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Baby Yoga 

The style of baby yoga covered in my classes is based on Hatha Yoga - the union of balance of body and mind. It incorporates massage, soft stretching and gentle movements to make it appropriate for babies, ensuring that the experience is both fun and rewarding. This tends to be seen as gentle yoga based on balance and stretching to baby's own capacity and not beyond. 

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Benefits of Baby Yoga

Baby Yoga helps to build trust and understanding, enhances communication and builds confidence, as both mum and baby get to know each other. This promotes a feeling of security, as baby becomes accustomed to mum’s touch, voice and smell. Baby yoga helps to release tension, is relaxing, calming and can be quite a lot of fun. It supports baby’s physical, emotional and mental development. Some of the many benefits are listed below: 

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  • Promotes longer and deeper sleep by regulating the breathing and increases the levels of oxygen in the bloodstream. 

  • Promotes bonding and attachment between parent and baby

  • Helps elicit the mind-body-spirit connection

  • Helps balance, coordination and motor skills. The vestibular system contributes to our sense of spatial awareness and balance. Yoga helps stimulate this to benefit movement and balance. 

  • Strengthens baby’s body and develops reflexes

  • Helps with reaching developmental milestones e.g. rolling, crawling, sitting etc. 

  • Aids trust and social interaction. This is helped by moves that elicit the moro reflex as these will build trust with the caregiver as well as teaching the infant to be able to deal with the unexpected. 

  • Stimulates the brain and nervous system

  • Improves muscle development and muscle tone with many moves based on flexion and extension of the muscles.

  • Maintains flexibility in the spine and joints

  • Improves the general functioning of the immune system

  • Regulates and strengthens the digestive system which may reduce the discomfort of colic, wind and constipation

  • Improves blood flow

  • Reduces stress and tension

  • Creates oxytocin and improves relaxation 

  • Increases parenting skills when it comes to handling baby safely 

  • Allows parents to have fun with their babies 

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The attachment bond is so important but does not develop overnight and one session of baby yoga will not create this bond, however the benefits are numerous in helping this bond grow and develop. Firstly, it helps parents to understand their child’s unique cues and respond accordingly. During a yoga session, mum can watch her baby’s facial expressions and movements in order to discover their sensory needs, become more familiar with any sounds they make and what touch and movements they enjoy with positive engagement cues. Secondly, taking the time to have fun, play and talk to your baby is crucial. During yoga parents are encouraged to talk to their baby throughout, alongside smiling and touching. The tone of voice, eye contact, facial expressions and a loving touch are important ways of communicating and the importance of these cannot be overstated. The baby yoga course is not only designed to teach parents different movements/stretches but it gives them the opportunity to focus solely on their baby with no external distractions and this will help with bonding and development, as well as, being able to recognise and respond to their baby’s unique cues and needs. 

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Yoga helps stimulate the vestibular system to benefit movement and balance.  Certain poses or movements in yoga can help promote co-ordination and motor skills which babies will need to reach their milestones. For example, the ‘tiny twist’ will provide baby with the first part of the movement needed to roll and the ‘big kiss’ will aid with motor skills as well as co-ordination as baby realises that they have limbs which can move in opposite directions which is needed in order to crawl. Babies who have the opportunity to explore movement have greater confidence and ability when it comes to sitting, crawling and walking. 

 

Oil should not be used in baby yoga as most of the movements rely on the parent holding and/or lifting the baby so the skin should not be slippery. 

‘Tune-in-time’ in an important element of any baby yoga class as it allows for both parent and baby to take a few moments to relax (preferably each day) to release tension, let go of stress and revitalise the body, mind and soul. If mum/dad relax then baby will follow suit and relax for those few moments, they take lead from their primary caregiver. 

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