Going swimming

[Hayls]

AT what age is it Ok to take a baby swimming? Sould they have all their immunisations first?
TIA

[gothicmama]

I was advised yes and thinking about it makes sense we went to toddler and parent sessions g8 fun

[MadameButterfly]

HI there, I asked my HV this question and was told to wait until all immunisations had been given.
I started taking my DD when she was 5 months old. She is now 20 months old and absolutely loves it.

[SoupDragon]

The advice is completely mixed with regard to this. Some say leave it til they've had the first batch of vaccinations, some say after the first set is complete, some say it doesn't matter. We did wait til after all first vaccinations wth DS1 and until the first set of injections (8 weeks) with DS2.

It's very important not to keep a young baby in the water for too long as they get very cold very quickly. 15 minutes can be enough in a public pool for a young baby so watch your baby for signs that they are chilled and always have their towel by the side of the pool to wrap them in as the ari temperature can be even colder. All the baby swimming lessons I've been to take place in overheated pools like hydrotherapy pools or school pools heated especially for the lessons.

IMHO, DSs swimming lessons have been the best money we've spent.

[Zerub]

I was told that the chlorine/ozone used in the pool makes catching infections like polio very unlikely - worry more about sharing a changing mat in the changing rooms than the pool!

But for very small babies, watch out for them getting too cold, swallowing too much water, or their skin reacting to the chlorine.

I took dd at about 3 months and she was fine, but it seems a lot of effort for the 10 minutes you get to be in the water!

[prettycandles]

We started taking ds at 3.5m (after 2 of the first 3 sets of immunisations) and dd at 5.5m (after all her jabs, but that was because she had had a cold and we waited until all the catarrh had cleared up). Dd has a tendency to drink the pool, and at first that made her vomit a bit mmore than usual, but apart from that we never had any health issues with swimming. Definitely 10-20m maximum (and that's in a warmer pool, about 30deg C minimum) and with a dry towel waiting by the side.

A lot of fun waiting to be had!

[toddlerbob]

We went to hot springs at 5 weeks and made sure his head didn't go in. We did normal pools at 5 months after the 3rd set of immunisations. Regular lessons at 13 months, probably would have been sooner had he not had eczema.

[JeniN]

Not that this particularly means anything, but government health advice has recently changed to say its ok to take them before immunisations, but they used to advise people to wait. Most water babies classes suggest not before 3 months IME, which is when we took dd and she loves swimming. Have fun.

[Smiler2]

We took dd swimming for the first time last weekend, she's just over four months but hadn't yet had final set of first jabs...was going to wait but after speaking to others reckoned it would be fine. She loved it and doesn't seem to have caught anything. Like others was a bit worried about her getting cold but as others, had towel at the ready and didn't keep her in too long.

My hv said fine after 3 months but my doctor said 4. I've definitely read the government leaflet that says none are necessary. However, some pools say that they won't allow babies in who haven't had full set of jabs so best to check just in case.

[Slinky]

I took mine swimming from about 10/12 weeks. DD1 was 10 weeks exactly when we took her. My GP told me that I didn't need to wait for her vaccinations at all - although obviously by 10 weeks, she had her first dose.

And thinking about it, some kids are not vaccinated anyway, so how would they check?

Main thing to worry about is, as Soupdragon says, the cold. 15 mins max. in the water.

Have fun!