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Getting Baby To Sleep With Yoga

As I have been embarking on my yoga teacher training this year, I have decided to try to use what I learn and apply it to helping my little guy sleep. I mean, you can use yoga for anything, right? Even helping babies sleep? I sure hope so.

You see, over the past 9 months of my little guy’s life, we have had quite a time trying to get him to go to sleep let alone sleep throughout the night. When you head to bed at night and consider when should I wake up, you should aim for a good eight hours. But when you have a little one crying throughout the night, this can be difficult to achieve. It’s important to do what you can to get them to sleep peacefully.  We have literally tried everything: “The Cry It Out Method”, “Feed Him A Bowl of Cereal and Then A Bottle of Milk Method”, “Warm The Room and Turn On A Sweet Lullaby”, etc. etc. It has not worked; he wakes up at least twice a night if not more wanting to nurse or is just simply awake. So now we are at the point of, “We will try ANYTHING!!!”

That is when I started my research on helping baby sleep with certain yoga poses. And this is what I found:

  • Babies do much better when actions are performed repetitively. Babies begin to relate and respond to yoga postures that are consistently used everyday. Because yoga feels good, babies are naturally drawn to yoga!
  • The first posture seems to be rather effective because my son loves to hear my voice and the songs that I sing to him. I lay my son down on his back, or seated if he is NOT wanting to lay down (which is the norm) and begin working his arms in a sequence type of flow. I take his little hands in mine and bring his arms out to the side of his body at shoulder height. This movement helps to open his chest up for a simple heart opening stretch. Then I bring his hands back to the center of his chest and lean in to give him a little kiss. I do this several times over and over again. Like I said previously, the repetition is key!
  • If my little guy seems to have an upset stomach or is a tad colicy, I will do this little exercise with him to help get his digestive system moving. Laying his tummy over my thigh, the gentle pressure seems to help ease the pain or upset stomach. When I do this, I like to run his back or gently rub his stomach with my pointer and middle finger ever so gently. Another great variation to this is to support baby under his chest while he lies on his back and cycle his legs.
  • Baby yoga is very simple. I found this out when we attended some Baby and Mama classes in the West Asheville area. It doesn’t take much to stretch and enjoy a yoga session with your little one. To be honest, Sawyer does not like to do yoga at a studio; he is too interested in the teacher’s instruments and props that are lying around the floor. The last class we visited he was the only crawling baby and decided it was fun to crawl and not participate in the exercise whatsoever. Luckily, the teacher was game and let him do whatever he felt like doing. It was funny all the same.

Final Thoughts

I am a true yogi and I think it is extremely beneficial for everyone and anyone that wants to use it for a method of exercise and relaxation. Although baby poses are simple, they are effective and help relax the little one to sleep a bit better at night. Since I have just begun this process I haven’t seen immediate results, but I am very hopeful! With that said, Namaste ya’ll!

With Motherly Love,

Mara

About Mara Watts

marahconsulting@gmail.com'