Mommy and Me Playtime

Hello, this is Remy, and Remy is going to be my prop today for our mommy and me yoga. So we all are new moms, Remy's six and a half months old right now. So our playtime has changed as she's gotten older and she can do a lot more now than she could when she was two months old or four months old. So currently she's able to crawl and pull herself up to standing. So our playtime is very engaged.

I have to pay attention to her the whole time or she'll be hitting her head on things. When she was younger, a bit younger, I could just lay her down on her back, then she started to roll over, then she'd roll from stomach to back. So depending on where your child's at developmentally and what they're up to, I'm going to give a few things that you can do just to keep them soothed. Of course, if they're tired or hungry, that's going to be the solution. If they're not tired or hungry and they're just a little fussy, they might be bored.

So some things that I would do to just soothe Remy, especially as she was younger, would be swaddling her. Some babies love the swaddle, some do not. Of course, you can see I'm rocking a lot because that is amazing. She loves to just be swayed and rocked just about from the time she was born until now. So we do a lot of swaying.

She really, really loved feeling weightless. So this was excellent because it would get my arms quite a bit of work. So she's pretty happy. And then also just being held like this and making like a figure eight. That worked for quite a bit of time.

Of course, we're breastfeeding right now. She's kind of looking for it. Hi. Hi. And then bouncing.

Remy loves bouncing. So bouncing on a ball. Maybe you have a ball from when you were laboring and you want to make use of that. So we just sit on a ball. There was a time when Remy was really little and we would just sit in our bathroom because we had a fan in the bathroom that made us sound like a noise machine.

And we would just bounce. And that would be how I would get her to sleep. And that would be the only thing that suits her. So we just do a lot of bouncing. Hi, interacting, eye contact.

I talk to her a lot. If you don't have a ball, you can still mimic bouncing. I'm going to change positions and just hold her and then just bend the knees. And I sometimes will make the sound shush while I'm doing it. And at this age, that really works for her.

So if at any point the baby starts to get a little too fussy while we're doing some practice, these are all options that you have to soothe the child. Unless you have something that really works. So we're going to start with the wheels on the bus. This is something Remy likes now. The baby's too small and doesn't have muscle control for their neck.

This may not be an option, but this is something that Remy loves and if she's really fussy and we're in public, I do this a lot as well. The wheels on the bus go round and round round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town. The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish, swish swish, swish swish, swish swish swish, The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, all through the town. The baby on the bus goes wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, the baby on the bus goes wee, wee, wee, all through the town.

So she loves that one. And I definitely work up a sweat. My arms get worked in that one. So next we're going to go on to tummy time. So tummy time is great for babies right out of the womb.

We started tummy time with her on my chest. Then I would put her on the bopi and she started lifting her head like within the first week. She started to just make that effort. So important for the babies because that is what strengthens their spine and gives them their, starts to work their core so that they can do things like crawl, walk, sit upright. So you can't start tummy time soon enough.

Right out of the womb is a good time. So I'm going to put Remy down, but she probably won't stay on her tummy because she's on all fours. She'll be on hands and knees. If you lay them on their back and you just start to roll them over, as you can see, she's a little beyond that. So she's got the roll over, but you can gently guide them to roll and you just give them little guidance.

So then they figure it out on their own. So that's rolling over. She's not going to stay on her tummy because now that she can be on all fours and she's got lots of things to interact with, that's what she's going to choose. But if you're lucky, your baby's a little younger, you still have the opportunity of them just practicing on their tummy. And some things that you can do, I'm going to let Remy do her thing is take things like Shalabhasana.

So you can practice tummy time as well. So you'll just come onto your stomach, lengthen your tailbone, pull your belly in, reach the pubic bone towards the floor and on an inhale, you'll lift your shoulders and your legs. See if you can keep the outer ankles firmed in, the inner edges of the feet together, lift the chest and then exhale and release. I'm going to move my little baby back so she doesn't let the flowers collapse on her. And then let's do another round of Shalabhasana.

So arms down alongside the body, press the pubic bone and the front hip bones down. On an inhale, we'll lift the chest, keep the ankles firmed in, toes can spread. If you have the pleasure of looking at the edge of your nose, that would be the gazing point. But if you have to watch your little baby, then they're your new gazing point. And then exhale, go ahead and release down.

And then we'll do one more round on this one, taking the hands to your lower ribs, flat on the floor, inhale, lifting the chest, lifting the legs, breathing deeply in and out through the nose. And then we'll exhale, release and just come to a child's pose. So if you're spending time with your child and you just have some toys, a lot of times they'll interact with the world and they'll play and you get a few minutes to fit in some exercises for yourself or some breathing techniques, even meditation. So then we'll come back onto hands and knees and we'll just do some leg lifts. Hold the belly in, press your hands flat and you want to support the low back with your abdomen.

And then we'll take the left leg straight and on an inhale, we'll raise it five times, keeping the hips level, as level as you can, one, two, three, four, five, then turn the leg out a little bit, five times that way, one, two, three, four, five, bend your left knee, flex the foot and just pulse the left leg up, one, two, three, four, five, return back to a straight leg, left knee to left shoulder, one, two, three, four and five. Straighten the leg again, flex the foot, take the left leg out to the side, maybe bend the knee if it's a little too much to have it straight and we'll just pulse the leg up five times, one, two, three, four and five. Take the leg back and release it down and then we'll do the other side. So we'll take the right leg back and keeping the leg in neutral so the inner thigh is lifting towards the ceiling. Take one, two, small presses, three, four and five and then turning the leg out from deep in the hip socket, pressing five more times, one, two, three, four and five and then coming back to neutral, bending the right knee, flex the right foot, small presses to the ceiling, keeping the hips level, one, two, three, four and five, re-straightening the leg, taking the right knee to the right shoulder, one, two, three, four and five, then straightening the leg again, flexing the foot, either taking the leg straight out to the side or doing this with a bent knee, one, two, three, four and five.

Reaching back to center and releasing the knee down to the floor. Okay, so those are a few things that you can do. I'm going to set Remy to seated because she can sit right now. Want to have a seat, good job. She's pretty stable there, navasana.

So we'll take the hands behind the knees, knees together, roll the shoulders back, lift the chest up, maybe lift the feet off the floor and maybe extend the arms, possibly the legs. If you extend the legs, toes or eye level, it's one, two, three, four and five. Release across the ankles, maybe set the toes, see if you can lift your hips up, maybe lift your feet and lower down, and we'll do that again, one, two, three, four and five. Cross the other way, set the hands, inhale up, maybe lift the feet, lower down, and one last time, navasana, one, two, keep lifting the chest, remember you can always bring the hands behind the knees if needed, four and five. Cross the ankles, inhale, lift up, exhale, release.

We're going to do the same thing, navasana, but we're going to slightly change it, giving yourself some core strength in working the obliques. So we'll take the legs straight, or knees can be bent, and we'll take the arms over to the right and lift your chest, one, two, three. Another option is straighten the legs and lower the left leg down as you do it, one, two, three, four, five. Come back to center, and then the other side, so you can either keep the knees bent and just do little pulses here, or straight legs, one, two, three, four and five. Come back to center, and exhale, release, well done.

So a little bit more for the baby, Downward Facing Dog is something that you can do. Can I take you over here, hi, hi. So she's interacting with the scarf, which is good. And then there's something called Sensory Play, which while your baby will stay on their back, you can just kind of take Downward Facing Dog and either use your hair on their hands. She's interacting with the scarf right now, but at a smaller age, just having them start to connect scarfs or hair, touching their skin, will maybe get them to start laughing, or smiling, can I put you back on your back?

And then we do raspberries on her feet. Or the belly. And then the scarf, the purpose of the scarf was, she really likes this. So that wakes them up and gets them to notice ticklish sensations. And then one way that you can start getting them to interact with toys, especially around four months or less, maybe even around two or three months, is Remy, Remy, look, baby.

If you kind of get their attention while the toy is up and they can see it, and then if you start to bring it towards their chest, they'll automatically start to reach for it. And this works with a ball as well. And she loves this toy. Of course, everything goes in the mouth at this point. So there's a few ideas of how you can play with the baby.

You can get your yoga practice in and you can have very present and interactive playtime with your new love. Thank you and namaste.