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Fitness Alternative Exercise

Yoga for Moms and Their Babies

Summary & Participants

In this class, yoga gives moms a chance to exercise with their babies.

Medically Reviewed On: July 21, 2009

Webcast Transcript

NICOLE, NEW MOM: As a working mom, I don’t have a lot of time for myself, and so this is a chance for me to spend time with the baby and get some exercise and feel good about myself.

ANNOUNCER: These new moms don’t just bring their babies to yoga class. They take the class together!

JANET BOGARDUS, MOMMY & ME YOGA TEACHER: There’s a portion of class that’s really designated for the mom to really kind of either relax or work out or stretch or whatever she’s really needing. And then there’s a portion of the class that’s really more about the baby and playing with the baby. And some of it’s developmental, like working on the baby’s coordination, right and left hemispheres of the brain. And then other things are just for sheer fun.

ANNOUNCER: Mommy & Me yoga classes can also help babies and moms bond

NICOLE, NEW MOM: New moms don’t always know what to do with their babies and how to touch them and how to hold them and talk to them, and you learn that.

LEAH, NEW MOM: She just keeps looking up at me as if I’m like the best thing in the world. And so as I’m doing the classes, I think she’s like, “oh, mommy’s in a weird pose. That’s fun. Let me see what she’s doing.” And she’s really doing it.

ANNOUNCER: And, in classes like this, babies and moms can both make new friends

LEAH, NEW MOM: She loves to stare at the other babies, and sometimes if I’m talking to other moms, she’ll sort of reach out to a baby. Every week she starts to do more and more movements, and then she starts responding more and more to other babies.

ANNOUNCER: A baby can typically be taken to a Mommy & Me yoga class at six weeks. Of course, you should always check with your doctor first, for mom’s sake, too.

JANET BOGARDUS, MOMMY & ME YOGA TEACHER: Because the abdominal muscles have separated during pregnancy and it takes a little while for those muscles to come back together it wouldn’t be very good for her to be in a really rigorous yoga class, because she might strain those muscles

ANNOUNCER: So for overworked and under exercised new moms, a Mommy & Me yoga class might be just the answer. Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily!