Yoga Poses for Babies

Post pregnancy, it’s that sweet stage in life when every day begins with holding your baby, feel its little heartbeat with response to your love. The connection you will be feeling as a mother with your beloved newborn is nothing you have ever felt before. A strong protective impulse, mixed with love and yearning for the tender soul will follow you through the night and day. To deepen the roots of love with the little one, you can choose yoga as a mode of sharing mental harmony.

At three to four days from birth, the baby can join you in your everyday yoga activities with specific low-impact postures. The effort will help in enhancing the baby’s motor skills as well as give it strong immunity. Though yoga is a safe and sustainable way of staying in form for adults and infants alike, you might want to consult your pediatrician before getting started with baby yoga.

Cautions:

Always determine whether your little participant is willing for the movements. The infant is most likely to stay lively after waking up from a night’s sleep and in the afternoon. Choose the hours to do yoga with your baby most carefully.
Don’t force the baby to hold a pose longer if there is resistance

Never repeat a posture that has the baby barfing up or getting uncomfortable

Remember, the thing to achieve from yoga with the baby is not perfection by the book but optimum quality time and consciousness for the toddler.

When in the early stages of infancy, from 2 to 3 weeks after birth, the baby is barely acquainting to different ways of moving its body. At this stage, it will be more practical to ease the little one into the routine through slow and relaxed stretching. It is not possible to instruct the baby to take postures, so you must hold her by the arms and legs and, gently fold them into position. Determine nothing but a thorough massage, facilitating good circulation and some relaxation for the joints of the baby through this session.

Wake Up Stretch with Ananda Balasana

Make the baby lie on her back on a flat floor. Extend her arms over her head in a slow glide. Keep her legs outstretched in front. Pull her feet gently so that she can feel the stretch through her ankles and up to her knees. Lift her legs and arms gently and pull them closer and closer until the baby gets the game of holding her feet with her hands. Let her release at her own will and assume her natural state.

Relieving Flatulence with Pavanmuktasana

It is normal for babies to get gassy from time to time. This is when you need to keep her down on her back and, gently give presses from the sole of her feet and ease her up toward her knees and chest. Fold her up at the waist so that her belly receives a gentle squeeze, hold this posture for a breath. Then, allow the infant to release and relax.

Knee-to-Chest Pose

A variation on the squeezed-in folded pose, the knee to chest will be doing it one knee at a time. Lay her on her back, and simply press in one knee chest-wards. Hold it for a couple of breaths and change to the other leg.

Instead of laying the baby on a flat surface, you can also hold the little one on your outstretched legs while in a seated position. The factor to make sure while easing your baby in these postures is the calibration of her back. It is preferable to have her on a stable and straight back.

When your baby is a few months old, you can upgrade your sessions to more power building postures, like–

Bridge and Downward Facing Dog

The bridge could be a fun and feisty pose for a lively baby around 5-6 months of age. Have her lying on her back, bend the knees down with feet planted in the floor. Prop her hips up gently with your hands. Check for her body to go in a smooth arch from the knees to the shoulders and keep her in that state as you let your propping hands go off. Encourage her with claps and cheers for this feat and teach her to breath in deeply as the stretch deepens.