Ditch that
Exercising with infants and toddlers
For some of us, the formula exercise plus child (add difficulty factor if
multiplied by two) plus stroller equals catastrophe may not be far from the
truth, but there are ways to exercise with your children, and sanity, in check.
stroller
BY JESSICA PALMERI
t sounds easy in theory, right? Place
infant in stroller, place toddler on bike,
and off you go. Except your baby cries
every time you put her down or your
toddler wants you to carry him because his
legs are tired. You end up giving up before you
have even managed 200 metres.
I won’t tell a lie: incorporating outdoor
physical activity into your life can be damn
hard once kids come along. Don’t despair,
though; there are a few options available to
help you past those first few years.
I’m not suggesting that you take your
toddler on a marathon or your newborn
mountain-climbing. You still have to be a
responsible adult, of course, but I am stating
from experience that you can still do amazing
outdoor activities that get your heart rate
going.
So how do you go for a decent walk on a dirt
track or even a nice stroll along the sand? How
do you manage one of the well-known hikes at
the Glass House Mountains on the east coast of
Australia?
You will, of course, need to ditch that
stroller!
“Women have been carrying their babies
for generations here,” our young guide
informed me on one of my first
overseas adventures.
I was visiting the hill
tribes in Northern
Thailand.
“The women
carry their babies
on their backs
up and down the
mountains all day
while they are working on the fields,” she
added.
I watched fascinated as an older woman
deftly tied a tattered-looking strip of cloth
around her, enclosing her grandchild who was
clinging monkey-like to her hip.
This beautiful image remained with me
into motherhood, so when my first-born
didn’t want to be apart from me for more than
one minute for the first 12 months of his life,
I proudly wore him in a sling everywhere,
including the toilet!
In recent years, there has been a revival
in ‘natural parenting’, and a strong move
away from archaic theories around ‘spoiling’
babies and infants (that is, holding them too
much). As a result, a lot of really well-designed
baby carriers that ensure your baby is held
comfortable and close have come on to the
market.
This is where the solution to getting
outdoors comes in — with the modern design
of soft-structured baby and toddler carriers.
These carriers are fantastic, because they fold
up really small when compared with bulky,
hard-framed, backpack-style carriers. Due to
the fact that they are made from fabric, you
can usually just throw them in the washing
machine once they get all sweaty.
On a recent trip to Central Australia,
I carried my 18-month-old toddler in a
soft-structured Ergo Baby Carrier on the
well-known Rim Walk at Kings Canyon.
This 6km walk takes around three and a half
hours, with a fairly brutal steep ascent at the
beginning of the walk. I could literally feel the
pregnancy weight falling off my thighs. The
huffing and puffing is worth the view from thetop; however, unfortunately, there is no way
of seeing this memorable landscape with a
stroller.
This same carrier, four years old and still
going strong, has carried both of my kids
overseas and around Australia at various ages,
allowing me to get outdoors and exercise
while seeing some of the world’s memorable
landscapes. It also allows me to give our
beloved golden retriever some much-needed
exercise around the block.
Hard-structured carriers are still extremely
popular, particularly for older babies and
toddlers, however can only be worn as a
back carrier due to their metal frames. My
Kathmandu hard-structured carrier has
completed many memorable walks with me
around Australia.
What if your child has outgrown a carrier,
but is still not old enough to keep up? This is
where the Piggyback Rider comes in!
This genius invention is worn like a
backpack, with a lightweight bar that sits around
your hip area. Toddlers and young children can
then ‘ride the bar’ and hop on and off as they
please. The child has their own backpack that is
harnessed into yours to avoid fall injury.
If exercising outdoors is your style, you don’t
have to be confined to stroller-friendly places
— you can still go on hikes and get out there
and see the world, just as you envisioned before
children.
So set out around nap time, wrap your baby in
their wrap or carrier, and attempt that hike — or
even just take the dog for his much-needed walk
around the block.
But, please, promise me you will ditch that
stroller.oxygenmagAU Jan/Feb 2018 93