Baby swimming lessons?

[Rosieposie9]

Are they worth the money? Thinking water babies and other similar ones?

Or am I better off just taking my baby swimming at a local pool? She is only 8 weeks and has been swimming several times already and seemed to find it a bit cold and l know the pools used for baby swimming are meant to be a bit warmer but I can't help but think 14 quid a time is quite pricey?

Opinions? And if I did go for the lessons what age should I wait for?

I think it really depends how confident you yourself are in the water. Dd2 goes to baby swimming lessons and really they don't do anything you couldn't do yourself with her. If you're confident in the water but not sure what to do with a baby at the pool you could maybe do one term of lessons and then just do the same types of things when you go with her yourself? For info we usually do:

• a warm-up song where the adult bounces about a bit holding the baby and encouraging them to splash.

• throw a coloured toy and move the baby in the water and encourage them to kick their legs and reach for the toy.

• pour water on baby's head

• submerge baby

• 'monkey monkey' (ie teaching them to hold on to the side of the pool when they fall in)

• jumping in from the side (or being pulled in if they're too little to jump themselves)

-cool down song (same idea as warm-up)

Most companies say you can start from 12 weeks but we waited until 6 months just because she could take part a bit more actively with the splashing and reaching for toys etc.

Damn, I forgot that bullet points never bloody work on the app! Sorry!

We take our daughter and it has been great! She started at 3 months. I recommend taking her at a time when she has lots of energy (i.e. not in the evening) to maximize the chance of her actually enjoying it.

I did waterbabies at 6 months which was a good age as she was a lot more interqctive than the babies at 8 weeks.

We now do the swimming lessons at the leisure centre as they are only £6 a lesson and she picked up everything so quickly at waterbabies that the last 4 weeks were just repetitive

Depends how old your baby is I guess. I take my 14 week old twice a week to the pool and we just bop and splash around! He loves it but I wouldn't pay £18 for the same pleasure as he can't really do much else!

We've been taking our DD, now 4.5yrs since she was 2mths old. She is now at the stage of being able to swim the width of the pool unaided. Our DS (9mths) has been going since he was 3mths.
The pools they use are much warmer (like a lovely hot bath!) so more comfortable for babies.
We were adamant we wanted our DC to learn to swim properly for safety & fun. We pay about £12 per session. It's worth it for us.
Yes things are repetitive but that's how you learn. Tbh having watched my DD go through the whole curriculum there are methods etc used I'd never have thought of but of course many people teach their kids & often you might go as part of school.

I've been taking my 8 month old for the last two months and we both really enjoy it - but I do think that the very young babies (under about four months) in the class get a lot less out of it. They also get hungry/tired/randomly upset and have to get out a lot more often, so it seems considerably worse value for money. I think we could have started earlier with DS, but personally I think 4-6 months is a good age. It's also much easier to actually do the stuff in the pool with them if they're completely supporting their own heads.

I took ours from around 4 months. They're still having lessons now at 11 and 8! They love it. Well worth the money.

It's really up to you! Baby swimming, baby yoga, baby ... it's for the parents to meet other parents and feel they are "helping" their child when the baby is too young to know what is going on. Take your dc to the pool from a year or so periodically and enroll in swimming lessons when 3 or 4.

We took Dd1 to water babies weekly for 3 years from 6 weeks old. Then switched to local authority pool lessons. And lots of fun family swims too. She’s now almost 5, completely normal and active etc. She loves the water but still can’t swim unaided.

I took dd1 from 3 months and she has always been very confident in the water and now at 6 swims lengths well. Dd2 is 3 and has never had a lesson and I’ve taken her a few dozen times over the years. We were on holiday a few weeks ago and she is also super confident, can actually swim (which massively surprised us!) and by swim I mean just keep her head above water and move forward while splashing for dear life! So in my experience it hasn’t mattered either way. As long as you take her otherwise from time to time so she is familiar with the feeling of being in the water and begins to enjoy it.

My dd took hers from 6 weeks, 'classes' in a very warm pool. Ordinary heated pool temps aren't warm enough for very little ones.

However if you have a suitably warm teaching pool available, personally I wouldn't bother with expensive classes - assuming you yourself are confident in the water of course.

I had a warm pool available (and not much else to do) when mine were very little, but there were no classes. They were both swimming (largely underwater) before they were out of nappies.

Taking them often, in warm enough water, is IMO the key.

Thanks for the replies everyone I think I will just stick to taking her myself for now until she's more likely to get more out of the classes at least. The only bit I'm not sure of is the submerging them bit. I just can't imagine dunking baby under the water? Is that literally what they do

Mine were about 18 months before they enjoyed the swimming pool.

They were not keen on baths at home either!

Water at swimming pools is always so cold, I didn't have any warm baby pools near me.

• Both condfident swimmer now though!

I think DS is something of an anomaly because he hates everything, but I took him to Water Babies at 8 weeks. Complete waste of time and money. I was mega stressed about timing naps and feeding times around the swimming class, he screamed the place down when getting changed and didn’t engage at all with anything that was going on.

There were other kids there, however, who quite visibly were having a great time, so I think it depends.

I’d try your local pool first before making the commitment. Good luck!

It’s up to you but it was the highlight of my week and I made good mum friends there. The kids are still friends even though they’re at school now. If you don’t enjoy it though find something else you do like.

And no, they don’t just dunk the babies, there’s some training involved and learning cues.

I was going to say the same as museumum it’s not just dunking them, there is some training involved. DD1 is upto chapter 13 with Waterbabies and last week swam a length of the pool unaided. The rest of the class can do at least half. 70% of us have been together since chapter 1.

DD2 is chapter 2 and last week got the hang of holding her breath. That’s 13 sessions it’s taken her to learn it properly, so no it’s not just dunking them under.

We love it, it’s only £15 a session here though.

The latest research with baby swimming is advising to move away from submersions and to be more child led. If you do decide to book then look for a provider that has a programme in line with the latest research and doesn’t just focus on submersion and photo shoots.

A good teacher won’t submerge a baby that’s not in the mood for it. DD2 has missed about half of them.

We declined the photo shoot. As the saying goes, it’s an invionot a summons.

invitation

Id avoid the photo/submersion groups.

The main thing before about 4 is water confidence and fun. They can learn quote quickly once ready. We went to a few groups which were songs and playing a bit like playgroup in the pool for a bit but mainky its about having fun in the water.

Id save most of the class money and do a good term 1-1 when they've started and settled into school, and hopefully skip the initial stages and the lessons swishing them back and forth which are torturously slow. Mine made amazing progression with having a 1-1 start and skipping the years of lessons leading up to it. I wish I'd done that with the elder one!

If however you aren't really able to play with your child in the water or arent feeling confident/find it easier with others then yes a group can be good. But it doesnt really make any difference once they're about 5 .

For us it’s the best thing we did for our son. He started at 16 days and is now 14 months. He adores it, is so confident and I am constantly amazed by how quickly he picks things up. He can climb out the pool unaided, hold onto the side unaided, Juno unaided from a sitting position and confidently submerges his own head and closes his eyes to go underwater and kicks his legs across a couple metres from his teacher to me (obviously he is slightly propelled to start but he definitely helps the process!) the cosy pools definitely help but it’s the highlight of his week. He goes flying over to his teacher to get in now he’s walking at the start of sessions and every time he is allowed a submerged swim beams on his way down and shouts more as soon as he surfaces. While I’m a confident swimmer myself I felt I needed the security and guidance of a baby targeted class to know what was and wasn’t okay to do and we are super happy with our baby led approach company lessons. He amazes me every week! Keep an eye for a free taster session maybe? I know ours offer from time to time with new pools/to increase new joiners etc

I did swimming lessons because he hated the bath with a passion. It worked, he stopped hating the bath and enjoyed being in water a lot more.

I’m of two minds re when they’re very young. Up to about 6 months we went to an post natal mum and baby class which was great. He got in the water, I did some light exercise, all good.

He’s now 14 months and resolutely does a plank whilst we’re doing all the kick kick kicking ;) . One day he’ll put it together! Our classes don’t do dunking either. They are a bargain at £6. My top tip is use a splash about happy nappy suit. Pricy, but helps with maintaining temperature (as well as integral swim nappy).