Bonding with your bundle of joy is not only a precious time as a new mother, but is also incredibly important for the development of your baby. When parent and baby spend time bonding, it fosters positive self-esteem and healthy relationships in the child’s life later on. We’ve put together a list of the best ideas for bonding with your baby as soon as you’re ready.
 
1. Turn Feeding Time into Attachment Time
A great way for you to better understand your baby’s facial expressions and to have intimate contact that will lead to a close and trusting relationship is to turn feeding time into an exercise of connecting. Learn to read baby’s facial expressions and help baby to understand that you are a source of comfort and care. If you are unable to breastfeed, this can also be done with a bottle and skin-to-skin contact. Dad can also join in on this activity as well through bottle feeding.
 
2. Baby Massage
Baby massage has become increasingly popular recently due to its ability to help relieve gas, create a stimulating bond, and calm baby. Using an all-natural, baby safe lotion during massage time is always the way to go. Be gentle but firm and listen to your baby to determine when he’s ready to move on to a new activity.
 
3. Mommy and Me Exercise Classes
Bringing your baby along for the ride for post-natal exercise class is a great way to expose your baby to a stimulating environment, other babies, and new experiences out of the home with one another. There is something very soothing and comforting for both baby and mother to be connected while mom is performing these highly specialized post-natal exercises. Check out a Babies at the Barre™ virtual or in-person class for a unique way to bond with baby, gain strength, and build friendships.
 
4. Make a Special Comforting Activity with Baby
Weather it is a specific way of rocking, holding, or patting, make a routine way to connect that works for you and your baby. This can be personal for mom and dad respectively so you each have your own signature way of comforting and connecting with your little one!
 
5. Respond to Baby’s Cries
Especially in the first 3 months of life, your baby needs to know she can trust you to always be there for her. Don’t worry about spoiling your baby! The result will be trust-building and will help your baby later in life to become an empathetic adult.
 
6. Go on House Tours
Simply walking around your house and stopping whenever your baby becomes enthralled with something in her surroundings is a great way to bond and help your baby learn to explore. Things that might seem mundane to adults are a whole new adventure in life for a baby. Share these moments together.
 
7. Talk to Baby About Your Day
Narrating even the simplest of tasks is a great way to help the future development of verbal skills, as well as helping you get away with completing tasks and bonding with baby at the same time! Just because your baby doesn’t understand what you’re saying doesn’t mean that it isn’t having an impact. She will be happy to listen to the sound of your voice and watch you complete tasks as you make eye contact and include her in activities.

​Written by Tori Levine, mom and founder of Babies at the Barre™, a unique mommy & me exercise class and mom group / community all in one!  Meet other moms via in-person or online classes all while wearing your baby. Learn more about our low impact, effective mommy & me exercise classes here.

It’s never too early to start practicing tummy time with your baby. Tummy time is important because of its impact on your baby’s development. Babies are born lacking neck strength and when you place them on their tummies they have to lift up their heads to see their surroundings. Since this doesn’t come naturally to babies, they can be a bit fussy when you first start tummy time so it’s a good idea to introduce it slowly and try to make it as comfortable as possible. Here are some tips you can follow to make tummy time a little bit easier:
 
1. Put baby in your lap
 
Just for a few minutes each day you can lay your baby on his or her tummy across your lap to start the exercise. Once your baby grows stronger, place your baby tummy down on a blanket on the floor after a diaper change or nap. Arrange favorite toys within his or her reach. Once baby starts getting used to tummy time you can increase the period of time you keep baby on his or her stomach.
 
2. Join your baby
 
Once your baby is practicing tummy time on the floor, get down to his level so mommy is right there beside him. You can lie down opposite your baby facing him so he does not have to move too much to see you. Then try singing songs or playing peekaboo to hold his attention and keep him entertained while on his tummy.
 
3. Use an exercise ball
 
If you have an exercise ball around the house, now is a great time to use it to make tummy time more enjoyable. You can place baby tummy down on the exercise ball and start to gently roll him back and forth – he will love the rocking motion! If you change the angle at which baby is on the ball you can make the experience more challenging or more comfortable.
 
4. Go at baby’s pace
 
Since tummy time isn’t always baby’s favorite thing, you should take cues from your baby and move at his pace. It’s recommended to practice tummy time for 30 minutes a day but it doesn’t have to be 30 minutes straight. You can start by putting baby on your lap for a few minutes in the morning, then moving to the floor for a few minutes in the afternoon, and then doing another session a little bit later. If your baby starts getting too fussy it’s ok to stop and move onto a different activity.
 
5. Play airplane
 
Kids love to play “airplane” with their parents but you probably didn’t know that it’s a good tummy time exercise too! You should wait until baby is around 4 months old and has sufficient head control to play this one. All you need to do is lie on your back and bend your legs and place baby tummy down on your legs as you hold him firmly. Fair warning: baby will want to do this again and again!

​Written by Tori Levine, mom and founder of Babies at the Barre™, a unique mommy & me exercise class and mom group / community all in one!  Meet other moms via in-person or online classes all while wearing your baby. Learn more about our low impact, effective mommy & me exercise classes here.

As a new mom you’re often so preoccupied with baby that your own health and self-care tend to go out the window. But how can you take care of baby if you’re not looking out for yourself? Your own postpartum health is just as important as your baby’s health. Our motto is simple, happy healthy mama, healthy happy baby!  You might be thinking, “well, sure but who has time for that?” and that’s why we’re bringing you 10 new mom healthy hacks for quick and simple ways to get your health back on track after baby.
 
1. Try out babywearing
 
Babywearing offers numerous benefits for baby including providing comfort, promoting healthy mental and physical development, and more. It’s a great way to get some strength training in and frees up hands so you can continue your regular activities throughout the day while still feeling close to your baby.

Check out my top 3 carriers to use for newborns on the Babies at the Barre™ Youtube Channel.
 
2. Do a mom and baby workout – aka mommy & me class
 
Carrying baby around with you everywhere is a workout in and of itself, but you can also try a babywearing exercise class like Babies at the Barre™ to rebuild strength in your abdominals and pelvic floor along with toning other parts of your body. The best thing is you can do it all from the privacy of your own home with our mommy & me online babywearing fitness classes.
 
3. Find a mom group
 
Motherhood is certainly incredibly rewarding, but it’s also challenging! There’s no reason why you have to go through it alone – find a mom support system where you can learn from and encourage each other and get some time out of the house. Babies at the Barre™ offers an amazing community of moms to connect with.
 
4. Invest in a belly wrap
 
Wearing a belly wrap like the Belly Bandit is an easy way to accelerate the healing process and help tighten your stomach and waist while supporting your back, leg, and core muscles. It even helps with the condition known as diastasis recti and can minimize stretch marks. It’s safe to use 24 – 48 hours after giving birth and even after a c-section! 
 

5. Use a back pillow
 
You’re likely to feel pretty sore after giving birth to a tiny human, so anything to alleviate back pain will be a huge blessing. The Back-Buddy support pillow is great for nursing or any other time you are sitting to promote proper alignment of the spine and offer comfort and support. Being in the right position will also helps with breastfeeding success.
 

6. Ask for help
 
There will be plenty of family members and friends who would love to help you in any way – you just can’t be afraid to ask! An app like Mealbaby allows you to create a meal calendar with all of your needs, favorite recipes, and contact info which you can share with friends and family who wish to help by making meals, delivering food, or even offering meal gift cards.
 
Another idea is to try Hello Fresh or Green Chef; fresh, pre-measured food delivered to your house so you don’t have to take the time to plan meals, shop and prep.  Although it’s quick and easy, avoid takeout so you’re taking in the best nutrients as you recover from childbirth and especially if you are breastfeeding.
 
7. Get a soothing nursing bra and hands-free breast pumping bra kit
 
If you plan to breastfeed your baby, there are two amazing solutions to help you feel comfortable and also produce more milk! First, look for a nursing bra with extra features like Nizo Wear bras. Each of their bras feature a unique patented pocket that can hold a warm or cool pack for soothing comfort. They also offer removable molded pads to protect against leakage.

Next, Simplicity™ Hands-Free Pumping Bra Kit that fits over your nursing bra to hold breast pumps in place!  I remember pumping many times a day and doing one breast at a time because I had to hold the pump and tend to my baby with my other hand. Once I got this hands-free pump kit, I could multi-task while pumping and having the ability to use my hands to massage the milk out while pumping definitely increased my milk supply!  Stanford University mothers report that almost 50% more milk can be removed with this technique.
 
8. Look good = feel good
 
Go ahead and treat yourself to some new, comfy threads – you deserve it!  Comfy home clothes are pretty much the go-to outfit of all new moms, so it feels good to put something new on. The extra boost of confidence from wearing something that makes you feel and look good is exactly what new moms need. Plus, in case you have unexpected visitors drop in, you won’t have to scramble to get something decent looking on. Belabumbum offers amazingly comfortable maternity and nursing clothes in super cute styles!
 
9. Keep a water bottle
 
Get a big water bottle or jug of water and keep it with you at all times during the day so you can stay hydrated. Refill it whenever you need to – the key is to keep it in your sight so you have a constant reminder to drink up. It’s so important to stay hydrated when you are nursing!  100 ounces of water a day, mamas!
 
10. Take things slow
 
It’s not much of a hack, but moms always need the reminder to take things slow after childbirth and don’t worry about losing the baby weight or getting back into shape right away. Focus on getting enough rest and letting your body heal by limiting trips up and down stairs and not doing any vigorous exercise. Sleep whenever your baby sleeps and have your partner or other helpers do laundry, buy groceries, etc.
 
Written by Tori Levine, mom and founder of Babies at the Barre™, a unique mommy & me exercise class and mom group / community all in one!  Meet other moms via in-person or online classes all while wearing your baby. Learn more about our low impact, effective mommy & me exercise classes here.

Let’s talk about your... pelvic floor. You may hear me talk about lifting your pelvic floor in classes or in videos and wonder to yourself….what the heck is she talking about? Today I will fill you in on what you need to know about your pelvic floor and why it’s so important.
 
The pelvic floor is comprised of the muscles that form a figure eight from the pubic bone to the tailbone. Your pelvic floor supports and wraps around the underside of your bladder, uterus, and rectum. No matter how great of shape you are in, these muscles become weakened and stretched by pregnancy and a vaginal delivery. Some of the fun myriad of issues of a weak pelvic floor include low back pain, pelvic pain, prolapse (where your organs sag due to lack of support), incontinence, and bowel dysfunction.
 
I know, you may be thinking, “I had a Cesarean section so my pelvic floor is fine.” Well, let me just leave you with a little more info. You should still be concerned about the strength of your pelvic floor if you’ve had a C-section because the weight of baby, especially in the last few months, was held up by your pelvic floor. I’ve also heard from women who have had C-sections and then successful VBACs that they had more issues after their C-Sections due to the irritation of the nerves that connect to the pelvic floor.
 
So how can you safely exercise your pelvic floor muscles? Most moms know what a Kegel is from reading pregnancy books and/or attending childbirth classes… but here’s a refresher just in case your lack of sleep and mommy brain has erased all your previous knowledge. A Kegel is simply the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles, named after the guy, Dr. Kegel, who figured out that these exercises strengthen the pelvic floor in the early 1950s.
 
Usually women are taught to find these muscles by stopping the stream of urine while you are going to the bathroom. While this is a good way for you to find the muscles you should be using to perform Kegels, these muscles used to stop the flow of urine are not the only muscles you need to know about to properly perform Kegels.
 
There are actually ‘front’ and ‘back’ Kegels. When you find the muscles to stop your urine flow that is teaching you how to perform a ‘front’ Kegel. It is equally important to work on the muscles in the back of your pelvic floor as it is to work on the front muscles. Some women may have very strong front pelvic floor muscles and weak back muscles or vice versa.
 
To find the muscles necessary to perform a back Kegel imagine that you are in a room standing next to your celebrity crush and you suddenly feel like you are going to fart. I don’t want you to think to yourself, “that’s okay, it will be silent and my farts don’t smell.” Now... imagine you are about to have a loud man fart with a smell that could knock a skunk out. Okay, get the picture? That sound and stench need to stay inside you until you are able to make it to the middle of a deserted island hundreds of miles from civilization. Feel those muscles? Those are your back pelvic floor muscles.
 
Now that you have found the front and back pelvic floor muscles, let’s talk about how to properly perform a Kegel.
 
Start sitting on the floor with your legs “criss-cross applesauce” or seated on a firm chair with your feet flat on the floor. Make sure you are sitting up straight with your shoulders stacked over your hips. Take a minute and rock side to side to make sure you can feel your “sit bones” pressing into the floor or chair.
 
Take a deep breath in. As you exhale, squeeze your front and back pelvic floor muscles AND try to lift the area between your sit bones off the floor. You really want to focus on the lift in addition to the squeeze of both the front and back muscles. You should start to feel a burn in your inner abdominals as your pelvic floor muscles and transverse abdominals are connected.
 
So there you have it...the proper way to perform a Kegel. It may be easier, once you know which muscles to engage, to start practicing your Kegels lying down. Once you get the hang of it these are the perfect exercise to do while brushing your teeth, standing or sitting for a long period of time, or each time you are waiting for the light to turn green at a stoplight.
 
For a demonstration videos of exercises and more, head to the Babies at the Barre™ Youtube Channel.
 
Find a Babies at the Barre™ class or become a member of Moms at the Barre™in your area or online. Find social support and encouragement while you bond with baby and get fit to handle the demands of motherhood!
 
Join the private Babies at the Barre™ community online to be part of a supportive group of new moms, get fitness tips, and curated content.
 
Written by Tori Levine, mom and founder of Babies at the Barre™, a unique mommy & me exercise class and mom group / community all in one!  Meet other moms via in-person or online classes all while wearing your baby. Learn more about our low impact, effective mommy & me exercise classes here. 

I can not say enough good things about the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. 
My husband and I are so grateful for the assistance we have received for getting our son into the specialized pediatric GI office and the swiftness of how fast our son has been able to get testing completed. This testing culminated in endoscopies yesterday. 

The care he received during before, during, and after his procedures was incredible! I was nervous about how they would handle taking him to the procedure room and away from us, but we were happy to learn that they encourage parents to stay with their child until they are sedated. My son wanted me to ride on the gurney with him and my husband walked next to us. Then we got to take him into the room and help comfort him as he was sedated.

We began to get a little worried after we were waiting over an hour for his 45 minute procedure, but were soon notified that everything was going fine, but just taking a little longer. The Pediatric GI specialist, Dr. Falaiye, who performed the procedures spoke with us after the procedure. She spent a great deal of time explaining her findings, what they all meant, as well as why the procedure took longer than expected (our son ended up needing a breathing tube during the procedures and since he is very small and had so much inflammation and irritation that she had to proceed very slowly as well as not go to far with the scopes). 

Were we not only impressed with this amount of time spent with us by Dr. Falaiye, our sons's doctor, Dr. Jhaverei, then came up to the aftercare unit, even though he had a fully booked day, to speak with us for a good 20 minutes before we left to sure up the next steps in our son's care plan.

We left the hospital comforted by all the care from the entire team. We had a good visit to Chocolate World after discharge and lunch to try to get our son eating a bit after no solid food for over 24 hours. We then went home and had a good afternoon/evening. 

As bedtime neared our son's breathing started to sound like he had a bit of congestion but he went to bed fine and we checked on him hourly. As I was getting ready for bed I heard him rustle and went in to check on him again. At this point he was having trouble breathing (sounded like he was having an asthma attack even though he doesn't have a history of asthma). We tried to get him to drink thinking maybe the air was a bit dry, but it hurt his throat and he was gasping for air. We luckily have a nebulizor from a cold that lingered a few months ago. While I gave him a treatment, my husband was on the phone with the on-call attending who completed his procedure. We didn't know if this raspiness/wheezing was 'normal' after having been intubated during his scopes. She let us know that it was not normal and if he started again within two hours to get to the ER. About 10 minutes after he was done with the treatment he started the wheezing sound again and we threw some clothes in a bag and headed back to the hospital.
​
Hershey has a separate pediatric ER and everyone was amazing with how they spoke with us and our son and explained everything. After several hours in the ER, medicine that really helped his breathing, and a little rest on and off we headed up to a pediatric floor in the Children's Hospital. 

After the initial check in upstairs they let us all rest as much as possible and again all the team members did an incredible job with our son as well as with making sure we understood everything and getting us anything we needed. We are happily at home now after another dose of medicine and my guy is getting some rest while I hold him on the couch. 

A few final points to my long ramble: 
1. Trust your intuition. Since February I knew something was going on with my son, after all, I didn't think blood and blood clots in a non-constipated 2 year olds stool was normal. I kept calling and documenting the issues or making appointments with his pediatrician's office as well as the allergist in case it might just be a newer food sensitivity. 
If you feel something is wrong, call the doctor. I think part of the reason this went on for so long is that our son's pediatrician was on maternity leave and we saw a few different doctors who were not as familiar with our son.
-By all means, I do not mean to say be a hypochondriac...but if something keeps going on and on, a second or third opinion doesn't hurt. 

2. Don't fear the hospital. We had two near trips to the ER and one actual ER visit now within the last month. I was nervous and scared of taking him to the ER because he acted fine most of the time and I didn't want the staff to think I was a hypochondriac. I now know that that is the place you want to be if things are not going well. The medical staff know if something is going on or not and while the ER is not the place to seek regular treatment it just made me feel better to know that if something was going on it would be handled and I didn't have the anxiety of wondering if I made the right decision to stay home. 

3. Teaching hospitals are excellent - your doctor had to learn somewhere and the doctors of tomorrow need to learn somewhere as well. I have heard people say that they do not like teaching hospitals because when the doctors are making their rounds it's like they are all talking about you/your loved one but not even acknowledging you/your loved one is in the room. I did not feel this way at all. We did have to tell our son's history and symptoms several times, but so what? Med students need to learn how to get a full history and how to diagnose real life situations. The way the nurses, attendings, and residents all interacted with us and our son should be shown to medical students so they can learn they same level of care and attention. 

4. Find your community/Know who supports you - wether it be a group of moms at a local new moms group, the moms you meet online in BATB class, moms in online help forums, or your friends locally and across the world who may or may not be parents because I have learned, as a parent you need to have a group or groups that you can turn to for support. I continue to feel so much better after having a simple chat with my best friend. I was able to turn to a family friend who went through similar experiences when one of her children was growing up which helped easy my anxiety about what a possible diagnosis of IBD would mean. I was able to turn to a local mom chat group to ask how the hospital handled procedures for young children. I even was able to gain support in the women I help support in teaching BATB classes - no matter what stage your child is going through, moms in class are there to help each other, learn from each other, connect with each other, and spend time bonding with their baby while strengthening themselves.

5. Support your local and national organizations like The Children's Miracle Network and The Ronald McDonald House. Even with my history working in a hospital as a counselor, for Children and Youth Services as a caseworker, and time learning about the local Ronald McDonald House to volunteer, I never realized the extent of all that these charities provide to any child or family with a child in the hospital!

I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing Children's Hospital within a 30 minute drive as well as another incredible Children's Hospital within an hour and a half drive of our house and for my support system. I can not name all the incredible physicians, nurses, and staff who assisted us as there are too many to list and so many that we didn't even learn all their names.

Now we are waiting for the results of the biopsies that were taken during the scopes, a MRI in the near future, a referral to the Very Early Onset IBD Clinic at CHOP, and another endoscopy in a few months. We can hope against hope that the issue is a infection that just never showed up on any of the previous tests, but it is likely that it is IBD. I don't look forward to scheduling all of these and having to put my son through these tests again, but I know that he is in excellent hands.