BigCookLittleCook are you about? (please keep this bumped)

[nappyaddict]

i just found an old thread of mine on my watched list that i must have forgotten about. you said on it that you didn't take your lo to aquatots til they were 8 months. i was just wondering if he still had that diving reflex thingy and how he has progressed cos they have rung up with a space for ds but i'm not sure if he will be too old now. he's 8 months also.

have no idea but bump

bump

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bumpety bump

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bump

no idea but will bump for you!

Bumpx

NA, why not start a thread asking for other people's experiences or CAT BCLC rather than bumping this?

haven't paid for this year yet and it was up in november so can't cat at the moment.

The dive reflex lasts for the first year so you need to start waterbabies and the like before they are one.

ah ok, i was told 6 months even though i know they can start after this age but i just thought they might not be able to do the underwater thing.

Can't you just ask Aquatots?

You've wasted a week trying to get the answer from someone who may or may not see this thread!

asked the company who are doing the swimming lessons but they won't really commit to an answer. they just said they do the lessons for up to 5 year olds, so ds could still go, but can't really see the point in wasting money if he won't actually be able to do it cos i can take him swimming myself and just teach him the water confidence thing.

Fair enough - I would start another thread with the general question in the title.

yes will try again. that's where i got BCLC's answer from in the first place but its quite an old thread now.

YAY! I am accepted on MN at last as I have a thread asking for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, DH been working from home today so have not been able to get on PC. Grrr.

Anyway, DS has just finished stage 2 at Aquatots and is really enjoying it now. He starts stage 3 after Easter. He did struggle a bit with the first stage, maybe a little bit more than most of his class (but this could also have been because I HATE getting my head under water and was probably lacking confidence in dunking him), but he seems to have come on in leaps and bounds now.

I would definitely go for the space, you might regret not taking it in a few months and he is even older. TBH they all spluttered etc at first as none of them expected to be dunked underwater. None of them in our class are THAT much younger than DS either, the youngest is now 10 months old, so she is only 3 months younger, and all others are somewhere in between. Actually, one is older than DS, but he is a twin and smaller, so thought he was younger, he is possibly the most "advanced" at swimming of all as seems to really take to it, and he must have been 10 months when he started.

Sorry, long post, still excited to see my name in lights...

lol glad to have made your day but putting your name in lights. so what exactly is stage 1 all about then?

Hmm, you were on mumsnet at 4am? Thought I was a bit early at 7:40!

Anyway, stage 1 core skills, as described by Aquatots level guide:-

1. Backfloat on mum's shoulder
2. Low swim while held with two hands - in front and sideways
3. Ready splash stage 1, 2 and 3
4. Sideways swim, low, let go
5. Swish, swish [confused emoticon]
6. Piggyback - on/off by instructor
7. One hand low swim from instructor to mum
8. One hand low swim from mum to instructor
9. Kick on floats

This doesn't mean much to me and I have done it...

Basically it is all about getting them to understand the command "ready...go" which gets their attention, then they hold their breath when you say go and you lift them up and then push them underwater. It starts that you do it with them sitting on the poolside, and you bring them in, put them under and move them through the water for a couple of seconds, then back up again. After a few weeks you do it from inside the pool, and "swim" them underwater in front of you. At one point towards the end, you let go for a couple of seconds and they kick (more a reflex action than actual swimming). You also get their confidence up by pushing them underwater and into instructor's arms, and vice versa. Oh, and trying to get them to kick and to hold onto the side of the pool. Each lesson starts with "wet hair wet faces" so you hurl water at your LO and get them used to being splashed etc.

Sorry, hard to explain! There is also a lot of "playtime" each lesson, so they know that swimming is fun as well as being dunked underwater. Involves the mums singing nursery rhymes etc.

The aims of stage 1 are to ensure the baby is happy in water, can hold his/her breath comfortably and is happy doing short submersions.

Right, DS has turned into a miniature human wrecking ball while I try to type this so had better get his breakfast.

Sorry this is so long and prob does not make much sense...

no no that's helped a lot. i wasn't sure if in stage 1 you would actually let go and let them swim or not. seems that's more in stage 2 really. how far has ds got with it? how old is he now btw?

He is now 13 months and he is starting stage 3 after Easter. We did photos a couple of weeks ago where you dunk them under and leave them there while their pic is taken and he was quite happy. They did "volunteer" swims in stage 2, which is where you support them on your arms and they choose to go into the water headfirst, rather than you dunking them, which they all seem to enjoy.

We did quite a lot of letting go underwater in stage 1, after about the first few weeks I think. They seem to do better when you let go as they kick more (panic probably!).

thankyou

ah have just read that they keep the reflex up to 18 months, so the person who told me 6 months obviously didn't know what they were talking about!!

No probs. Whereabouts are you?

BTW, my nephew is doing Aquatots and started age 3. They do different kind of classes then, from what I have heard, not the underwater stuff.