Swimming!!

[Thetimehascometo]

Hi all,

We are looking to start DD (pfb, preemie, 16 weeks old, 10 weeks adjusted ) swimming!

We have been looking around and there are SO many companies offering swimming lessons we don't know where to even start.

I went to the local leisure centre today and they run 13 sessions for £75, which seems like good value to us, although we are unsure of the normal prices for companies like water babies, would we likely miss anything by not going with one of the bigger companies? And roughly how much do they charge? (They don't seem to have info on their websites)

Any info would be greatly appreciated 👍🏻

I'd look at taking baby yourself first as lessons are expensive and if baby is not a water fan (my preemie wasn't) it's a bit of a waste.

I'm not UK based so no idea of the prices etc but I'd be wary of starting lessons at this time of year. Kids will be getting all sorts of coughs/colds and you'll probably end up missing as many lessons as you'll make it to! I just wouldn't risk it with an ex 34 weeker. Bring her swimming my all means, I just wouldn't part with my money at the moment!

Just take her swimming. Swimming lessons are the biggest con since bottled water.

My 2 and 4 year old have been to swimming lessons at our local council run leisure centre since they were about 4 months old. They started out doing Aqua Babies, then Aqua Tots, and the eldest is now doing the STAnley series, working her way up and getting badges and certificates. My 2 year old will start these lessons when he turns 3. Both very confident in the water, love their lessons and we only pay £40 each for a block of 10 lessons which is about half the price some of my friends pay for Turtle Tots, Puddle Ducks or the like. I'd say give your leisure centre a try for a block of lessons then decide.

PlugUgly- how much have you spent in total?

Your LO is very young, I personally wouldn't bother with a class yet unless you personally are looking for the social aspect.
Definitely first take her swimming yourself and see how she takes to the water.

I just used to take dd1 swimming think it was a parent and baby class run by local pool about £3-4. We went most weeks but werent tied into buying blocks of lessons. She enjoyed it and I enjoyed meeting friends there. I couldn't do that with dd2 as dd1 was still in armbands and I wasn't confident to take both on my own. Dd2 has never been a fan of the water so wasn't a big deal!

They both started formal lessons at 4/5 where I wasn't in the pool. I pay £54 for 10 weeks each. Dd1 is 9 and swims confidently and dd2 can swim but isn't as fond of the water and needs more reassurance.

We go to puddle ducks! And we don't do a lot else really which is why I didn't mind paying. It's 100 for 13 lessons. Doesn't feel like a waste of money as it's quite handy having a baby led progress class for her (she's 17 weeks today and has had two lessons so far). I'm not into mum and baby groups so it's a nice thing for us to do together. Plus they sing a few songs whilst learning which is nice for the babies. The instructor is really lovely aswell. Plus you can guarantee the pool will be the right temp.

All 3 of mine have had swimming lessons since a few months old. The private companies tend to be around £15 per lesson, so much more expensive than the leisure centre they're at now. They are also, in my experience generally better - smaller classes, warmer pools and a clearer lesson structure moving through stages. However, I'm not sure if that makes any difference to their overall swimming ability longer term.

Hi. We started lessons at 4 months old. They're not swimming at this age but my son loved the water and the splashing. He's 3 years 7 months now and loves his lessons and pools on holidays etc. He is very water confident and can swim a short way unaided. We've been doing it with Waterbabies and the advantage is that the pools are all nice and warm although to start with he wore a warm suit./wrap. They are expensive though. We pay £16.50 per lesson but he;;s our only child so we can afford to do it and he absolutely loves it. As long as your baby is healthy you can start as soon as you like.

DD is perfectly healthy, and other than being a bit on the small side you wouldn’t know she was prem! She’s hitting all the milestones at her actual age and we’ve had no need to adjust her age for anything but weight. We have followed NICU guidance and will be waiting til her 16 week jabs before we do anything. In terms of just taking her swimming ourselves, that would be £6 a go, so lessons actually work out cheaper and will likely give us the kick up thand bum to actually take her 😂

Can you do a trial lesson first and see how she likes it, before committing to a term?

Personally I think waiting till 6 months+ to start is better. Took DS for one trial lesson when he was about 9 weeks (he was 2 weeks late) and it was okay. He didn't cry but he didn't seem to get much out of it either. We started again when he was 7 months and he was enjoying it much more. There were older and younger babies in the class and generally the older ones seemed to be happier and having a better time. I'm pregnant again with DS2 and think we'll wait till at least 6 months before we start him swimming.

My kids get their lessons at the local leisure centre. It's £25 a month each and they get 1 lesson a week and can go swimming as often as they like with me without paying entry. They're guaranteed 48 lessons a year so only off at Christmas. So £75 for 13 lessons seems reasonable.

But their membership also gets them a £5 discount on their ACE memberships with the local council so they can go to all the sports clubs, art and drama clubs they want too. So it's an added bonus for us as they would have both memberships anyway.

£6 to go swimming!?

Waterbabies give you a free trial lesson by the way x

@youngestisapsycho

Our local pool is £5.25 for an adult and £3.10 for a child. So £6 for the 2 of them to go seems normal. The other local pool is is £3.90 for an adult and £1.95 for a child.

£6 for them both to go seem normal.

It's much cheaper for us to have a membership for the kids swimming lessons and my own membership.

@youngestisapsycho yep, under 8s are free, adults are £6! (I guess they need to fund the free u8s somehow!)

We started at a few weeks old at about £80 for 7 lessons with a similar company to water babies. If I’m honest it was mainly because I wanted the underwater pics; with future DC I would just do the leisure centre ones as while the classes were great they weren’t worth the money.
The only thing worth checking is how warm the pool is at the leisure centre; waterbabies takes place in small pools at a warm temp whereas some leisure centres don’t.
Water babies often do a taster session so you could do that and see what you think

DD1 did lessons based on birthlight method from 4 - 18 months. She was getting really confident in the water and loved her lessons. Then we moved and she couldnt do lessons anywhere local till she was 3. We tried taking her to the pool regularly but it really set her back. By the time she started lessons again at 3, she struggled (didn't help that the teacher was crap). We moved again and she's doing lessons with a local independent school and back to loving it and her confidence is back up.
DD2 started lessons at 1 with the same local independent school DD1 is at. They have babies from 6 weeks in her class. She's confident and loving it.
Water confidence and swimming ability is so important in my opinion. Best to get started with some kind of swimming early. The advantage of lessons being that they will teach you the right way to hold them and right methods for getting them active in the water safely.

Also while people saying just tak DD swimming is fair to say I did learn a lot about how to help DD become comfortable in the water, learn to climb out, how to hold her to promote her kicking etc. Also I just would never have got round to it each week if I was going with just DD whereas once I was committed to a class I made sure I went

Puddle ducks is cheaper than water babies by the way!

We've taken baby swimming since 6 weeks. She is now 8 months and we are doing water babies to help with getting her happy goibg underwater. Its expensive (£16 a lesson, but we're just gonna do the first 10 then wait till shes 3 or 4 to start lessons at leisure centre.

I would look at taking your baby to ducklings session yourself before starting at classes. Getting them used to the water is the main thing at that age.

@BertrandRussell - apologies missed your question. Not sure, but given lessons work out at £4 each and it would cost us that per each adult to go in with them anyway - lessons in themselves don't work out that much more expensive than an open swim. The extra cost comes from having to book in blocks of 10 as we don't get a refund for any sessions we miss due to holiday or illness. We're incredibly lucky to have such cheap lessons available locally at our Leisure Centre.