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Taking Baby to Barre Class
Getting a workout with a two-month-old in tow
“Yes, you have to take it easy with your core after birth. But your arms are fine!” our instructor chides. “Get that elbow up!”
The Barre class instructor is a professional dancer, and his class is ballet-tough. The room full of mothers he’s teaching runs the gamut, from six weeks postpartum to nine months or more. At the head of each mat lays a baby, wiggling, sucking on a toy, passed out, or staring around.
One starts to fuss, and the instructor walks over.
“May I?” He gestures to the baby, a tiny dark-haired creature with a bow wrapped around her head.
When the mother consents, he scoops up the child and comforts her, leaving her mother free to complete the set of resistance band lunges. He holds the little girl in his arms as he demonstrates the next set of exercises.
My legs burn as we do a sequence of plie squats on tiptoe.
It’s nice to be challenged. Both online and in person, workouts branded “prenatal” or “postnatal” are often unsatisfying. Yes, the body has limitations, but if it’s all deep breathing and gentle stretching, I’m not getting what I came for.
I was too precious with my condition in the first trimester. I didn’t start to…
