How to Exercise With a New Baby

Managing the First Few Weeks

After you get home from the hospital, things get pretty crazy. The routine of feeding, changing, settling, cuddling and just gazing lovingly at your baby can feel as though you haven’t even a minute to spare for yourself. Even squeezing in time for a shower seems like a huge feat! How on earth are you going to be able to exercise?

The most important thing is for you to take care of yourself. If you feel well taken care of, you’ll be more emotionally able to take care of your baby. You won’t resent the full take-over of your life that inevitably happens with a newborn.

Taking care of you includes rest, exercise and some relaxation- maybe you can find some nice person to give you a little foot-rub every now and again!

It’s really OK to accept any help that’s offered, and if you need more, feel free to ask for it. I know it’s really hard to ask, but it doesn’t mean you’re not coping or a good mother. You are just taking care of yourself. Many people will want to help and just don’t know what to do. Cleaning the house, cooking meals, shopping for food, doing the washing are little jobs your friends and family can do to leave you with energy for your baby.

Try to rest when your baby is sleeping at least once during the day. The dishes can wait!! At night, try to get to bed when the baby goes down at around 7 or 8pm. I remember thinking that I was going to be up so many times in the night that I still probably wouldn’t get all the sleep I needed! It’s definitely a challenge, but worth it if you can make it happen. It was almost easier with my second child, as I would fall asleep reading to my first!

As soon as you are cleared to do so, start exercising. It sounds dramatic, but I’m not talking about running 5K, I really just mean getting some fresh air and walking for a few minutes. Start with 15 minutes, twice a day. It will help you to clear your head and at least start getting into some kind of exercise routine. It will also help with your recovery from the birth and give you more energy- you need it!

Another reason to exercise is that your hormone levels will drop after having your baby. One of the unwanted side effects of this is that your bone density will decrease (up to 5%!). It’s really important to counteract that by doing weight-bearing exercise to stimulate bone growth. The easiest way is walking, which you can do with your baby in a sling, baby carrier or a stroller.

Exercise also means doing pelvic floor exercises. This is explained in the article The Importance of Daily Pelvic Floor Exercises

Drink LOTS of water. Your baby will get priority when you are breastfeeding, so you need to make sure you get enough for you, too!

Exercise should make you feel good! You are getting tired enough with the lack of sleep, so don’t try to get that killer workout that just exhausts you.

Written by Sarah Straton,Springday Expert.

Back to Pregnancy & New Mums

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