Entertaining baby: The advantages of walking as a new mummy

As a SAHM I have to find varied ways to entertain both me and the little one. One of those, which I loved both before baby was born and after has been our walks.

From hill walks with hiking boots, baby carrier and waterproofs to pram walks around the area we live, I love them all.

1. Walking gives you fresh air, and that does wonders for everyone!
2. A change of scene. I noted from early on baby and I would go stir crazy if we stayed in all day. A grumpy baby is not good!
3. Exercise, need I say anymore? Pushing a pram is hard work. Pushing a pram for an hour with shopping in the basket is even more hard work.??
4. Hydrating! I take a bottle of water or luke warm cup of tea, pop it in the drinks holder and it’s a great way to keep hydrated and even have a vaguely warm cup of tea! (More ways to have a hot cup of tea here)
5. Calming, a walk calms you down. If it’s been one of those days the rhythm and monotony will help
6. Variety. Remember not to just do the same walk, visit the ducks, pond or a more exciting park otherwise you might get bored of seeing the same places
7. Gossip Get some friends together and walk round the local park, and fit in a coffee too!??
8. Confidence?Start going for walks as soon as you can after baby is born. The confidence of going out every day does wonders, and really gets you in the routine of getting out every day
9. Family time. We often try to do a family walk at weekends, round the streets, park, or up a hill. I was brought up going up hills (and Munros) at weekends, and it’s something hubby and I have always enjoyed too.??
10. Most of all, baby might sleep

We first took Baby H up our local hill when she was 4 weeks old, it was one of the things we didn’t want to change. We’ve alway gone walking its our ‘thing’. I’ll admit we’ve done it less, and we’ve struggled recently as she’s been a very grumpy girl screaming the whole time so we’ve had to cut our walks short. So I’d recommend timing your walks well around naps, and not when baby might decide one o’clock is nap time! Believe me, I can never get her to nap twice in a day, and never before 3.30, but at weekends when we want to go for a walk she decides lunch time is nap time. Babies (yes, toddlers too) are a law unto themselves!

I completely recommend getting some friends together and organising a weekly or biweekly walk. Of course, fit in a coffee too! My nct friends and I did this from when our little ones were five or so weeks old. It was brilliant, we met in the car park, bundled the babies into their snowsuits and we walked for an hour around the parks and had coffee at the park cafe or the boating lake cafe. We were also known to walk from a park or car park?into town for lunch or a coffee, or even?just do circuits round the streets near our houses.

?How I wish I’d had a fitbit or excercise monitor to show just how much we did 6 weeks post birth! We did a lot of walking and I must say we all felt better for it, there’s nothing like a good walk and rant about the latest baby phase!

Did you find walking helped post-birth? Did your tribe of mummy friends do similar walks??

Lynne xx

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