Namaste! Moms embrace baby yoga class

GENEVA – The mothers sat on yoga mats, grasped their babies’ feet and rotated them in a gentle circle while Patti Ideran sang, “Around we go! Around we go!”

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Megan Drennan of St. Charles and her daughter, Enid, 3 months, participate in a baby yoga class at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva. (Sandy Bressner)

Welcome to Baby Yoga at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, a class Ideran also runs at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield. The class is six weeks and created for babies age eight weeks to the crawling stage as a way to help mothers and babies to bond.

“Babies today often sit too long in walkers, bouncy seats, strollers and car seats,” said Ideran, a pediatric occupational therapist. “Baby Yoga gets babies moving and playing along with their parents.”

Ideran also is a certified educator of infant massage and a certified instructor of baby and toddler yoga.

Three moms and babies in the Delnor class were St. Charles residents Alex Heintz and 7-month-old Calvin, Danielle Slavinskas and 6 1/2-month-old Milo and Megan Drennan and 3-month-old Enid.

The moms gently moved their babies hands and feet – reaching and stretching – while Ideran sang short songs to go with the movements.

“We’ll clap our hands together for body awareness, rhythm,” Ideran said.

“Clappy happy namaste,” Ideran sang as the moms put their babies’ hands together while the babies giggled. “Clappy happy namaste.”

Ideran followed with the same movement with the babies’ feet amid more baby giggling.

She then had the moms tuck their babies in between their knees while she sang, “Ten little fingers, 10 little toes, two little ears and one little nose, two little eyes that shine so bright and one little mouth to kiss good night.”

Heintz said she also took Ideran’s infant massage class and that is how she learned about baby yoga.

“It’s been so much fun,” Heintz said. “Calvin absolutely loved it. He’s my first and it’s good to get out of the house and do activities. Patti gives me lots of activities for me to do with him at home … They’re very simple movements. Tiny short little activities.”

Wheaton resident Alicia Kedhari took the class at Central DuPage with her son, Lucas, who is 5 months old.

“It’s a lovely time to bond with your baby. She gives you a structure for playing with your baby,” Kedhari said. “There’s a lot of stretching and breathing together. Moving together creates a lot of awareness about the body. Adult yoga has that, too. Babies are just discovering their own movements … developing their motor skills.”

Kedhari also praised Ideran as a good source of information, especially for first-time mothers.

“She is an endless source of information,” Kedhari said. “She’s written books about fussy babies. She’s very knowledgable.”

“I love this class,” Drennan said after Enid needed a bottle and a diaper change. “We’ve just gotten a lot of very cool exercise ideas.”

“We love this class so much,” Slavinskas said. “We sing different songs each week and it gives us a chance to work on our flexibility. … It’s just a fun time for Milo and I.”

The movements encourage what the American Pediatric Association calls “tummy time” for babies – that infants should spend some time on their tummies, which help strengthen the child’s neck, shoulders, arms and back.

After 45 minutes, the babies were ready for their naps.

Ideran is the author of “The Calm Baby Method: Solutions for Fussy Days and Sleepless Nights.”

The next Baby Yoga session is scheduled to begin Jan. 4 for four weeks.