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Original poster

baby upset by swimming lessons?! (water babies)

51 replies

boboismylove · 06/12/2017 18:10

Wasn't sure where to put this, but we just started water babies lessons. Its a massive amount of money for me but I our local pools are freezing and I can't swim myself so wanted some proper teaching.

I joined after the first two couple of lessons of the chapter. My baby was so happy for the first 5 minutes and then they dunked him underwater! He cried for the rest of the lesson and even cried in the bath just now which he has never done!

Any experience with water babies? Will it get better? Is this normal?

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Ecureuil · 07/12/2017 08:10

DD1 loved waterbabies, we did it until she was 18 months (and moved away from the area). She then started proper swimming lessons at 3 and could swim completely unaided after 3 lessons, which I put down to her waterbabies lessons and water confidence. In contrast, DD2 didn’t do waterbabies as i had no childcare for DD1 and she hates getting her face wet.
However, if there’s any element of it that you’re unhappy with then don’t do it. I do think the babies pick up on the parents anxiety.

soberexpat · 07/12/2017 08:16

how old is your baby? My DD hated hated lessons when she was tiny. It's really important to us for her to be able to swim as we have a pool at home and live near the beach.

We waited until she was 3 and booked one to one lessons- she's thrived and now loves the water.

horses for courses.

tinygirlsmum · 07/12/2017 08:27

We've done it since she was 4 months old. Now on chapter 4 and she's not enjoying it so going to give it a bit of a break until she's older. I wanted her to be confident in the water and thought of it as a life skill rather than a hobby, but now we're both a bit more confident and she's older I think we'll start proper lessons again when she understands a bit more. Until then we'll just splash around in a baby pool

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Chaosofcalm · 07/12/2017 08:30

How old is your baby? Swimming was a nightmare when my daughter was young as she did not enjoy the getting changed and neither did I. We stopped doing it until she was standing about 8 months ish and now she loves it and is very confident.

If you are not enjoying it then leave it for a while.

Chrisinthemorning · 07/12/2017 08:33

I’m not a fan. We did water babies from 3 months to 15 months. From 11 months onwards DS developed a massive case of water wobbles and seemed to hate every lesson. We carried on for a term but he didn’t get any better so we stopped.
We took him fun swimming ourselves and then restarted lessons age 3 and a bit. He’s now 5 and a half and can swim without arm bands, jump in and pick something up from the bottom- he loves it!

Sparrowlegs248 · 07/12/2017 08:49

I didn't do waterbabies. It's so expensive. I take both ds to a local council run pool, they do a toddler group in the main pool. It's great. 4.25 per child. Buy a neoprene suit to keep child warm.

Ds1 was never dunked. He now jumps in from the side going under of his own accord. He's 2.

Council · 07/12/2017 09:07

I'd stop the lessons for now. I have one child who swam weekly from 4 months old and another who didn't really go the pool until he started school. By 6 yo there was no difference in their swimming ability.

CatsCatsCats11 · 07/12/2017 09:20

How old is he? My DD loves swimming she's been having the lessons since 6 weeks. If for any reason they are upset, poorly or hand in mouth etc they do not submerge them. My DD was a little agitated one lesson coming up from her first submersion (she wasn't crying just not smiling like usual) so the teacher suggested no more for a couple of weeks. She was fine again after that.

Cutesbabasmummy · 07/12/2017 09:56

We've done Waterbabies since DS was 4 months old and he's now 2yrs and 10 months, Similarly all the local pools are freezing! They all have the odd off day but our teacher is amazing and doesn't try to dunk them if they are unhappy. My DS now loves going under the Water - it was all he wanted to do when we went to Center Parcs. However, its not for everyone. Maybe give it a break for a while and try again when he's older.

tinypop4 · 10/12/2017 14:11

My dd hated waterbabies and was totally horrified by the dunking.
We stopped after a term and then left swimming until she was 16 months then I took her to a toddler splash session once a week.
She's now 5 and a brilliant swimmer- the youngest member of our local swimming club and can do butterfly and all sorts! I'm not sure waterbabies and dunking is necessary- take your baby to one of the parent and baby/toddler sessions at the local pool and enjoy your swimming.

BootsAndCatsAndBootsAndCats · 11/12/2017 19:58

Dd absolutely loves waterbabies and always has. But we started her when she was only 4 months old so she's got used to it and knows what to expect. Aged 16 months, she was able to swim the width of an ordinary sized pool without our help, using only a pool noodle for buoyancy. I'm so glad we started it and we're going to persevere to the end. BUT - she's always enjoyed the lessons and it isn't a stretch for us financially. I think if either of those were factors we'd look into other options.

Mayhemmumma · 11/12/2017 20:04

I made a concerted effort to take my PFB swimming weekly from the moment she was able to go. Didn't want her to fear water, no my girl was going to be a natural.

Well actually she hated It, she'd scream every time she went under water and until very very recently (she's now 6 years old!) she'd make a huge fuss having her hair washed and would never go under water in a pool. She's started lessons again and is quite determined so is facing her fears....but yeah some children hate it.

Stay home, cuddle up and keep dry is my advice.

(If it helps I hardly ever took my son swimming as a baby and now at 3 he's an absolute star in the pool!)

VileyRose · 16/01/2018 14:08

We have just scraped waterbsbies for smaller private run sessions. Only 2 babies were in the pool. Nice safe changing facilities and private pool so no members of public! So much cheaper and tailor made lessons which are child led. No dunking. Children naturally go under when sliding, jumping in. There is no need to actively submerge IMO.

OhCalamity · 16/01/2018 14:16

My DS hated dunking so we just didn't do that bit. I think when it was intially done he got a fright, and it's only now 4 years on that he will go into a shower for me or be happy to have water on his face, he panicked up to now and is still very wary.

Other than that, waterbabies is good fun, if expensive!

Jenala · 16/01/2018 14:20

We started later but my DS never really enjoyed waterbabies. Particularly going underwater. In the end we quit and bought some arm rings (I wanted to avoid flotation stuff for some reason - had read it was better not to use them) and it was the best thing, he loves swimming now and is so confident. He also gets water on his face without tears.

I understand the reasoning and that kids need to not be terrified if water is on their face but it made things worse for DS. Playing and splashing he naturally dunks sometimes. I also think the lessons were too fast paced for him. Having fun in the water has changed everything.

ThankYouGillian · 16/01/2018 14:23

First aid....... I think we might work for the same swim school You have posted exactly what I would have said!

buckyou · 16/01/2018 15:13

I hate these lessons. DH did some with DD when she was really small and I swear it put her off him for ages! Why it is necessary to dunk a tiny baby under water I do not know. Or maybe it's so they can charge hundreds of pounds for a Nirvana style underwater shot!??

Anyway fast forward 2 years, we tried again. DD was just as confident in the water as the other kids who had been doing it all along but she just hated the structure of the lessons and ended up screaming and unhappy even though she was really excited to get in to begin with!?

Stupid rip off for people with nothing better to do!! I take her to a local water park now it's much more fun.

JuliannaBixby · 16/01/2018 15:16

I think baby swimming lessons are an absolute racket. Dunking a 3 month old under water does not make an excellent swimmer at 3 or 4.

Just wait until they're old enough to learn and enjoy it. Save your cash!! My friend got an underwater photo done at Water Babies; it's shit and it cost her waaay over £100.

BertrandRussell · 16/01/2018 15:17

If she doesn’t like it don’t go. Swimmimg lessons for tiny children is one of the greatest cons of the last few years.

EightdaysaweekIloveu · 16/01/2018 15:20

Each baby is different. Mine did WB from 12 weeks until 1 year old and she loved it. She is 4 now and is obsessed with water, bath time can take up to 1 hr.

If it doesn't suit you, don't go. But I have to call out the poster who called it abusive, seriously get a reality check, it is hardly abusive and uncalled for to say so.

buckyou · 16/01/2018 15:36

'If it doesn't suit you, don't go'

Great except for that they make you pay for a block of however many lessons up front! So it basically costs £100 or so to go to a couple of lessons and hate it. Makes me quite angry. Great if some people like it but I just feel it's a massive rip off.

Why can't you just pay as you go? Then it doesn't matter if you don't like it.

JuliannaBixby · 16/01/2018 15:45

@EightdaysaweekIloveu I'm not saying it's abusive (it wasn't me who said it but I just wanted to reply) but I think if it came to light that a parent was routinely putting their child under the water during bath time, questions would be asked.

EightdaysaweekIloveu · 16/01/2018 15:48

I thought there was a free trial class before you sign up? Maybe not the case in all venues, we got an initial free class before committing.

If people don't like it fine but I don't understand some posters anger about these classes. Nobody is forcing anyone to go.

davidbyrneswhitesuit · 16/01/2018 15:58

Bertrand beat me to it! Go with your instincts - DD hated it, and the instructor we had was horrid; always rolling her eyes as poor old DAD screamed (and that's without dunking, which clearly wasn't going to be tolerated). I remember lots of babies coming up screaming and then being redunked a few minutes later. Yuck. Hopefully it'll reassure you to know that DD is now a fine, string swimmer, having only taken to it age 6 😊

davidbyrneswhitesuit · 16/01/2018 16:02

Actually it felt slightly abusive to me - I saw a lot of screaming, distressed babies in the two or three sessions I went to, and it's not as if it's necessary like vaccinations or carseats or something. There was a lot of pressure in our class to do the flipping dunking.

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