Swimming - stuck on stage 3, help needed to do front crawl

[SingleMum01]

My DS has been having 1:1 swimming lessons for a year and for the past 3 months has been stuck on stage 3 - he's just got one thing to do to get to stage 4 - swim for on his front doing the front crawl. He's stuggling with his breathing as he wants to keep his head under water so can only do 2 strokes before he stops.

His swimming teacher is trying to get him to move his head from side to side as he does the crawl if that makes sense, but he can't get the hang of it. She's tried him in the learner pool where he can touch the bottom, in the big pool where he can't and he just ends up doing the doggy paddle after a few strokes. Any suggestions on what his teacher/I can do to help him?

I'm no expert, but my DD's getting better with her breathing through practicing with the float.
Sometimes alternate arms every stroke, sometimes just one arm - so you breathe on that same side every 3. And sometimes just holding the float out in front with both hands, so she only has the breathing to think about.

dd (6) does the same as the pp described - they breathe every 3 strokes and practice while using a float. What age is your lo btw?

He's 7, but only been learning a year - had ear problems early on so I kept him out of water. Just can't get the hang of breathing doing front crawl. Can do it on the back fine!

it took me 2 years to learn to do the crawl properly as an adult! the breathing and stroke are complex things to co-ordinate.

your teacher could try just focusing on one element at a time...e.g. float face down in the pool with face in water and twist round for a breath then back, and only progress to swimming once the breathing become automatic.

Agree with others. I have been doing an adult advance class for 7 years and we still do lots of float work for breathing. Is his teacher qualified?

yes she's a qualified teacher and he's doing the national ASA programme. Did much better tonight. We've been practicing around the house!