A FREE baby and parents exercise class is coming to Greenstead for the next six months thanks to a £7,500 grant.
To improve the mental and physical health of residents, Essex County Council has given a total of £87,556 to eight projects as part of the Public Health Accelerator Bids (PHAB) small grants programme.
Emma Carpenter the founder of Muscle Mind Care CIC in Colchester, will be offering a free fitness class for pre and postnatal women as well new dads facing mental and physical health challenges.
Emma revealed that classes, which start on January 11 and run every Thursday at the Greenstead Community Centre, have already sold out until the end of February.
She said: “This is for all abilities. It could be for someone who has never exercised in the past including in their pregnancy.
"A huge thing is you can bring your baby to the class, which is great to avoid childcare”.
Emma explained how the funding was partly given due to how many people, including fathers, access the NHS during pregnancy due to physical and mental health problems.
She said dads can often be overlooked by midwives and other health professionals regarding health problems they can still experience such as postnatal depression.
Other health issues such as gestational diabetes will be tackled which Emma said can happen to a lot of women, even if they are not overweight, as it can be hereditary.
As well as tackling gestational diabetes and high BMI, which makes women at a higher risk during pregnancy, exercise can also help women with preeclampsia to reduce their blood pressure long-term.
Emma, who is now nearly 18-weeks pregnant with her first child, has qualifications in personal training and nutrition.
She said: “If it is really popular, we hope to extend it for six months and get the funding.
“We could do also more classes across Ipswich and Colchester.”
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