# Exercising with your baby > After a straightforward birth, you can start with walking, gentle stretches and pelvic floor exercises when you feel up to it. Pram walking, babywearing and parent-and-baby classes can all help. Build up slowly and use a pram or carrier that suits your baby. - Type: Guide - Topic: Pregnancy & Early Parenthood › Active Early Parenthood - Status: test content, not reviewed yet - URL: https://twikka.com/learn/exercising-with-your-baby - Updated: 2026-10-21 - **Start gently:** walking, gentle stretches and pelvic floor exercises can begin as soon as you feel up to it after a straightforward birth [1]. - **Pram walking is a good way back in:** it is light to moderate activity, suited to easing back into exercise after birth [2]. - **Spread your activity across the week:** most guidelines suggest 2–3 sessions rather than doing it all at once [3]. - **Check your equipment:** use a pram or carrier that suits your baby's age and the activity, used as its maker says. - **One class a week is a start:** add walking or home exercise on other days [2]. ## What exercise can you do with your baby? After a straightforward birth, you can start with walking, gentle stretches and pelvic floor exercises as soon as you feel up to it [1]. Gentle core exercises are generally safe from about 2 weeks, depending on how you feel. None of these should cause pain or discomfort, so ease off or stop any that do [4]. Guidelines for after birth commonly include aerobic activity and pelvic floor exercises, with strengthening and stretching often added [3]. UK guidance is to build back up to muscle-strengthening activities twice a week [5]. Most guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, and the 2025 Canadian guideline supports a minimum of 120 minutes [3]. Treat these as a direction, not a test: any amount of activity is better than none [3]. If you weren't active before the birth, build up gradually [3]. The Canadian guideline suggests at least 15 minutes of aerobic exercise on three to five days a week, and says tired days may call for shorter or gentler sessions [6]. Running with a buggy is a later option. Advice on when to start ranges from about 6 months to 6–9 months, so that your baby's neck and back are developed enough to cope with the motion [7][4]. Use a buggy made for running, used as its maker says. Never run or jog with a pram that isn't made for it. ## Is pram walking or babywearing good exercise? Yes, both can be. Pram walking is light to moderate activity, and it suits easing back into exercise after birth [2]. The NHS advises pushing the pram or buggy briskly, with your arms bent, your back straight and the handles at a height where your elbows are bent at right angles [1]. Babywearing makes your body work harder. Carrying a baby in your arms felt harder than carrying in a sling, and front or back carries seem to change your body less than carrying in your arms [8]. Babywearing also raises your heart rate, and walking downhill with a carrier raised breathing effort [8]. So start with short babywearing walks and build up slowly. Keep the carrier suited to your baby's age and use it as its maker says. If you feel unusually breathless, dizzy or unwell, stop. If it is mild and settles, mention it to a doctor. If it doesn't settle, follow the emergency advice below. > **Try this:** This week, take one short walk with the pram at a pace that feels brisk for you, with the handles at elbow height. Add a few minutes next week if it felt comfortable. ## What are parent-and-baby exercise classes like? They are usually friendly, small and set up for people with babies. One council-run example, Parents and Prams, is for parents and caregivers with children under two. It is a 45-minute circuit-style session for up to about 10–12 people, with low-impact exercise and no running or jumping [9]. Babies can come along, feeding is welcome and breaks are encouraged. You don't need to be fit or have exercise experience, and instructors offer options for different fitness levels [9]. It also gives you a place to meet other parents, which can help if the early years feel isolating [9]. Group classes for new parents tend to lift self-reported activity and wellbeing. Most offer only about once a week for 40–60 minutes, which is too little on its own to meet the weekly guidelines [2]. WHO guidance is to start with small amounts and gradually increase how often, how hard and how long you exercise [10]. So treat a class as a start, and add walking or home exercise on other days. Before you join, ask: - whether babies can come along, whether feeding and breaks are fine, and how big the class is - whether the class is low impact; running or jumping classes are best left until your midwife or doctor says you're ready Tell the instructor you've recently had a baby, and mention any injury or worry. Ask for easier or harder options. ## When to check with a health professional If you're starting exercise after a long break, it's always a good idea to see your doctor first. After pregnancy or childbirth, check with your midwife or doctor before anything strenuous, especially after a caesarean or a difficult birth [3]. Start gently, with pelvic floor exercises first. For an injury or a health condition, see a health professional, such as your doctor or a physio. A sore muscle or joint is a reason to ease off. If pain, a heavy or pressing feeling in the pelvis, or leaking urine continues, see your doctor, midwife or a physio. If you feel dizzy, sick, sweaty or unwell during or after activity, stop and see a doctor, even if it passes. Call your local emergency number for chest pain or pressure (or pain spreading to the arm, neck, jaw or back, especially with sweating or feeling sick), severe breathlessness, fainting or collapse, signs of a stroke, a serious injury, or someone who isn't safe. After birth, bleeding, calf pain or swelling, or a bad headache or changes in vision need the midwife, doctor or maternity unit straight away. ## Quick answers ### Can I exercise if I am breastfeeding? Exercise appears not to harm breastfeeding, though that isn't fully certain yet. Walking, gentle stretches and pelvic floor exercises are a sensible place to begin. Start gently and build up how often, how hard and how long you exercise over time, as you would for any return to activity. ### Is a short walk with the pram worth it? Yes. Activity of any length counts towards the weekly amounts, and there is no minimum of 10 minutes at a time. Some activity is better than none. Begin with a walk that feels comfortable, and add a little time or pace over the weeks as your energy allows. ## Sources 1. NHS. Keeping fit and healthy with a baby. https://www.nhs.uk/baby/support-and-services/keeping-fit-and-healthy-with-a-baby/ 2. Peralta LR et al. (2021). Group-based physical activity interventions for postpartum women with children aged 0-5 years old: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. BMC Women's Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01581-1 3. Lan Q et al. (2026). Physical activity postpartum: A systematic review and quality appraisal of clinical guidelines. Women's Health (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057261421734 4. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Returning to exercise and sport after childbirth. https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/media/43daol3i/109181exercise.pdf 5. UK Chief Medical Officers (2026). CMO physical activity guidelines - women after childbirth (birth to 12 months). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a4f5647559c26eacf438f84/cmo-physical-activity-guidelines-women-childbirth-birth-to-12-months-july-2026.pdf 6. Evenson KR et al. (2014). Summary of international guidelines for physical activity after pregnancy. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. https://doi.org/10.1097/ogx.0000000000000077 7. Moving Medicine. Postnatal buggy running. https://movingmedicine.ac.uk/evidence/postnatal-buggy-running/ 8. Taboada-Iglesias Y et al. (2025). Physical and Physiological Consequences of Babywearing on the Babywearer: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13172193 9. Yarra City Council. Parents and Prams. https://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/yarra-leisure/gym/parents-and-prams 10. Bull FC et al. (2020). World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-102955 --- Source: Twikka (https://twikka.com/learn/exercising-with-your-baby). General information about physical activity, not medical advice.