Baby steps
Having a baby needn’t be the death knell for your life as a walker. It’s great for their development, your bond… and your sanity!
Why walking with your baby is great for their development, your bond – and your sanity!
TWO MONTHS AFTER giving birth, Jen Lumanlan set out to trek the Tour de Mont Blanc. Hefting baby Carys on her front and a nappystuffed pack on her back, she braved vertiginous ascents, icy temperatures and communal sleeping quarters to tramp 170km through the wildly beautiful Mont Blanc massif.
“It was critical to developing a sense that I could be a mother and not totally lose myself in the process,” she says. My friend and I approached it as a series of day hikes and at the end of each day we asked each other if we were still having fun. At the end of the third day we stopped asking – because we just were having fun.”
It takes superhuman levels of grit to hit the Alps with a newborn, but Jen isn’t the only new parent out there proving that postpartum existence isn’t all nappies, sleep deprivation and sing-and-sign classes. The simple, heartening fact is this: while there are plenty of things you have to give up when you welcome a new family member, walking isn’t one of them.
STARTING THEM YOUNG
“You want to do…what?” my husband Guy asked me, a few hours after our daughter was born.
“Er, go for a walk?” I ventured apologetically. “But you just had a baby!” I pointed to the spanking new front carrier that I’d been dying to try out for months. “Well, she can come too.”
That first pain-filled waddle around the local countryside wasn’t exactly Jen Lumanlan-worthy, but it was the start of something special. In those murky, sleep-deprived days of early parenthood, walking was the crutch that helped me limp through this brave new world of dirty nappies, puke-stained babygrows and post-natal anxiety without going totally spare. My daughter had toured vast swathes of the Cotswolds, the South Downs Way and the Pyrenees before she turned three months old – and, slightly to my surprise, she actually seemed to enjoy it.
There’s nothing unusual about my experience. A 2014 study in the European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research found that fresh air promotes language development and healthy sleep in newborns. It’s good for their mothers as well – pregnancy and postnatal fitness expert Joanna Helcke says that walking is one of the first activities she’d recommend after giving birth. In her words: “It’s what the body is designed to do and it tends to keep baby happy, making it one of the few forms of fitness that doesn’t require childcare.”
CARRY ON WALKING
If you plan to hit the footpath with your sprog as soon as you’ve lost that postpartum waddle, the first thing you’ll need is a good baby carrier. Picking a carrier is a little like finding the perfect pair of walking boots – you’ll work your way through dozens of duds until one model just clicks.
“I would strongly recommend going to a sling library to try out different carriers,” advises Joanna. “It is important to check that the person running the sling library has
proper training in this field. Women should be fitted with a sling or carrier that is ergonomically correct for themselves and their babies.”
Newborns need plenty of neck support and a snug place to sleep, so start them off in a front carrier facing your chest. When they’re able to hold their head up for extended periods of time (that was around three months old for us, but many carrier manufacturers recommend waiting until five months) you can turn them round to face the front. Backpacks are usable from around six months of age – although my daughter stayed in the front carrier until her feet were knocking against my knees.
FINDING YOUR HAPPY
Generally speaking, babies are pretty content to hang out in the carrier. It’s warm, they feel safe, the motion soothes them, and (when they get past the blob stage) they enjoy watching the world go by. I could manage around eight miles with my daughter before she started getting restless and my back began to twinge. Your magic mileage might be more or less, but there are a few things you can do to make long walks more enjoyable for all.
“Time it right,” advises Inga Geach, who walks with her oneyear-old, Otis. “Try to coincide the beginning of the walk with naptime and plan a feed during your lunch stop. Learning to breastfeed in the carrier can also help to keep your baby happy while you tramp.”
By the time my daughter was about three months old, we had a good little routine going: after she’d napped and fed, I turned her round so that she could watch the world go by until she needed to nap again. As she got older, snacks and songs provided additional entertainment material. You’d be amazed at how long a toddler will stay in the carrier when there’s a constant stream of ginger biscuits to gorge on.
THE NEXT STEP
The day will eventually come when your tot ceases to be a millstone around your neck and morphs into an intrepid little walker. With plenty of encouragement and just a pinch of bribery, my two-year-old can now manage a couple of miles on her own. Together, we’ve tramped to Scottish waterfalls, scaled Pyrenean peaks and gone searching for fish eagles in South Africa. All that early walking will, I hope, have laid the groundwork for a long life full of adventure.
“Walking was the crutch that helped me limp through this brave new world.”