also a balancing act.  I try to balance the attention that I give them, make sure I am handing out cuddles to the older one as well as the baby, have time with each child on their own and with them together.  The girls themselves are like weights on a set of scales as I assess at each moment who wants or needs me more, is it the toddler upset with teething pain or the baby crying for a cuddle?  Should I put the toddler down for a nap and close the door on the fussing baby for a few minutes or try to settle the baby first and hope I can do it quickly before the toddler changes her mind about sleeping?


I hope I will soon have enough confidence in standing on one leg to have the courage to close my eyes and see what happens.  I'm also practising the parental balancing act but this exercise will never be perfected, I will just have to keep my eyes open to   the ever-changing needs of each member of my family and hope that I develop the confidence to trust that I will make the right decisions about their care and well-being.       

Five weeks postpartum

I do have a forearm by the way, it's just pulling
my top back to give you the full belly effect! 

I’m out of my maternity jeans... but I'm not into my regular jeans.  At least I don't think I am, I haven't actually tried to get them on and am wearing the stretch jeans that I wore in the early months of pregnancy.

I've lost 11cm from my waist since the birth and my belly looks more like a muffin top now.  It's still too early to do any abs work, so I'm concentrating on my core strength and pelvic floor and generally just trying to keep moving.  I'm happy with how it's all going.

    

A wet workout

I had a lazy weekend and didn't leave the flat for two days.  I also ate the last of the Easter chocolate and a takeaway curry, so on Monday I really wanted to get out and move about.


Monday morning was a bit windy and rainy but me and the little one wrapped up and walked to the park for my first outdoor Ready Steady Mums session.  The session was led by a lovely volunteer and as the weather seemed to have kept others away she adapted her session plan to suit me.  Lucky me!  The focus was on gentle movement - walking and swinging my arms, and pushing the pram while doing kicks and lunges - and strengthening my core through stretching and balancing exercises.  


The baby cried a bit to begin with but as soon as we started exercising with the pram it rocked her to sleep and she stayed like that for the rest of the session and I was able to keep my focus on the workout.  I felt good afterwards and re-motivated.  I felt all the benefits and no twinges or discomfort, and that has given me a confidence boost.  I definitely must do more of the same.