Baby 10 months hates swimming

[Pinkstuffs]

Took my 10 month old DS swimming today for the first time, he loves the bath so I thought he would have loved it but he screamed the entire time. Is this normal? Have I left it too late to take him for the first time? Everyone else I know says their babies love swimming.

It was just a splash park type place with a super shallow pool, I also took him in the baby pool with me and he still screamed?

10 months is late to go for the first time, in my opinion. But that doesn’t mean that it’s too late. A splash park was probably over stimulating and a bit intimidating though. Was he cold?

Is he cold? I found the wetsuit type swim suits for babies best.

I think the swimming pool environment can be quite over-stimulating for them too - bright lights, noise, lots of people, echoey large space etc...

I haven’t taken him earlier as he has awful skin and bad eczema, plus I’m always on my own. It wasn’t too cold and it was a dedicated baby session, so very quiet.

Oh and he had a wetsuit on. Should I put another layer on him somehow?

I wouldn’t panic- my eldest child loved baths but hated swimming pools from the age of 2. Literally wouldn’t go near one despite me having taken her swimming as a baby , when she was 4 I put her in swimming lessons and she screamed down the leisure centre the first 3 lessons- but 3 years later she’s now in stage 5.

It was unfamiliar. Go again, bring a watering can and a duck or two, no more than 15 minutes, get warm and dry quickly and have snack or milk ready. Then do it again, and again and again. He'll get used to it with exposure.

And make sure he's warm in the water. I liked shortie neoprene shorts and top at that age, easy to strip quickly.

I feel your pain my neurodivergent child used yo have full body suit on and go at quietest time for years until they build resistance I had to teach them to swim thank goodness it's about the only thing in life that I am any good at try everyweek if you can x

He might just be cold. The pool is a lot cooler than any bath. I would take him a few more times to see if he gets used to it and make sure he is not hungry or tired. I disagree with the people that have said you left it too late - there is no real need to take tiny babies swimming unless you both enjoy it. Some of the babies in my NCT group that were taken to the expensive baby swimming glasses still developed a dislike of the water at some stage. If it’s not working now it’s also fine to wait awhile and try again at the toddler phase.