Mother-Baby Yoga: Me time with your baby by your side

Imagine practicing yoga with your baby by your side. You get to do some exercise and reconnect with your body again. Yet your baby is right there– looking up at you with her navy eyes – telling you when it’s time for a breastfeed. So you take a yoga breath, come out your pose and attend to your beautiful baby’s needs, then once baby is settled, you go right back to your yoga practice. Your baby gets to watch you doing something positive for yourself, as well as be fascinated by the other little people in the class. Welcome to a Mother and Baby yoga class.

Many women do pre-natal yoga classes and it is possible to continue once your baby is born. If you attended pre-natal yoga classes, ask if there is a post-natal class you can attend with your baby. You can also practice yoga in the comfort of your own home, Caroline Weinstein (pictured) is a Melbourne-based yoga instructor who created the Calm Om Mother Baby Yoga DVD program, “I created the DVD program as I kept hearing from mums who couldn’t get to class because there wasn’t one close by or if there was it was always on during their baby’s sleep time,” she said.

Postnatal yoga has many physical benefits for mums including:
- strengthening the pelvic floor muscles
- strengthening the deep abdominals which are important for core stability – a strong - core means less pressure on other parts of the body like the back and neck
- strengthening the back – lower and upper
- opening up the chest
- stretching out aching muscles including the backs and necks

Yoga is also good for the psychological wellbeing of new mums and “Yoga helps mums reconnect with their bodies after childbirth,” says Weinstein, “Yoga will relax and calm their minds and increase their sense of well being which is important for warding off potential post partum blues.”

Babies benefit from yoga too, believes Weinstein, “Baby yoga helps promote growth and muscle development, improve flexibility and coordination, - it can even help relieve colic,” she says. “Participating in mother-baby yoga increases babies feelings of wellbeing, as well as helping them to relax and sleep better.” As every sleep-deprived parent knows, when it comes to sleep we can only hope for more…Stay tuned for a future article on “Baby Sleep” and FIZ resources to help you get more Zzzzzs!

Mother-Baby yoga resources available from Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone include:

Calm Om Mother-Baby Yoga DVD – Caroline Weinstein

Baby Om: Yoga for Mothers and Babies by Laura Staton and Sarah Perron

Itsy Bitsy Yoga: Poses to Help Your Baby Sleep Longer, Digest Better, and Grow Stronger by Helen Garabedian

To request these items visit Burnside Library's Online Catalogue.

Two Adelaide centres which offer mother and baby programs are Coast Yoga Centre and Kensington School of Yoga.

To read more about Mother-Baby Yoga - and share your thoughts and experiences on this topic - click into the comments section of this article.

This article and associated image is adapted from an article originally written for Essence: the magazine of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Text Caroline Munchenberg Image Caroline Weinstein.