When the new roommate arrives, it brings many changes, and many a cherished habit comes to an abrupt end. Mothers in particular often face the question of how to combine sports and motherhood.
In a guest post, Christiane Ohlhoff, sports enthusiast and co-operator of the blog "Babies and Barbells," tells us how she succeeded in doing so thanks to the swing2sleep.
Sports with baby: Babies & Barbells meets swing2sleep
Hello everyone,
today I would like to tell you something about why the swing2sleep helped me with exercising. "Sports with baby" is not always easy, and for many mothers, it can also mean enormous stress. Especially when the baby can hardly or not be put down at all. But first, I'll tell you a bit about myself so you can get a little picture.
My name is Christiane Ohlhoff, I am 32 years old and a freight forwarding clerk on parental leave. For 2 years, I have had my own CrossFit box with my boyfriend Philipp, I am active as a CrossFit coach, teach children CrossFit, and am a team member at Babies & Barbells. As you can already read, sports play a big role in my life.
On June 15, 2017, I became a mom for the first time. I believe every mom will agree with me when I say that this day changed my life a little ☺
The little man puts me in a good mood every single day. I am happy every day that I am a mom.
Maximilian would not let himself be put down
Now we first had to get to know little Maximilian. We realized relatively quickly that he doesn't like being put down or sleeping in his own bed. In the evenings, sleeping was always fine because he lay in a sidecar bed right next to mine. During the day, however, we had our problems. He slept like a baby as long as it was moving or he was in our immediate vicinity: in the car, in the stroller, in his carrier, and on mom and dad. But if we put the little one in his own bed, he decided after about 2 minutes that his sleep was now over. He even woke up when we were driving and turned off the engine.
We were looking for a solution
It was the case that I had heard about the swing2sleep for a while. But all the time I thought to myself that it couldn't be that I couldn't manage to get my son to be calm without an aid. Do you know that feeling when you think you absolutely have to manage it on your own! You somehow don't want to fail!
I have to say now that that is the biggest nonsense!
When Maxi was about 4 weeks old, the laundry was piling up, and I hardly managed to get anything else done ☺. Furthermore, sports with baby was unthinkable for me at that time. I told Philipp about the swing2sleep and told him that I would like to have it. Philipp naturally told me immediately to order it. We had considered testing it first, but then decided directly to buy it. But I think it's really good that you can also test it, since it does cost a bit.
The swing2sleep moved in with us
I think it took about 5 days until we had it. At first, you are a little skeptical about putting your little baby in there. BUT you don't have to be at all. The assembly and connection were not that difficult. Then we tried it out and put Maxi in the hammock. He looked a little skeptical, but only for a very short time. I think 10 minutes later he lay in the hammock and slept for the next 5 hours. That was the first time he had been in the same place for so long at a stretch without being carried by us. During that time, I caught up on everything that was otherwise not so easy, since Maxi was always with me in the carrier and didn't want to be put down. At temperatures sometimes reaching 30°C, that was no pleasure. In the days that followed, we established that Maxi always took his afternoon nap in his hammock. Not for 5 hours, but always so that he was very refreshed. We could also just put Maxi in the hammock for a bit. I think he found it very relaxing. Sometimes he lay in there for another 30 minutes even though he was already awake or had finished sleeping.
More time for myself again with the swing2sleep
At some point, I thought to myself that what works so well at home should also work in the CrossFit box. I disassembled the hammock and took it with me to CrossFit Ahoi. When I was teaching or exercising myself, I simply hung the hammock in the rack and put Maxi in it. This allowed me to go about my business in peace. Of course, I only put him in there when he was tired or when I felt he wanted a little peace and quiet.
That might sound a bit selfish to some, but I believe our babies are best off when we are doing well too. I knew Maxi was doing very well in the hammock and he felt comfortable. I could exercise in peace with my baby. It didn't take long before we bought a second swing2sleep, simply because we didn't feel like constantly assembling and disassembling the hammock. For the moms in my Babies & Barbells course, this was of course great because they now also had the opportunity to do "sports with baby."
Babies & Barbells: What we do and who we are
The Babies & Barbells family consists of Mintra Mattison and me, as well as our little ones: Marlee, Ari, Carene, and Maxi. Mintra and I are passionate CrossFit moms and love sharing our experiences. Exercise during pregnancy did us good, and we noticed that sports during pregnancy is associated with a big question mark for many.
Independently of each other, we did our research, attended courses, spoke with doctors, midwives, and experts, and lo and behold – Babies & Barbells courses have sprung up almost everywhere in Hamburg. Thursdays with Christiane at CrossFit Ahoi (Rahlstedt) and Saturdays with Mintra at CrossFit HH (Barmbek). In our courses, we teach pregnant women and moms how they can exercise with their baby in a healthy way. Even if our baby doesn't want to be without mom for a while, we have many ideas! We involve our babies and show you how you can do exercises with baby that you might then also be able to do at home.
Our common goal is to make training during pregnancy what it should be again: fun in movement! That's why we decided to continue together to bundle our knowledge and expertise.
Where can you find us?
We share our experiences with you at www.babiesandbarbells.com. You can also find us on Facebook under Babies & Barbells or on Instagram under babies_barbells_Instagram. We welcome questions or suggestions that might inspire us to write a new post.
We hope for the future that even more trainers, doctors, and people in general who have something to do with sports will be familiar with the questions surrounding sports and exercise during and after pregnancy. That is what we are committed to.
My experience with the swing2sleep
Now back to the topic ☺. In the beginning, the moms still hoped that Maxi wouldn't sleep in his hammock so they could put their baby in it. Sometimes one mom or another had to stay a little longer because the little ones simply didn't want to get out. I had it a little easier with Maxi; I simply turned off the swing2sleep and two minutes later he was awake. I think it only took a few weeks before several swing2sleeps were hanging in our rack.
The moms knew: their children were lying relaxed in the swing2sleep. This allowed us to focus on our postnatal exercises and our sports in a relaxed manner.
Many of my moms ordered a swing2sleep because they are all very convinced by the hammock. The swing2sleep naturally helps us moms to have our hands free for once. I think I speak for every mom when I say: even more important is that our babies and children are doing well. We would never do anything that is bad for our children. When Maxi lay in the swing2sleep at noon and wanted to get out, he was always totally relaxed and balanced. The hammock did him a lot of good!
If you would like to test the swing2sleep now so that you too can be active in sports again or simply have more time for yourself because your baby can hardly or not be put down at all, then click here.
The swing2sleep team wishes you and your baby an active time.
