First swim with 11 week old

I’m taking my boy to the pool for the first time today, just wondering if anyone had any advice or tips that could make it a good experience for him.

Also what are peoples experience with the baby swim classes?

Make sure his hand entry is correct and that he has a good catch for the water.

Personally I wouldn’t worry about bilateral breathing just yet but do make sure that he has good body roll to both sides.

dont drop him!
Seriously though he should be fine, the kiddies pools are nice a warm like a bath, its only when tey get older they start acting up

Use a proper swim nappy.

My gf has mondays off and takes our little un to these guys http://www.aquababies.co.uk/

She’s 18 months now and is happy jumping in off the side, turning round and holding on. Absolutely loves splashing about in the water, she’s probably got more confidence than it entirely suitable!

She cant support herself in the water yet but it wont be long.

I’m not sure how much we would have achieved without the aquababies lot, the instructor is pretty much #3 in the list of people that my daughter loves most in the world though.

For an 11 week old: just make sure he stays warm enough and has fun. He’ll likely get cold and tire more quickly than you expect.

Oh and use a disposable swim nappy. Tear it off when finished – much easier than peeling it down, especially if it is full!

We did a “Sing and Swim” class which was really good.

The songs were all modified lyrics to nursery rhymes to get them to do things in the water (made it easy for the adults to remember what to do next too).

Make sure you’re not ‘afraid’ – the water is a natural place for kids to be (as long as he’s had his jabs) – play around and have fun splashing, and you’ll set him up for life!
My wife isn’t really a ‘water baby’ so would worry about putting outs under the water. I, on the other hand, grew up in the water (not literally – I’m not a squid) so was happy to ‘dunk’ ours from a young age.
Now, he’s perfectly happy to swim about under the water (aged 2) without much fuss!

DrP

Errm …. not sure I’ve got this right but…

11 weeks seems a bit early.

Has your lad had all his jabs??

I was super keen to get my little girl in the water but remember having to wait

Thanks for the advice. He has had his first round of jabs so good to go. I will look into the lessons when we are there.

Also, no heavy petting or bombing…

DrP

Ah sure he would be a wee bit young for that! Oh you mean me don’t you 🙂

We take our 1 year old to ‘Waterbabies’ and I cannot recommend it highly enough, it is obviously one of the highlights of her week. We started when Anna was about 12-13 weeks and there were no problems at all.

The structure and gradual progression of the classes we have been to really built up the confidence and the instructor is excellent at judging when you are both ready to do something. I would second what DrP has said about ‘your fear’, parents clinging to their kids seems to be the biggest stress issue in the classes we have been to.

Now, 1 year old last week, Anna will jump/fall into the pool, hold onto the rail completely unaided (really good safety ‘drills/games’ with waterbabies), do various swims underwater and generally tear the place up shouting and splashing.

As a plus, it is a magical moment when you see them swimming underwater for the first time!

Matt

Don’t try to take photos 😳

I felt like I was being accused of something 🙁

Don’t try to take photos

This also applies if it’s not your child.

Cool…. literally

Be ready to freeze your nutz off.

You’ll be the last one getting your clothes back on, once your get out.

Happy Days

Take

saves using hands

Has he had all his jabs? If not don’t do it.

Have you got a wetsuit or neoprene body cover to keep them warm?

You will need a swim nappy and a cover over it. If the kid craps in the pool it causes problems!

Only have them in for a short time even if the pool is warm. My kids were limited to 20 mins max up to the age of 2.

They started swimming lessons at 16 weeks with aquanauts in Manchester. The boy is 4 now and can swim 10m. More importantly he doesn’t panic in water, knows how to propel himself to the steps along the rails (monkey-monkey) and can climb out of the pool on his own without steps.

It is brilliant fun and a great way of bonding if you hardly see them Monday to Friday. I’ll be quite sad when he progresses to proper swimming lessons and I’m not needed in the pool with him any more.

don’t stay in too long (coldness is an issue, we put a 30 minute limit on at that age but in reality probably stayed in a bit less than that) and give plenty of cuddles..

just read the kid’s body language and let that tell you what they’re comfortable with..
yunki Jr was clingy the first time.. less so the second time and was trying to get off up to the deep end on his own the third time..

Don’t try to take photos

I felt like I was being accused of something

God I hate that nonsense! Same thing at soft play and even just down the park.

Of course no one blinks if you just use your phone, but whip out a proper camera and clearly your some kind of dodgy pedo who gets off on pictures of fully clothed kids laughing on the swings.

TWF “Shorty” wetsuits are good once the kids is about 2 years old and cost about £20.

Here’s my lad in one aged 3, fearlessly heading off into the cold surf last September.

Depends on what type of pool-side access you have but best thing I found was to forget completely about using the lockers and to take everything in a pram. It’s a real pain trying to stuff all your belongings into a locker whilst trying to hold a baby in your arms.

Our swimming pool lets parents put all clothes and changing items into the pram which is then pushed to the pool edge (but not right in!) Makes things a lot easier.

I always make sure that I have a dry towel on top of the pram for a quick wrap up of a very cold baby. Incidently, watch out for your wee one getting cold very quickly. (15 minutes was more than enough the first time for our wee girl.) Now, our little one has a lycra swim suit (a bit like a rash-vest that helps to keep her a bit warmer.)

Be prepared to load your car up, travel to the swimming pool, pay for parking, locate the changing rooms, grab a family changing cubicle, get changed, push pram to poolside, dangle babys feet in water only for the little monster to looked freaked out at all the noisy things going on and to make it very clear that she wants to go home.

Also dont forget “swim nappies.” Pool attendents tend not to like little floating parcels in their nice clean pools.

Its a logistical nightmare but more than worth it when you see them swimming under water for the first time.

We’ve taken both ours from 12 weeks (now one and two) to a similar class near us (Babyswimming) and think it’s excellent. As above it’s all about making them feel comfortable in the water, the two year old doesn’t go to that at the moment but we go to the Coral Reef over near Bracknell and he loves it. Happy to jump off the side for 20 minutes non stop, loves the long tube slide as well as the smaller play pools, and is generally very (too) confident and happy in the water.

I’d echo the following:

– Disposable swim nappy with some neoprene shorts over. Both ours have poo’d at some point but the neoprene holds it in (til you get in the shower and it pings everywhere on removal of said shorts – nice!)
– Make sure the pool is warm, otherwise get a little body suit thing
– Only stay in for a short while (30 mins max if it’s warm)
– Make sure he hasn’t eaten for a while
– Make sure he’s had a sleep
– Enjoy it, any anxieties you have he’ll pick up on.