Before I became a mom, people would learn about my love of fitness and say things like “just wait until you have kids..”. Has working out become more difficult with a baby? Yes, of course. And we’re still working through the kinks of scheduling. But it hasn’t made things impossible–we’ve just had to get a little creative.
The reality is: if it’s a priority to you, you’ll make it work! And fitness is a priority to me, because it fills my cup and helps me show up better in everything else I do. So, at 7.5 weeks postpartum, here are my tips for getting your workout in with a new baby to take care of.
The first step, prior to using any of the below tips, is to schedule time for your workout. Otherwise, the day can easily pass you by. Since babies notoriously resist adhering to schedules (especially in the early days) you will likely need to be flexible and get a little creative. Here are some ideas to make your scheduled time work:
Wake up earlier. I currently take the 6AM slot to workout, at which point my daughter and husband are still sleeping for at least 30 minutes. They will wake up during my workout, and she will usually take a bottle at this time (which means I pump on my drive to or from the gym, shout-out to my freemie pump for allowing me to pump on the go!). Getting my day started before the baby can be tough due to waking up for night feedings, but ultimately, it adds an extra window of time to get things done. PS – my husband take the 4PM slot, so it’s not just me who needs to schedule my workouts!
Ask for help. Since I am on maternity leave, it is “assumed” that I will be on baby duty most of the time. It can feel hard to ask for help (#momguilt) but ultimately, taking an hour for yourself isn’t selfish if it helps put you in a better spot as a caretaker for the rest of the day. I know if I didn’t ask for help, I’d hold resentment, and that doesn’t benefit anyone! Unfortunately, since we are in a pandemic, my options for help are limited, but my husband is here. And it’s nice that he’s able to get quality time in with his daughter by me asking for help.
Wait until they baby is nappingor occupied playing. This is a tough one, because naps are not consistent when babies are young (they can range from 20 minutes to 2 hours!) and they don’t quite “play” yet. But, if help is out of the question, and you had a rough night of sleep, this is definitely an option. I’ve put Stella in the SNOO and brought her monitor into the garage while I worked out, and I’ve put her on her play gym or swing next to me. This is where that flexibility comes into play! There have been times where she starts to lose it mid-workout, and I just take what I can get. In this case, something is better than nothing.
Invest in a jogging stroller. The nice thing about this option is that you don’t have to ask anyone else for help or wait until the baby is occupied. They’re with you and they can be awake or asleep. If your baby is anything like mine, they’ll find the stroller soothing, so you won’t have to worry about them losing it/crying during your workout. The downsides are: if running isn’t your thing, this option may not be appealing to you, it’s not ideal to use in crappy weather, and they can be pricey. Oh, and pushing a stroller uphill while running is quite the challenge (but that’s not all bad, since it is a workout!). PS- a lot of jogging strollers require the baby being ~6 months old before use, but the one I have allows the infant car seat to click into it, so we were able to use it right away.
Ultimately, it’s about how important fitness is to you (and if it’s not that important to you, there’s nothing wrong with that!). Where there’s a will there’s a way (most of the time).
Do you work out with a baby? How did you fit your workout in?
Motherhood has been quite the journey already, and I’m only 4 weeks in. There’s a reason the first 12 weeks are called the 4th trimester. I want to keep it real about the ups and downs, so here’s my experience so far!
Postpartum: Week 1
ICYMI, I had a c-section (in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic) so this meant I was in the hospital for about 2.5 days. After surgery Wednesday morning, Colin, Stella and I were in a room by ourselves until Friday at lunchtime, when we were released. In that time, we had a lot of medical visitors: nurses, lactation consultants, pediatricians, etc. It was helpful because the nurses did a lot of her diaper changes and we were able to ask a lot of questions, but it was also tough because we weren’t able to sleep much. Colin was on a couch and I was on a hospital bed, and Stella’s glucose levels were being monitored, which meant I needed to feed her at LEAST every 2 hours. I still found this time helpful, as I was pretty confined to my bed after having major surgery, and it was nice to easily ask any questions we had.
Speaking to my physical recovery, I didn’t get out of bed to go any farther than the bathroom in my hospital room for the first day. On day 2, I walked a few laps around the wing of the hospital I was in. I have heard from a lot of people that post-c-section, sitting up and walking were difficult activities. I did not experience this, though I was moving slower than usual and did feel pretty out of it.
When we were released on Friday, there were mixed emotions. We were excited to get back to our own space (and out of a COVID hospital), but nervous to take our baby home for the first time. Most of the first few days are already hazy, but there are a few things that stand out:
I was feeling well enough to go for walks outside (which helped my mental and physical health). I truly think walking has made a difference in the speed of my recovery from surgery. I walked less than a mile on our first day home (very slowly) and built up my distance little by little every day.
Postpartum hormones hit me in a big way. I sobbed when we tried to put Stella down to sleep in another room and watch her on the monitor – I wasn’t ready for her to be out of my sight. I also cried for no reason at all almost every night for the first week. The combination of plummeting hormones, a lot of lifestyle changes, the weight of responsibility and lack of sleep really come at you fast. If you’re in this stage of postpartum right now, know that it’s very common and it gets better!
Breastfeeding was challenging. It still hurt a lot at this point and the feedings were long and frequent. I questioned my decision to breastfeed many times during this week. Again, know that it gets easier!
We had our first pediatrician appointment where we learned that Stella had surpassed her birth weight (very quickly for a breastfed baby!). This was great news, as it meant we could stretch her night feedings to 4 hours (equating to ~3-hour sleep stretches if she didn’t wake us sooner).
I learned that a lot of the postpartum journey involves fluids leaking everywhere. From bleeding (for weeks) as your uterus returns to it’s pre-baby size, to milk leaking from your boobs, and insane night sweats.. there’s a lot going on and it isn’t the most comfortable.
Overall, the first week was a rollercoaster. In the low moments, I was gritting my teeth through the pain of breastfeeding or crying for no apparent reason. In the high moments, I was snuggling Stella, staring at her, or out for a family walk.
What Helped Me Get Through Postpartum Week 1
Movement and sunshine (get outside if you can!)
Naps (I tried to take one every afternoon while Stella napped)
Netflix – in the early days, it’s helpful to have a show to watch as you nurse. Mine was Schitt’s Creek!
Talking to other moms – this was the most helpful, as it helped me realize this istemporary
Postpartum: Week 2
Week 2 was still challenging, but less so. We had our first visitors (family and very close friends), went on our first walk in a park outside of our neighborhood, and I started to get more comfortable with breastfeeding outside of my bedroom. Every day started to feel a little easier. I found myself feeling more confident thanks to the following highlights from week 2:
Breastfeeding was less painful and more efficient. I moisturized after every feed and Stella and I had both learned a little more, making it easier. It also helped to not be confined to my room every time I fed her. I knew what breastfeeding items I needed and kept them with me (although we no longer *need* the boppy). There were a couple rough days when I think she was having a growth spurt, as she wanted to be fed non-stop. Luckily this didn’t last long!
Nighttime feeds started to take less time. We went from being up for an hour each time she woke up to being up for about 30 minutes to feed, burp, change her and get her back down. This is because my milk started letting down faster and she was more efficient at eating.
I was walking 3 miles at once at this point, and by the end of week 2 I was feeling good enough to start incorporating some slow bodyweight movements into my day (ex: wall sits, bird dogs). Daily movement helps me feel like I am accomplishing something and gives me endorphins. Even though I’m not “working out” yet, this has done wonders for my mental health.
The random crying subsided as did the sadness that had been hitting me every evening. My hormones started to feel like they were evening out.
I got comfortable with Stella napping in another room while I watched her on the monitor. This just required time for my fear to subside. Even though I’m now comfortable with this, I still keep her in whatever room I’m in when she naps most of the time.
I learned that while leaving the house with a newborn is more difficult, it is not impossible. When we went to the park for our walk, we did 1 lap (1.5 miles) and had to stop at the car to feed and change her before going on lap 2. It wasn’t very difficult since we had a diaper bag packed with a diaper, changing pad and burp cloth. It helped me feel more like myself to know I could leave the house and all hell wouldn’t break loose!
A little bit of time spent learning each other made a big difference. Hang in there, it gets easier!
What Helped Me Get Through Postpartum Week 2
Experimenting with different breastfeeding locations so I felt less confined/tied down.
Trying hard things: taking our Sunday walk to a park and seeing it could be done with a newborn.
Movement and sunshine (always).
Talking to other moms (again, always).
Postpartum: Week 3
You may be picking up a pattern here, but we continued on the path of things getting a little easier every day. Here’s a little bit about how week 3 went:
Stella had another great pediatrician appointment and we could stretch her feedings to every 5 hours at night (although her waiting that long for a feed is a rarity).
We started giving Stella one bottle of pumped milk a day at exactly 2 weeks post birth. Our pediatrician recommended that we start as early as possible (you may have heard of Nipple Confusion as a reason not to do this, I encourage you to read Cribsheet by Emily Oster as the data does not support this). As I write this, we’ve been doing this consistently for 2 weeks, and it still has its ups and downs. Some days she guzzles down the bottle, other days she is very agitated by it. We try to have my husband give her the bottle and I leave the room to pump so that 1) I can get some “me” time and 2) she isn’t agitated by the usual source of feeding being so close. We’ve tried different bottles and different times of day to try to get a system down, as it’s important that she gets used to a bottle so that I am not the only option for feeding her.
This week, I started trying to wear her in my wildbird ring sling at least once per day. Even if it’s for a quick walk outside or just to get stuff done around the house, I love having her so close to me but having my hands free to do things. I also want her to get used to being worn so that I can feed her from the sling when she’s a little older!
At first, I thought Stella was resistant to being swaddled. I could hear her fighting the swaddle in the SNOO, she regularly fought her arms free, and she napped unswaddled during the day. She does love to self-soothe with her hands, so I purchased a Love To Dream SwaddleUp and started using it this week. Now usually naps in it during the day, and I’ve had much better luck with this than a traditional swaddle. We also have the Ollie Swaddle which we will transition to when she’s truly ready for arms-out swaddling.
My physical recovery continued to progress, so I committed to walking 3 miles each morning with Stella, post-lunch and post-dinner walks as a family, and 15 minutes of bodyweight movement. I did have a slight scare where my uterine bleeding seemed to tick up. I called the Doctor and we determined there was nothing to worry about, it meant I was getting near the end of my postpartum bleeding (yay!).
What Helped Me Get Through Postpartum Week 3
Reminding myself daily that consistency is key for a newborn to understand. This is why we keep trying with the bottle even when she gets frustrated. This is also good practice for when we sleep train her later on.
I stopped watching so much TV while nursing and opted to spend more time on the screened in porch, reading and creating content.
Movement and sunshine (always).
Talking to other moms (again, always).
Postpartum: Week 4
Time is flying! At this point, we got into a better groove and not much changed week over week (besides Stella’s continued growth). Here are a few highlights from week 4:
You can pass a lot of time just waiting on baby to do something (not knowing when they will) and it makes you start to really crave a schedule. This was our last week of being completely unscheduled: feeding on demand, sleeping on demand, etc. This is because she’s still too young to really learn habits and adhere to a schedule. Next week, we’ll start trying to push her feedings to every 2-3 hours (sometimes she still wants to be fed hourly). We’ll also start paying attention to her wake windows and try to keep them within the average range for her age, so she’s awake often enough to sleep longer at night, but not awake so long that she’s getting overtired. We’ll be using Taking Cara Babies system – you can follow her on instagram @takingcarababies to learn more 🙂
While we still left this week completely unscheduled, we started implementing a few of the sleep tips from Taking Cara Babies. Usually when she fussed, I rushed to feed her. This week, I swaddled her, gave her a pacifier, and put on white noise to see if those soothed her prior to me feeding her. I learned that sometimes she was fussing because she wanted to sleep, and even if she was hungry, these tips sometimes allowed us to delay back to back feedings and get her to take a larger feeding when she did eat.
Stella will likely be in the SNOO until the 5-or-6-month mark, but I wanted to get her used to her room and her crib well before we transition her into it. This week, I started putting Stella down in her crib during some of her naps.
Bottle feeding is finally starting to catch on. She’s finished a few bottles and is visibly less agitated by them, though there are still times she rejects it. If your baby won’t take the bottle, start early and stick with it!
My physical recovery continued to feel good. I felt ready for more, but knew I was a few days away from my postpartum appointment and waiting a few more days before diving more into things wouldn’t matter much in the long run. I continued with bodyweight strength training and lots of daily walks (with Stella in either the stroller or the ring sling). I also went on a light bike ride since it’s low impact.
I spent little bursts of time alone. My bike ride was solo and I left Stella with Colin to go on a quick grocery run. I miss her whenever I’m away from her, but it felt really good to know that I can be away from her and she will be completely fine. If you’re hesitant to leave your baby with anyone else (which I completely understand with breastfeeding) – I can’t tell you how freeing and helpful it is for your mental health. People have been having babies forever – just look how many adults there are! Your child will be fine, take some time for you.
What Helped Me Get Through Postpartum Week 4
Knowing that a schedule would be possible soon, which would help my sanity.
Seeing progress with bottle feedings.
My upcoming postpartum appointment.
Letting my husband take more alone time with Stella.
Movement and sunshine (always).
Talking to other moms (again, always).
What’s Next?
As I write this, we’re in Postpartum week 5. This week we are focused on:
Spacing out daytime feedings (minimum 2 hours in between, unless she is clustering before bed at night). I’ve found that a pacifier and her stroller or swing can be helpful to keep her calm when I need to stretch the feeding 15-30 minutes. More stimulating activities, like tummy time or playing with mom and dad don’t seem to be distracting enough 🙂
Customizing our SNOO experience for Stella’s needs. For the first 4 weeks, I had the motion limiter on so that the rocking didn’t get as aggressive as it could (this is recommended for very young babies). In week 5, I turned that setting off, and after a few nights, I also turned up the sensitivity one notch up from normal. This is because from 4-6AM, she gets very loud due to her sleeping lighter than the other hours of the night. She is loud enough to wake me up, but not crying/agitated enough to trigger the SNOO to rock harder or the white noise to get louder, and not awake enough for me to actually need to get her out of the SNOO. So far, this adjustment seems to be beneficial – we are down to 2 night feedings most nights.
My postpartum appointment went really well, and I am cleared for resuming all physical activity! I am starting slow with short runs and light dumbbells, then progressing over time. I couldn’t be happier to receive clearance at 4 weeks 2 days postpartum! Stella has enjoyed her first couple of jogs in the jogging stroller 🙂
How was your postpartum journey? What do you wish you knew prior to having your baby?
