Postnatal Pilates Routine to Do at Home With Baby
If you’re wondering how new moms find time to exercise then this postnatal Pilates routine is perfect for you! This routine is safe to do postpartum and is great for regaining strength after baby arrives. This prenatal Pilates routine is easy to complete while playing with kids or even while laying on the floor with baby.
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Postnatal Pilates with Baby, something totally new!
My Pilates with baby routines are the newest way to exercise with baby you have to try!
After having a baby it can feel almost as if your body has gone through a battle. Things are sore, maybe torn, and your body may feel and look deflated after achieving the most amazing accomplishment ever of bringing another precious human into the world!
Many of us are eager to get our post-baby bodies back!
While your body will never quite be the same because of the wonderful thing it has done, it is still completely possible to drop the baby weight quickly while building a huge milk supply, to build as much if not more muscle tone than ever before, and have a flat stomach again!
Do I really have to wait 6 weeks to start this postnatal Pilates?
After childbirth, your body deserves to rest and have proper nourishment. Hormones are surging about. You are also losing immense amounts of water weight.
However, unless the doctor has specifically put you on bed rest (or if you’ve had a lot of stitches), gentle light exercises can be done safely postpartum. This should be workouts designed specifically for postpartum women by fitness specialists like myself.
This exercises like walking, some yoga moves, stretches, practicing engaging your abs properly, and some Pilates moves.
After having each of my babies I was so eager to work out!
After my first childbirth, I began doing Pilates even while breastfeeding right after birth to strengthen the muscles that had become completely jiggly and flat. Everything felt deflated and stretched out. I desired so badly to feel a little bit of strength and firmness back into by body.
Postnatal Pilates is the best way to regain strength after childbirth.
What is the Best Postnatal Exercise and Recovery Plan?
The best way to regain strength postpartum and lose the baby weight while breastfeeding is through the Milky Mama’s Postpartum Plan. It is designed to help you bounce back after baby with a 28 day workout and diet plan designed to help you lose the baby weight, regain strength, and increase your milk supply at the same time.
The Milky Mama’s Postpartum Plan uses a lot of Pilates in it’s own specialized workout plan called Momlates… blending together Pilates, yoga, and cardio for the ultimate efficient calorie burn and strength building after birth in a safe way.
RELATED: Babywearing Routines Every Mom Wishes She Knew
What is Postnatal Pilates?
Pilates might make you think of needing lots of different bands and contraptions to complete. While you can utilize bands to up your Pilates routine and a reformer in the studio, they definitely are not necessary for a great Pilates workout.
Pilates is a low-impact exercise to develop flexibility and muscular strength. It involves using none to low weight and repeating an exercise many more times than you would if you were trying to build muscle in the gym.
This is exactly why Pilates is great for postpartum recovery and I recommend to start there with all of my clients. Pilates focuses on form and repetition, retraining your muscles to function properly. Plus it can be great for your core and pelvic floor.
(Please not this is not true for all Pilates moves. Some Pilates moves will be omitted in a postnatal Pilates class or home routine because they can cause further abdominal separation.)
I even loved doing this prenatal Pilates routine in my postnatal period because it is so great at strengthening your pelvic floor!
Why is Pilates a good choice postpartum recovery?
Pilates is my ideal choice to implement into a postpartum mommy and baby exercise routine because it is phenomenal for gently strengthening your core and the small muscles that are important for balance and general body support that have been drastically compromised by pregnancy.
In fact, almost all of the workouts in my postnatal exercise plan to regain strength postpartum while losing the baby weight are Pilates based.
The Postnatal Pilates Routine to do in the postpartum 6-week waiting period and after!
These moves I’ve put together for you are a perfect way to exercise with baby that targets your legs and glutes to give your abdomen a rest during your recovery period.
These exercises are so simple they can be easily completed laying on the ground playing with your kids or even while breastfeeding! I literally made this routine up to do while breastfeeding my little one, I was spending hours and hours there, so I thought I could find a way to multitask, and it works great!
These moves are simple enough that you can do them while laying with (or even breastfeeding) your baby, yet they are challenging enough that you will definitely be feeling a burn in your hips.
RELATED: There are 5 other moves I’d definitely recommend doing with baby when you are ready to strengthen your core a bit more with bodyweight exercises perfect to bring out your inner super mom!
So if you feel like you don’t have the time but really wish you could find it as a new mom, I’m here to give you that time back with an entirely new idea.
Pilates With Baby Routine
1. SIDE LYING LEG LIFTS
While lying on your side with a flexed foot lift your leg about half-way up. Lower slowly and repeat 20 times. Then hold your leg in the top position for a count of 10 seconds. Point your foot and do sixteen baby pulses with your leg raised in the air before fully lowering your leg.
2. THE CLAM
Keep your feet together on the ground and bend your knees forward toward baby. Keep your heels together and bring the top knee up to “open” the clam as far as you can before lowering. Repeat 20 times and be sure to keep a tight core! (That means to tighten your tummy. Imagine pulling your belly button into your spine using your muscles.) This move also helps to strengthen your pelvic floor.
3. INNER THIGH BURNER
Switch which leg you are using by bending the top leg and placing your foot flat on the floor behind the leg that has been resting so far. Open your hips by rotating them slightly toward the ceiling. Flex your lower foot and lift and lower.
It will seem like a very small bit you are lifting your leg and that’s ok! Repeat 20 lifts and you will feel the burn on this seemingly tiny exercise. On the last repetition keep your leg lifted and point your toe. Complete sixteen baby pulses and then lower.
4. FULL QUAD EXTENSION
Keep your body in the same position with hips slightly opened toward the ceiling, but now let your lower leg rest. Bring the top leg up to where the upper half of your leg is perpendicular to the floor and the lower half is parallel to the floor and flex your foot.
Point your toes as you bring your leg straight up for a full extension. Flex your foot as you lower to the starting position. Take this one slow to be sure to get that full top pointed extension in your thigh. Repeat 15 times.
5. FLUTTERING CIRCLES
Rotate your hips back to the squared off position you began in, meaning fully on your side. Point your toes and lift your leg about 1 foot. Slowly flutter your leg in 10 tiny circles forward. Make sure you work slowly so you are able to support your weight well and not place any of it on baby! Then switch the direction of your rotation for 10 more circles.
Then (if attempting this workout with baby or even attempting it while breastfeeding) do the famous breastfeeding mom tuck and roll to switch baby to the other side.
Repeat the full workout on the other side.
Pat yourself on the back and cuddle that baby while you rest those hips. You just completed a full Pilates workout with baby!
How did you like it? Did you run into any trouble along the way? Would you like a few more routines like this?
After you get your clearance from your doctor to exercise it’s time to learn:
- How To Exercise With Baby 101: All the Ideas You’ll Ever Need
- Amazing Baby Wearing Workouts Every Mom Wishes She Knew
- A Full Body Active Stroll Exercise Routine
- Non-Stroller Exercise With Baby Cardio Routine: For When Your Kid Refuses To Stay In The Stroller
- Turn a Dance Party With Your Kids Into a Full HIIT Workout
- 1 Week Busy Moms HIIT Challenge in 14 Min a Day! That Will Transform Your Body
- 5 Moves You Need To Be Doing With Baby For Fitness Success
Oh and don’t forget to please pin this one for later!
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