Hey - anybody have any advice on when Jane and I can start swimming? And, of course, by swimming, I mean going to a community pool as deep as a bathtub, wearing the cutest baby bathing suit money can buy, and basically sitting in the water. She loves the bathtub... like I've said before, I usually bathe with her at night as part of our nighttime routine. But, every other day, when she gets all soaped up, I put her in her "big girl bath" (the baby bathtub) and she loves it! In fact, most days when I take her out, her head spins around and she stares back at it which she does when she wants to play with something... sometimes I give in and put her back in to play some more. :p
Anyways. I have no idea the pros and cons of swimming for babes... obviously, not including the drowning issues (DUH!). I found this info on Baby Centre, which is always helpful but I'd like to hear from real Moms about real experiences!Jen :)
PS - Here are some pics from our first faux-swimming session this summer in the bathtub!
5 comments:
I don't know much about it, so i'm just giving my opinion. I'm not big on community pools and all their germs at any age. I can remember going as a kid to Cool Harbour Place and having foot warts about every second week (eww, sorry) I remember there being an infant swim class and alot of the babies having constant ear infections, however they where also dunking them under. Personally, I would probably wait, but again, I think its a personal decision, if we didn't have a friend with a pool that is basically only used for a few people, my kids would probably be sticking to the great atlantic ocean lol
Oh and there is dry drowing, which basically scares the life out of me. You can read up on it and scare the life out of yourself aswell if you'd like. :p
We put our son through a 6 week "swim" class starting at 5.25 months old. Our pediatrician said that as long as he turned 6 months old during the duration of the class it would be fine.
Based on reading that I had been doing the youngest age that you should start is 4 months, as long as there is good head and neck control. Classes that my friends have taken with their babies encourage parents to dunk the children but it's optional and they say that just wiping a wet hand over her face can help her get used to water just the same. I agree that some public pools aren't the cleanest places but there are regulations that have to be followed so they should be ok, and better than when we were all kids.
I think there are huge benefits to introducing Jane to swimming. The sooner and more often you do it the more she will like it and it will be better for her in the long run. That's just my opinion though.
Thanks for your comments ladies - I'm up in the air about it because of both sides - the benefits and the risks. Maybe I will wait a little while...
Morgan, I have heard of dry drowning - saw it on Oprah last year. Don't even get me started on it!
Jen :)
Hi,
I took my 3 month old to Swim Gym in Miami for a class there on Sundays. It was an excellent to my daughters swimming life and she is now taking actual swim lessons at the same school in kendall (she's 3 now). Think about joining and Mommy and Me class for you and your child we found it to be a lot of fun and a chance to meet other parents with children of a similar age also. Hope this helps,
Jennie
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