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 signed up for these with DS but mostly as a way to get out of the house and meet other mums. They don't learn to swim at this age.

Anyway, I now dread it every swim day as the pool is cold and it's so much faff getting there, getting changed and etc for a half hour class. I'm not renewing when it's over this Thursday Thank God.

Thanks everyone. I've just been looking at the happy nappy wetsuits so will definitely try and get one to keep her a bit warmer

We used puddle duck's for both DC from 6 months until 4 & 3 (we stopped when eldest with additional needs went to school) We then moved on to our local leisure centre.
It was the best money we have spent on them. They are both so confident in and under the water and really gave them such a good foundation to continue to learn.

DS has been going to Water Babies since he was about 4 months old. The best thing about it is that he goes with Daddy on Saturdays and I get an hour’s peace at home .

He’s 2 and a half now and loves it. Happily swimmming under the water and jumping in and can’t wait to tell me all the details when they get home. I sometimes go to watch, they are having a whale of a time. They do things we would never have thought of doing with him and I know my DH is much more confident with him in the water than he would have been without the teacher’s initial guidance. The warmer pool in the school makes a big difference, he’s been much less happy when we’ve taken him to colder public pools.
If you can afford it you won’t regret it.

I took both my children myself (not at the same time) from baby to toddler age (I still take my daughter at 3.5). It really built up their confidence in the water and they got some understanding of what they needed to do to swim. Then I started them on intensive lessons in school holidays (son was 4, daughter has now joined him at the minimum age of 3.5). I’ve just enrolled my son (now 5) on weekly lessons to teach him the techniques he needs to make that final push to swimming independently. He is also keen as he really enjoys it.
I think I started lessons at a similar age and I consider myself a strong, competent swimmer.

I love them. We've been doing water babies for 2 years.

DD is just 2.5, and she can swim about 3 meters on her own, jumps in happily, can pull herself to the edge of the pool and out. Those are the obvious advantages.

The real reason we've kept it up is that it has just been a joy, it is one of the nicest things we do together. The teachers are great, the lessons are fun and we both love the time together. The lessons with 2-3 year olds a riot. There are 8 marvellously happy kids throwing themselves around the pool and roaring like tigers. When I took my older kids for lessons at age 5, it wasn't so fun to start. However, they both swim well despite the lack of early lessons.

It has been crazy expensive but worth it for us. It is a luxury.

I did it with DS 1 and it didn't make a blind bit of difference to his swimming ability compared to my other DC who started swimming lessons at 4.

I took DS from 12 weeks and he still goes now at 2.5 years. However I’m not going to bother so early with DC2. I think it’s fine to start around 6-8 months when they show a bit more interest in things.

I am also going to stop DC1’s lessons soon. He has got brilliant water confidence for going so long and has some basic swimming skills so until he is old enough to learn to swim properly (another year or so) it’s a lot of money to not be making progress any more. I will take him at least weekly myself to the leisure centre.

I started taking DD to mother and baby classes at my local council pool when she was about 8 months old and she loved it from the start - bobbing around singing nursery rhymes and doing actions. I think her being older helped. She wore a wetsuit and it was in a training pool so warm. The bonus was that being a council pool it was cheap - £2 a session including a swim nappy! When I went back to work we started going to a private swimming school instead - same format to classes but much pricier. She still loves it and hopefully she'll be confident in water as she grows up

I didn't bother because I found the whole thing a massive faff. Having to do a wee in a nappy in a cubicle because I was caught short with no where safe to leave 4 month old DS was a low point of swimming with a baby! (If anyone knows how I should have handled this differently let me know!)

In my experience around 3-4 years it gets better! So my answer would be if you and your DC enjoy the experience go for it, if it's hell on earth seriously there is no harm in waiting until pre-school age.

I think this depends on you, your daughter, and where you're attending classes.
My DD1 who is three starting going at 3 months so she was a little bit older than your DD. Poppy really enjoyed going so I stuck with it for a bit but honestly I reckon you can hold your daughter and just float with her then the money isn't worth it. x

Rosieposie9 look on eBay for stuff if you don't mind second hand? I got 3 pairs of shorts and 2 of the wraps, a different sizes delivered for just under £20, all in great condition.

We do waterbabies and my 6 month old DS loves it, but we're stopping after chapter 2 in a few weeks, it's just too expensive. It is amazing though!

I think they are worth it if YOU get something out of it (ie. it gets you out of the house, meeting other mums etc). I honestly don’t see it is worth it from the baby’s perspective when they are so young.

I used to take my daughter once a week from about 3 months old and we were always in the pool alongside a lesson. I used to watch what they were doing and it was very similar to what I would do with my baby. Some of the babies used to scream. I never felt the urge to join them!

My DD is an excellent swimmer now - she picked up swimming very quickly when she was 5/6 yrs old. So definitely no need to do baby swimming in order to get them swimming quicker. Do it purely for the enjoyment (yours and hers!).

Perhaps have a trial (if they allow?) or go and watch a session to see if it looks good before signing up.

Reading with interest as I’m looking at booking lessons for my DD in a few months when she’ll be 4/5 months but I’m struggling to find swimwear for small babies! Can only really find 3-6 months but ideally need much smaller as she’s a little one. Grateful for any suggestions of good retailers, realise it might be quite specialist!

www.konfidence.co.uk/babywarmas.html Try these

Definitely second the advise to a do a trial - I think one session is easily enough to see if it's for you.

I agree in principle they don't do anything you couldn't do without the lesson - in practice I wouldn't be sure what to do, and I'd also feel a bit of a self-conscious tit messing around with a baby in a pool. I can imagine taking DS with DH there too, but I know without the classes I'd never take him on my own.

Corilee2806, we've been doing since 6 weeks, look at happy nappy stuff, they have shorts, then wraps to go over them if the pool is on the cooler side. There's loads of them on eBay too, just use a disposable swim nappy under them and that's all you need.

I'd say don't bother when they are very little unless it's something you enjoy doing with them. I look back in horror at the time I was getting a six and three year old ready for swimming lessons, in a cramped and ridiculously hot changing room, and paying through the nose for the privilege. About as fun as a weekly trip to the dentist.

DD1 picked it up very quickly at age 5/6. DD2, who was only going because her big sister was, took until she was five or six to pick it up.

We took them swimming ourselves when they were little just for fun, with armbands or other flotation aids, and obviously you are always going to be in the pool with them and closely supervising them on holiday, so I'd say if you can, save your money and yourself from swimming lesson hell and wait until they are school age and will pick it up quickly.

Dc1 started at 12weeks and dc2 at 8weeks at baby swim classes. No regrets. They both love the water. Dc1 can swim a width unaided age 4, but more importantly can roll on to his back if struggling and float. Dc2 loves the water, she can float unaided on her back and swim 4 m unaided.
What I love is their water confidence. I’ve made friends from both dc swim classes. I love the way the classes make you focus on them. The interesting thing is the way they have responded and developed in a group learning environment, particularly dc2 watching her listen to instructions and following ( or trying to follow them) is so touching. We’ve spent a fortune but the best money we’ve spent on them both.

Having researched a few I preferred the look of Puddle Ducks as it seems to be a more child led approach. DD is only 4 weeks but she is going for a trial session next week. I wasn’t keen on Water Babies near me.

My son is 5 years old right now and he can fully swim by himself. When he was very young, I also took him to swimming lessons for babies. And to be honest, they didn't teach me anything new. This is a waste of money. All that you really can come in handy and what I used when I taught my little boy to swim is a baby pool float, for example newbabycentral.com/best-baby-pool-float-of-2021/. I bought a pool float with a unicorn for my son, as it is relatively small, and most importantly, it can be used up to 6 years old. My boy learned to swim on his own without a pool float at 4 years old, and by using it in just a week or two.