Babywearing Exercises -30 Min Workout

Guest post by Kelli Roschak, the creator of The Babywearing Workout, a 30-minute exercise video that you can do with your baby in the comfort of your own living room. All you need is your baby and a soft baby carrier, and you’ll have everything you need to get fit while keeping your baby right where she should be, on you.

When my darling girl was still tiny, aside from walking, I got the most exercise by babywearing her during nap time or at bed time. Instead of using a swing or rocker to help put her to sleep, I would put her into a mei tai on my front and get to work!
Below, I’ll share a few of the moves I would do. They’re the ones that felt the best for and seemed to put her to sleep the fastest:

• The Torso Twist:

Put your feet shoulder width apart and bend your knees slightly.
Place your hands on your shoulders with your elbows up even with your shoulders.
Engage your stomach muscles and twist from left to right and back again.
Make sure you are keeping your hips stationary and all of the work is happening with your torso only. Keep at this for as long as you can or until your little one falls asleep. You can speed it up or slow it down based on what seems to work best for your own baby. If you want to take this to the next level you can even add a little bounce while you are doing it….that was usually the final KO for my girl!

• The Yoga Ball Bounce:

Sit straight up on your exercise ball with your feet flat on the floor at about 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. Now bounce. But don’t just let gravity take over. Engage your core stomach muscles as well as your quads. Just use the ball more as a support. Sometimes I’d add a modified Torso Twist to each bounce to take it up a notch. Again, do this for as long as you can or until your little one is down for the count.

• The Bouncing Mini Squat:

Put your knees shoulder width apart and bounce into mini squats. Don’t go down all the way, just what feels natural as a bounce. It should be soothing, not jostling, for your baby on your chest. Make sure your knees stay over your ankles so you don’t injure yourself. Now bounce, bounce, bounce until your legs are burning and you can’t take any more!

Sometimes I’d rotate all of these moves throughout one nap or bed time routine, depending on how long it took for her to fall asleep.

Put on some soothing music, sing or hum to your baby while you are doing this and you’ll find that it’s really very enjoyable for the both of you.

You can do these exercises as much as 20 minutes, a couple of times per day, like I did. Depending on your little one’s age and how many naps they are taking a day, you will get yourself into great shape!

So tell us, will you join the challenge? There are lots of reasons for you to go ahead and sign up. You’ve got nothing but the bulge to lose and lots of great babywearing time to gain! So go on, mommas, get fit. Do it for yourself, do it for your baby.

Happy babywearing!