We're pretty fond of Babybodyfit here at HerFamily.ie. I can safely say, subscribing to their post-natal fitness courses was one of the best things I did after I had my second. And not for all the reasons you might think.
My second baby had reflux. And for anyone who had or has a baby who suffers with this will know, it sucks the life out of you (see this
piece from our Sleep Expert). Listening to the poor little mite cry in discomfort is utterly head-wrecking; pulling on the heart strings and wearing you down little by little (it's just not pretty). Plus they pretty much can't lie down, well, pretty much any of the time.
It took a lot for me to join up to the course with my freshly baked baba. Hauling my newly very fat and ill-slept ass out of the house to jog, run and attempt toning exercises, despite my little pint-sized screamer in the buggy. But, we both got through it.
And as any mum with a refluxy baby knows, it's lonely, often isolating and bloody hard trying to keep them upright all day and out of pain. So, the goal of getting us both out of the house, with or without puke on our clothes, was something to work towards each week.
But I made it – in body anyway – with my fellow knackered mums. Together we ran around makeshift cones, huffed, puffed and learned to take deep breaths, all at our own pace (mine being slow to almost lifeless). But we were transported out of the four walls of our homes with our new babies, amongst other women in the same happy-cum-exhausting boat, and together we felt fat and happy (not necessarily in that order).
So, for any new mums out there who can't physically or mentally get out of the house to a postnatal class like BabyBodyFit, we've got this
Momsanity video you can do at home, all while kissing and hanging out with your little baba (watch and you'll see).
I can't vouch you'll look as toned as this after doing it, but I can vouch for the positive endorphins after speeding up your heart beat, hanging out with your new little person, and adding to your happy, post-natal glow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7K0FqOkG5c
