Swimming with a baby

[FirstTimeMummaB]

DS is 11 weeks old, nearly 12 weeks. My mother in law has arranged (and very kindly paid for) a course of swimming lessons for him. A lovely idea, or so I thought until I started taking him!
He’s had 2 lessons so far, once a week, 30mins long. Being in the actual water isn’t too bad, it’s afterwards. As soon as we get back to the changing room, he starts getting really upset.
I know afterwards he’s cold/tired/hungry etc so he’s going to cry, I get that. But it’s so hard on my own! I try to get him out of swim gear as quick as I can (body suit, happy nappy and swim nappy) and wrap him in his towel. I then get his nappy on, baby grow and body suit/coat to warm him up. Obviously I’m still standing there cold and wet in my own swimming costume, so I can’t really hold him straight away as I don’t want his clothes to get wet, but the longer I leave him the more he gets worked up and naturally I get more frazzled... this time I tried to just get him on the boob straightaway but even that didn’t help 😩 I think he was too tired and worked up to feed at that point.

What I’m really hoping for is some sort of advice to help me get through the changing room fiasco. I can’t take anyone else with me to help because of the day and time the lessons are (everyone else is at work etc)
There must be some way of making it easier, for him and for me?!

Could you defer the classes until he is a bit older?

God I hated swimming before DD could walk. I gave up on it.

Take a dressing gown and as soon as you get to the changing room take of your cosie and put on the dressing gown. Take of baby’s swimming things, put them in a nappy and wrap in a dry towel and feed the baby milk. Then get the baby dressed by which time you will be dry and you can put on your clothes.

I think you just get better at it to be honest. I always bundled lo in a towel all cosy and laid on change table. Then got dressed super quick myself. Then changed them and then straight to the cafe for a feed.

Feels crazy at first I know but you do get quicker at it all (and once they can sit it's a doddle). Now I have 3 kids and would never brave that alone!! Also I used to think the hassle was 100% worth it for the solid nap DD used to have afterwards

All baby needs to swim in is a swim nappy, that should cut down on stress/aggravation and getting him warmed up again.

I think 12 weeks is just too young I'm afraid, and 30 mins too long. I started with DS at 16 weeks, which I think it's also too young, and his lessons were 20 mins.

From a practical point of view, I used to dry DS off, sit him in a cozy towel (dressing gown as PP suggested would have been better) sit him on a towel and give him a banana. Then get me dressed. Then get DS dressed. Always keep outfits as simple as possible - vest and super cosy babygrow.

Either a robie or dressing gown for you so you don't drop on baby. Before going pack your bag so that the things you need are in order and I take three towels for ds. One goes over the changing mat one goes around him and one for drying the flailing limbs. I wear really loose jogging bottoms and a hoodie so I don't have to dry myself properly and it's quick to get my clothes on. My ds did his first lesson at 8 weeks and the only night he sleeps is after swimming so I wouldn't quit his lessons. You will get quicker at it!

Good on ya, it's hard enough with two people!
Things I've learnt through trial and error:

Take baby's towel to pool side, then strip baby down to swim nappy when you get out and wrap him in towel, then he'll be warmer getting to the changing room. A poncho towel is really good for this. Bonus points if the pool has a shower right beside it to get him warm in first.

In the changing rooms get your cossie off first then get him changed before getting yourself dressed. It might be a bit cold but you'll dry off fast and if you keep poncho towel on while doing his nappy it'll help dry you too.

Honestly I think 30 mins is bonkers for a 12 week old.

Apart from that sort baby out while you freeze, put dressed warm baby in car seat and get dressed as quickly as possible.

It gets a lot easier once you can give them food while you get dressed.

Strip him, nappy on, swaddle him in towel. Sort yourself out and then get him dressed. Easier said than done though

Can you feed him about an hour before the class? I found my dd was really hungry and tired after the class, so making sure they'd fed before the class starts should hopefully mean he's not overly hungry when it's over?

I used to get the wet clothes off dd and wrap her in a towel and then get my wet swimming costume off and wrapped myself in a towel before getting dd dressed. It is a lot of work for a short lesson but I think it's worth it if your ds enjoys it. I'm starting my ds with a swimming class in a couple of weeks time and he'll be 12 weeks.

As soon as you get into changing cubicle, take your own swimming costume off immediately.

Then sort your little one out whist your in the nude, don't worry about feeding, just get him dried and dressed as quickly as possible!! By the time he is sorted you will have dried off naturally, so will take you less than a minute to put your clothes on - then feed/cuddle/calm him down.

I’d say 20 minutes max and really no need for a body suit. They don’t really make them any warmer, just restrict their movements and make it much more of a faff. Most baby swimming classes don’t allow them. Is the pool an extra warm one - ie rehabilitation pool or at a special needs school? A standard leisure centre pool is far too cold for a 12 week old, especially in winter. It’s pretty irresponsible if baby swimming is offered to that age group at a standard pool.

Thank you so much for all of your replies! Some really useful tips I’m picking up on here 😊
The man running it seems really clued up on his stuff, the pool is at a private nursery that they rent to use, it’s normally 30-something degrees and he reassured me he’s legally not allowed to have babies in the pool if it’s below a certain temperature so he’d never have it ‘too cold’ as such as I was unsure.
I did consider giving it up but I almost feel like the suffering now is pointless if we don’t persevere.. on the flip side I don’t want to scar DS for life 😩😂
I’m just a really anxious first time mummy!!

www.amazon.co.uk/Tiki-changing-robes/dp/B01DHYIY9O/ref=cts_sp_1_vtp?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Get one of these, take swim cosi off put this on whilst you dress ds and you’ll be dry. Then feed if he wants. Take car seat to put him in whilst you dress, can rock him with your foot if required.

DS was 8 weeks when we started going and is 15 Months now. It’s so much harder when they are mobile as you get them dressed then they crawl off everywhere getting wet through again!

Take a dressing gown for you to wrap up in.

I found I could wrap DS in a towel with his dummy and then get myself sorted first. Once he was off boob and on bottle I gave him some milk to hold himself while I got sorted.

Some babies scream... even now DS has a tantrum often in the changing rooms. Don’t worry, crying won’t hurt him and the swimming lessons will be great for him as he gets older. My DS can jump in, swim underwater to the side, come up and hold on. And is starting to swim with a woggl unaided. It’s amazing what they can do at a young age if they have had consistent lessons.

I lays took a big toweling dressing gown/bathrobe and clothes that were really quick to put on. I'd be able to dress and feed the baby without too much hassle and not being cold/exposed.

I started swimming with my son at 12 weeks. We did 2 sessions then abandoned it. We started again at about 18 months and it’s sooo much better now!!!

When mine was that little my mum used to come to the lesson with us so she could dress baby whilst I got dressed and then I could feed him quicker!

If you enjoy the classes don't give up over a bit of stress in the changing room!

Strip baby off and wrap in a thick towel.

Take a bath robe for yourself to dry in, instead of a towel.

Feed first then get dressed after.

1. Remove unnecessary faff: swim nappy only.
2. Get out when he's whingy.
3. Take towel to pool area, wrap him straightaway when you get out.
4. Give him 5mins in the towel before trying to dress him (poss dress yourself?)
5. Feed as soon as he's dressed. As he gets bigger take a carby snack.

I disagree that he's automatically too young. DD started at 8 weeks old, at nearly 5yrs she's still a total water baby. Equally, if he doesn't like it I wouldn't push it at this age.

Do you feed him just before you go in? I used to do that.
Afterwards, I would wrap baby up in towel at side of pool, swim nappy off same time.

I would take my costume off and wrap towel round me. Sit and feed baby, putting nappy on as I fed, pair of bottoms/leggings on baby as I fed. Sort of put a top on baby, might have to quickly take off boob/on again. Baby usually fall asleep. Put down on change table/pram/car seat. Get myself dressed while baby asleep.
Or sometimes if I didn’t manage to dress baby before they fell asleep I would leave wrapped in towel while I got dressed then dress baby afterwards, usually stayed asleep. I know some babies would wake up though, you could just always put cardy on backwards, so arms were in and blankets round if you didn’t want to risk waking up.

It is really stressful though when they are screaming and you’re trying to dress them.

Can you take the happy nappy (not sure what this is!) and costume off while he’s in the water, so you’ve only got swim nappy to take off when you get out, they usually just rip off.

littledinaco a happy nappy is like wetsuit sort of material, like a small pair of shorts, and matey running the class said this is a requirement of the pool so he has to wear it. 😕 He doesn’t have to wear the body suit though so that could be an idea.
I normally feed about an hour before class starts (feed at home, takes 20 odd minutes to drive there, then getting changed etc) so I’ll definitely try feeding in the changing room before next time 😊

I really sympathise as I found it quite tricky with my DD at that age; it does get easier though as you naturally get quicker.
I started taking two towels for my DD so one was to initially dry her and the second was to keep her warm while I was getting her nappy on etc as I thought she was probably getting cold lying in the wet towel and I did find it made quite a difference then you can even feed whike they’re wrapped in the dry towel. I never really found a solution to not freezing myself though.

user Its so hard isn’t it! Definitely taking a bigger bag and more towels next time!
Haha I can deal with freezing myself, as long as DS is dry and happy I can cope with that!!