How to Stay Healthy Post-Partum (2024)

Promoting Healthy Choices

There are a million ways to bond with baby and some of the best are the healthiest. Whether the weather is warming up or cooling down, these fun mommy-and-me exercises can be done anywhere. Choose from some of the below workouts to do in the comfort of your home or outdoors and enjoy the weather at your local park!

Benefits of Working Out with Baby

Before we explore some ideas of how you can workout with your little one, consider why you should think about incorporating mommy and me workouts into your daily routine.

Aside from the fact that working out with your little one will help you get back into your pre-baby jeans, exercise can help moms mentally as well! Whether a mother or not, exercise helps individuals improve their mental health states and lowers stress levels. Having a newborn baby can be stressful as sleepless nights become more frequent. With that said, try incorporating exercise to help you sleep better.

“Baby carrying, especially in the first six months, is a great way to burn more calories throughout the day as well as helping baby to establish a secure attachment to Mom,” says Helene Byrne, founder of BeFit-Mom.

The baby benefits from the mother-baby bonding too. The interaction you build with your baby through movements that help you feel more confident and self-aware help babies adjust, develop, and grow. As they see you move, you are helping develop their cognitive and physical abilities as they may or may not try to mirror your movements, and understand your place in their space.

Workouts with Wee One

Many fun and easy workouts to start with resemble yoga poses and other dynamic stretches. Consider the “plank” exercise which targets the back, abdominals, buttocks, shoulders, and triceps.

Parents.com instructs that you start on hands and knees, with your baby on his back below you. Lower your forearms to the floor so that your shoulders are directly above your elbows. Slide your knees back about 12 inches, keeping your back flat and your abs contracted. Hold the pose while you sing your baby’s favorite nursery rhyme. Work up from 30 seconds to two minutes.

Baby Bench Press

The “Baby Bench Press” is as simple as it sounds. Lie on your back and hold your baby securely above your chest with arms straight. Lower elbows, keeping arms close to your sides, and then extend arms straight up. Repeat while smiling and making facial interactions with your baby while keeping your arms muscles engaged.

Strolling About

As you push baby in a stroller in front of you, throw in some interval training by speeding up for 30 seconds then slowing down. Add some uphill runs in for added resistance. For additional resistance, do some squats as you stroll around your neighborhood with baby.

Stroller or Regular Crunches

Northjersey.com instructs that you lie on your back next to the stroller facing your baby with your feet flat on the ground, knees bent at 90 degrees. Put your hands behind your head, keeping your elbows back. Squeeze your belly button to your spine and crunch up. As you come up, peek into your stroller, saying “Peek-a-boo” to your baby, and lower back down. Exhale as you come up, keeping your elbows back. Reps: 25.

What is your favorite workout with baby? Share with us on Facebook and Twitter!

World Health Day was April 7^th! What did you do to get active? With cute baby products, baby accessories, and not to mention your baby as the cutest accessory of them all, it’s not hard to be fashionable and active at the same time! Celebrate World Health Day with your family by heading outdoors to catch some fresh air and move those muscles every day.

Work and Play Fashion

Everyone wants to look their best at all times, but when you’re working up a sweat, it can be hard to look put together. As long as you have a smile on your face while getting some outdoor fun with your little one, you will look your best. For the sake of fashion, however, we’ve put together some ideas of cute workout outfits for you and your kids! They can easily transition from work to play just by the addition or subtraction of a blazer or scarf!

Weather Permitting

Is the weather too murky, cold, or wet for you to get outside? No worries! There are fun and easy ways to get active inside the comfort of your home. Try one round of the following exercises and if your kids are up to more, go for a second round! Educate your children about the importance of fitness and make it fun and challenging by offering prizes at the end! Perhaps they get to make their own healthy pizzas afterwards, or thinking of a fun activity to do the next day-even if that means going to the waterpark.

1. Squats
2. Push-ups
   If your child doesn’t want to do these, try suggesting push-ups against a countertop or chair.
   Perform them against the wall, lower against a countertop, against a chair for added difficulty, on your knees on the ground, or on your toes all the way out.
3. Lunges
   Keep your back tall and lower your left knee towards the ground (visualize lunging “down” rather than “forward” to keep your right knee from going over your right toes). Come back up and do it again
4. The Plank (5 to 10 seconds at a time)
   Drop into “push up position” but from your elbows which should be situated directly under your shoulders.
5. Burpees
   These moves can be pretty tough so don’t worry if you or your child needs to take it slow. Jump up, hands in the air and land down on the ground; jump your feet back into plank position from your hands; perform a push up; jump your feet back up to your hands and jump up.
6. Jumping Rope
   The old playground favorite! Try jumping as many times as you can for 45 sec and then break for 15 sec; repeat for 5 – 20 minutes as you have time and are able fitness-wise.

Let it all go, and have fun you fitness fashionista!

What is your favorite activity to do with your kids? Share with us on Facebook or Twitter, or even in the comments below!

Make working out fun by playing with your baby

With the start of the New Year only slightly behind us, gym-goers and at home workout video junkies are going full speed, letting no excuse get in the way of their calorie burning and mind enriching exercises. A few days or even weeks from now, resolutions become dreams and rest in between sets becomes rest indefinite. The little culprit that is a most common excuse to stay away from cardio machines is usually, a baby.

Even after baby arrives, parents should not feel tied down or separated from their workouts. Can you relate to wondering who will look after baby? Or I have a hard time leaving my baby with a sitter. These common concerns can be easily alleviated by not leaving your baby! How? Working out with baby is one of the best ways to bond and give your body the daily activity it needs.

Covalent Baby Bonding

Just as covalent bonds share pairs of electrons between atoms, baby bonding is sharing enriching experiences between mother and their little one. Exercising with your baby will not only strengthen the parent-child tie but it will start to shape a healthy lifestyle. Consistent physical activity will help your child sleep easier and will reduce your stress.

A more obvious perk of working out with your baby is that it keeps you healthy and exercising can prevent diseases while strength training can even prevent osteoporosis. According to Bone Builders, a group from the University of Arizona, the best exercises for building bone are weight- or load-bearing exercises such as weight-lifting, step aerobics, dancing, and other activities that require your muscles to work against gravity.Dance around your living room either with your baby in hand or in toe in their very own trend walker.

Need weights? Believe it or not, your baby makes the perfect weight to work with. Not only will you enjoy cuddle time with your baby, but placing your baby in a carrier around your body and doing simple stretches or just walking around the house are perfect and light load bearing exercises.

Even if your baby isn’t directly engaging in exercises with you, being near baby can be just as effective. Keep your baby safe in a durable play yard that is easy to fold up and travel with, so you can exercise with baby on the go!

An Active Baby Einstein

Working out with baby is highly beneficial to parents, but babies are also getting a lot in return. Exercising with baby helps them to move and learn coordination skills, not to mention, explore! Enriching their minds through curiosity and being able to see the world around them is important to a baby’s development. Is your baby not yet mobile? A simple play pen or even nursery with see-thru or mesh sides can just as much aid their inquisitive minds.

Continue their growth and your good health by creating a little circuit of workouts that are enjoyed by both you and your baby. Five minutes of dancing followed by mellow stretches and sets of squats, dips, step-ups or lunges using your baby as a weight is the perfect way to start. As your baby starts to get attuned to these minor physical exercises, do abdominal exercises on the floor while lifting baby above your head. Add on any exercises you feel comfortable with, and a mini gym can be enjoyed by you and baby!

For a variety of playpens, play pads, and nursery centers visit www.babytrend.com, to find one that best suits your needs.

Turning Days Into Mini-Adventures

How to be a mommy-jogger and bond with your baby

Running is an inherent ability known to all man-kind. As babies and toddlers we begin learning how to crawl and the moment we get onto our own two feet, is the moment a world of possibilities opens up. A growing baby means a curious baby. Exploration becomes a necessity and one of the best ways to take advantage of your baby’s inquisitive mind is to take them outside.

Turning leisurely walks into pleasant jogs can be easily done with the right state of mind and most of all, the right equipment. First, it is important to know that being a mom-jogger is more than just a way to get outside. It’s the perfect time for you to bond with your little one and instill habits to encourage a healthy and active lifestyle.

Necessary Tools

To start your healthy outdoor adventure, begin researching jogging strollers. Jogging strollers are different from regular strollers because they have three wheels instead of four, making it easier to maneuver when running. The Baby Trend Velocity Jogger is perfect for a new mommy-jogger. With an embedded pedometer and speakers to play music, you will feel both entertained and educated with a simple understanding of how far you’ve gone and how far you will want to go to better set goals for yourself. Your baby will not only be interested by the surroundings and the fun of a smooth ride along your park, neighborhood, or beach, but they will be protected as well with an adjustable canopy with a sun visor and covered sunroof ratchets to block sun and wind.

Make Tracks with Baby

To make this daily occurrence a different experience for both you and your baby, encourage them to point out what they see—objects, colors, animals, and anything else they discover. Varying when you stop will also adjust them to changing times and areas so as to encourage exploration and an active imagination. Although running can be a therapeutic form of “alone time” even when you are jogging with your baby, try to include your baby in your observations and encourage them to do the same with you.

Before going on a jog intermittently or before starting a jogging regimen with your baby, be sure to adhere to certain rules. If your baby is less than six months of age, it is not suggested that your baby embark on an outdoor adventure with you unless your stroller has a car seat adapter.

Rules of Thumb

Contrary to popular belief, it is best to lock your front wheel to avoid excessive wobbling, which can lead to accidental turning and crashing. Also, treat jogging with your baby just as you would any other regular outing with your little one; packing diapers, wipes, snacks, toys and books, and water will make for an enjoyable pit stop for both you and your baby. For your runs, be sure to strap your child in with the full harness to protect your child from getting shaken or even falling.

Enjoy the Present

Turning exercise into a fun and adventurous time in your baby’s life will not only help to stimulate their senses and thinking skills but it will better influence them to engage in an active lifestyle as they grow. The fresh air, the sounds, and the bonding time with your baby will also make jogging or a short run fun for both of you.

For a variety of joggers, visit www.babytrend.com, to find one that best suits your needs.

Babies consume our lives and it can be hard to get in some much needed “me” time. Babies, however, help us appreciate time more and taking advantage of every second of the day can help each minute stretch that much further. That talent is especially useful when us moms are getting gussied up for date night or just to feel “made up”! How do you get out of those mom jeans, and into a dress or your favorite fall outfit? What do you do for some “me” time on the side?

We’ll start off our mom-centric series on a quick guide to feeling “made up” and lookin’ good!

Mommy Community

Mom.me provides some great tips and fun reads about celebrity babies, homeorganization, cooking, and serves as a community for all things mom! For example, it’s hard for moms to fit in time to exercise and holiday treats always call out our names. Recently, Oreo debuted a candy corn flavored Oreo and mom.me suggests that if you decide to munch one of these sweet and delectable treats, the following calorie-burners can you help you regain your figure:

• 9 minutes of jumping jacks
• 9 minutes of mountain climbers
• 23 minutes of cleaning your house
• 16 minutes of weeding your flower bed

Gussy Up

http://media.onsugar.com & http://skinbeautifulblog.files.wordpress.com

Now that you’ve enjoyed a little treat, and worked it off (way to go!), it’s time to gussy up! The following tips can help us moms feel a little prettier in no time at all.

1. Using oil-free tinted moisturizer will even out your complexion and provide hydration to your skin. What’s best is that it’s not as harsh as foundation to take off before you go to bed!
2. If you want to add concealer, add it in little dots and use a warm tone to match the rest of your face. Those puffy circles and tired under-eyes from waking up to a hungry baby at all hours of the night will vanish!
3. No time for a full on eye look? Use a soft liner in plum or brown to define the eyes and bring attention away from the under-eye area
4. Use a tinted lip balm for the lips to keep them hydrated and pouting with color!
5. A body spray or body lotion that won’t be harsh around your baby can be another way to add scent to your look and keep you feeling fresh all-day. If body spray or scented body lotion isn’t your thing, try a lightly fragrance laced deodorant!

Voila! 5 simple steps to have you recharged in no time.

What do you do to add a little boost to your day? Share with us on Facebook or Twitter, or even in the comments below!

Sources

Mom.me

Green Baby

Buying organic food has become a big proponent of moving towards a healthier lifestyle. Although this may be a great decision for adults to make for themselves, it may have different consequences when it comes to your baby. With that in mind, if you chose to breastfeed your baby; it is advised that you wait until your little one is five to six months of age before feeding them solid food. In any case however, be sure to check with your baby’s pediatrician on correct feeding habits before switching to an organic diet.

Soft to Solid: The Benefits of Organic Food

Upon the introduction of organic food, there has long since been a debate about its supposed health benefits versus the health benefits of non-organic food. For the longest time, all organic food had going for it was its label but recent studies are starting to prove that organic food really is more nutrient rich and possibly, a healthier option for your baby. Here are just a few other benefits of organic food found on live-the-organic-life:

• Organic baby food, whether made at home or bought in-store, is produced without genetically modified ingredients
• Organic baby foods are produced without conventional pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormones
• A baby’s digestive system is not as up to par as an adult’s when it comes to excreting harmful substances
• Babies’ bodies are much more vulnerable to pesticides because their brains immune and detoxification systems are immature and in a state of development

What makes food organic?

Foods that meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s standards can be labeled with the “USDA Organic” seal. Their definition of organic is as follows: Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.

Varieties

When reviewing your organic baby food options however, there are some general things to take note of: read labels, examine how food is packaged, compare it to similar baby foods, and carefully check expiration date and food safety. Note that when looking at the nutritional information, the first ingredient in the list is the majority of what that food is comprised of.

Regardless of which of the following types of food you pick, feeding your baby and making food with your baby in toe is yet another bonding experience. Once you’ve picked a food, enjoy time with your baby while they sit in comfort in a High Chair!

When it comes to specific types of baby food, the following guidelines as provided by organic-baby-resource may help:

Jarred Organic Baby Food
Be sure to look for jarred food that does not contain chemical additives, added sugar, or salt, and look for the food-to-water ratio as well.

Home Made

All In All

Parents go organic or don’t go organic based on their own decisions. Every type of diet has it’s own benefits and cons but either way, be sure to check with your baby’s pediatrician on best feeding practices for your little one. It may even lead to some changes for yourself or your whole family!

Last week we covered beauty from the outside in, using makeup and tips on how to feel better with a dash of lipstick and a brush of blush. This week we will go into how to feel good from the inside out! Sleepless nights can wear on the skin and on our bodies which can often lead to unhealthy meal choices.

So what can you do to retain that pre-baby glow your skin had? Try new foods that are enriched with vitamins and nutrients. Nutritious meals can be easily prepared ahead of time when baby is sleeping or when you slip away to enjoy some kitchen time.

Great Foods For Glowing Skin

1. We’ve all heard how great fish is, but do we know how? Salmon is filled with omega-3 fatty acids that keep your skin oil levels in check helping to reduce breakouts and add glow to your skin. WebMD also points out that omega-3s can boost heart health and lower triglycerides—those nasty fats.
2. Are you nuts about nuts? We sure are. Nuts like walnuts and pistachios are a great way of lubricating the skin from the inside, out. Walnuts especially nourish and moisturize the skin protecting against dryness. Another skin hydrator? Avocados! Who knew those mushy green fruits could be so filled with natural oils, vitamin C, E and other anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties? All around goodness.
3. Water! I know what you’re thinking: duh! Remembering to drink enough water can be hard, especially when we’re spread thin. Water hydrates your vessels, especially under your eyes so those dark circles will be less prominent with each drink from your water bottle.

Mix those ingredients into a quick salad or a sandwich and you’re good to go! Having cooked ingredients prepared beforehand can save a lot of time when it comes to actual preparation. If you are used to having your baby near you, consider putting her in a bouncer or a high chair nearby so she can learn from your speedy cooking ways.

What is your most favorite nutritious food? Share with us on Facebook or Twitter, or even in the comments below!

Sources

Mom.me
WedMD

The Kids Table series hopes to inspire you with dishes that are both creative and fun for everyone in your family! From toddlers to parents, food can be made fun and healthy with food from your garden, local grocery store, or farmer’s market!

Colorful flowers and clear skies means more time for kids to soak up the sun and get their exercise on! After all the play-time, they may just want to come home and have dinner ready for them. However, after a little rest and relaxation, pick up their spirits with a fun spring-themed meal!

Edible Flowers?

Did you know that you can edible flowers to not only decorate your meal but to actually eat? Not all edible flowers taste like vegetables. In fact, different types of flowers have different tastes. According to homecooking.about.com, bean blossoms have a sweet and bean-like flavor. Nasturtiums have a wonderfully peppery flavor similar to watercress and their pickled buds can be substituted for more expensive capers. Borage tastes like cucumber, and miniature pansies (Johnny-Jump-Ups) have a mild wintergreen taste. Violets, roses and lavender lend a sweet flavor to salads or desserts. Bright yellow calendulas are an economic alternative to expensive saffron, though not quite as pungent. Other flowers may have a spicy or peppermint flavor.

When in doubt: taste. First, be sure it’s not poisonous.

Flower Power Food

What food adventures do you want to try next with your family? We would love for you to share your recipes or experiences with us on our Facebook Page or our Twitter!

Recipe and image sourced from www.babyfoode.com

Ingredients:

• 2 apples
  
• ¼ cup spinach, packed
  
• ¼ cup frozen peas

Directions:

1. Core and chop apples.
   
2. Place all ingredients into steamer basket, cover, and heat for 10 minutes over boiling water.
   
3. Let cool slightly. Transfer all ingredients into blender and puree for 30 seconds or until smooth, adding water from steamer in ¼ cup increments if needed.

***Will last 4 days in fridge or 4 months in freezer.

Check out this infographic with stroller safety tips from our friends at www.BabySafetyzone.org.