Taking my 5 month old swimming

[Firsttimemummy19]

I'm taking my 5 month old baby swimming for the first time next week.
I've been to check out the place first to make sure I know what I'm doing, there's a baby change table in the middle of the room but not in a cubicle. So do people get undressed out of the cubicles?! Otherwise I'll have to put him on the floor in a cubicle while I get dressed?!

The actual strokes are trickier although one has dyspraxia, and my years of being waist deep in cool water will have benefited his gross motor skills.

I agree
DS turned out to be dyslexic and he never crawled properly, but i think learning the swim strokes as a toddler taught him the cross body movements he never picked up crawling

Also DD burnt her had as a 2 year old and needed physical therapy on her hand to keep the scars supple, and the doctors said swimming was excellent for this.

I cant think of nicer times i spent with my babies than in the pool, it was genuine one to one time, especially once baby number 2 came along, our pool has a creche so once dd was old enough we put her in the creche.
There are other things we could do, but we got particular enjoyment in the pool

We love swimming and have gone twice a week since DD was 10 weeks. (We do Water Babies and a swim just us). It’s much more enjoyable then having a bath which baby has as her bedtime routine.

I wouldn’t bother with the dressing gown, just wrap him in his towel while you get dressed. My baby has a bottle while I get changed.

Try wearing your swimsuit under a loose dress when you arrive, then you can change baby and take the dress off without much fuss.

And dress the baby in a zippered onesie (so quick and easy).

Then afterwards dry baby and remove their swimsuit before you lie them down on the towel and change mat. Take off swim nappy and dry them completely there. Put them in the zippered onesie and you can then quickly wrap the towel round your waist, put underwear on, quick dry off and put a bra and dress over the top.

Bath that evening at home!

OP, don’t fret, taking DS swimming was one of my favourite things to do with him as a baby. We both really enjoyed it, and he slept like a log afterwards.

Every pool I have ever taken one of my babies swimming to had provhddd a swim nappy as part of the parent and baby entry fee. Also - unless the baby has a poo in it - you can dry them out and use them again (they are not designed to absorb wee, just contain poo). Ask the pool if you can take your buggy to the pool side - some let yiu if you put shoe covers on the wheels, or they may have a play pen or baby seats in the changing rooms (possibly only in family changing).

I never had any thoughts that DS would learn to “swim” as s baby, but he loved the sensation of being in the water and the splashing (and he was really chuffed when he did swim a width unaided a few years later). We went to a council run baby swimming class, which was PAYG, and only marginally more cost than a parent/child entry. These provided a bit of structure to our water play, and we made friends who we used to go for a cup of tea with afterwards. Those babies are now 10, and still friends!

Also - wear your costume under your clothes to the pool. Makes changing you both a bit easier and quicker.

Have fun!

Hi op I highly recommend a baby and toddler swimming group we've been taking my DS since he was 4 months old he's now 2.2 yr old loves going loves the water and certainly is not showing any fear of the water jumps in loves it planning on taking my DD once she's the same age my DS was worth every penny imo

We always take 2 towels, one to take pool side and wrap around when DC gets out and one to swap to to dry them in the changing room.