Swimming with a baby - logistics

[jackiesgirl]

I’m planning to start swimming with my baby in a few weeks when he’ll be around 14 weeks old. How on earth do I get us both dried and dressed? Where do I put him while I’m getting dressed? Do people take their pram in the changing area? Do I get dressed first or do him first?

Most swimming pool changing rooms have a couple of rooms with plastic bassinets in!

i think you misread her baby’s age - he’s 14 weeks not months!
IIRC I parked her on a changing mat in a towel while I dressed (simply; ideally a dress and sandals if it’s warm enough, certainly not jeans) and then put her in a babygro.
maybe you could visit the pool during the baby session before you go to swim there and see what other mums are doing , if there’s room for prams? Quite often there will be a playpen to put mobile babies in for a few minutes while you dress.

Not useless just a tad early!

At 14 weeks, you can just put them down on a towel. That part is easy, it gets much much harder when they can crawl and even then you take some carefully chosen toys to distract them a bit.

Also buy one of those hooded towels so you can put that on him so he's warm while you get dressed.

Normal nappy until you get to the pool then change into swim nappy.

I used to get the baby dried and changed and then put in a car seat whilst I got changed.

Make sure that you have your own swimsuit on under your clothes and that whatever you change into to go home is easy and quick to put on as my dc both screamed pretty much constantly they got out of the pool! They did not like feeling cold and wet.

Put a winter woollen hat on your baby in the changing room as they always get cold.

Use a changing room with a change table in

Get baby dried amd dressed first
Then while watching baby very closly so they dont roll off the table then you get dried and dressed.

Please do not put baby on the floor, even on a towel. Changing room floors are full of bacteria

Yes put baby on the change table and watch closely.

Definitely get them changed before yourself. They won’t be warm enough at all just sat there in a hooded towel.

I always got cold getting ds changed so I took an old hoody to put over my swimsuit. We took our car seats into the changing rooms when ds was really little, then pushchairs but it was a big Village hotel gym so plenty of room & no risk of anyone walking off with your car seat x

Car seat is the way to do this.

1. wrap baby in towel immediately. I used to have my towel wrapped up tight around a microwaveable warm pad and zipped into an M&S thermal bag. Kept it cosy. Put in car seat for 1 minute
2. put towelling robe on you - preferably one of the hooded over your head types. Make sure you have a proper swimsuit that dries pretty much instantly - Speedo etc. not some rubbish faffy bikini. This way you aren’t freezing and dripping.
3. dry baby and dress immediately in something cosy — babygro etc. Bring plenty of nappy sacks for wet items. Being extra socks in case you drop on wet floor!
4. repeat for you— replace babygro with easy shorts and t shirt or dress and sandals in summer and with joggers and hoodie in winter.. Definitely no jeans!

have a bottle ready — I always expressed in advance as sitting feeding in wet togs is a bit miserable.

the above makes it easy!

My local leisure centre does allow prams (you can always enquire in advance) in the changing area. I always stripped baby off and wrapped in towel. Quickly removed my swimsuit and wrapped myself in a towel and then dressed baby and put in pram while I dressed myself (with bottle or snacks once old enough). If you can’t bring your whole pram you could detach the bassinet part if possible. Definitely good to have a clean safe place to put baby while you get dressed.

I think logistics depend on what kind of swimming you're doing. Local pool by yourself or a specific baby swimming lesson? My teenage niece is an assistant at the latter and we went when my kids were young - the assistants and teachers were always happy to cuddle/feed a ravenous baby whilst parents got dressed and they had specific play pens set up for babies to be safely contained whilst parents got dressed. Most leisure centres have some sort of baby friendly facilities - ours have larger changing rooms with actual changing tables rather than those flimsy pull down things attached to the wall and are invariably broken...

Lots of people take the car seat in with them - babies that age I wrap them in hooded towel, dry and change them, put in car seat and give bottle
Then get myself dry.
As they get older I give them a snack to eat in their hooded towel while I get myself dry, then sort all the kids !!

My pram bassinet unclips easily so I put the baby in that and use it as a carry cot. It's easier than the car seat because there are no clasps. Most pools won't let you take a buggy further than the changing rooms. My pram wheels fold up and fit in a locker. I've got a SplashAbout wetsuit from vinted. It doubles as a nappy and keeps him lovely and warm. The 4-8 months fit from 3 and will certainly not go to 8 here! I think he'd be cold after 5 mins otherwise, but with it we can stay in the whole wake window, then quick change, feed and nap. I get dressed once he's asleep. It's nice and warm at the moment so not too much rush to get dressed.

If you have someone who can go with you the first time it will be really helpful. Otherwise, these are some of the things I did/do:

• Carry baby in in my arms, or in baby carrier
• Take just 1 rucksack with both yours and baby’s things (the first time I took a separate swimming bag for baby which was extra faff)
• Take 2 towels and use 1 to put on the changing table (more comfortable, cleaner) and 1 to dry you both.
• Wear your swimsuit under clothes going there. I get baby changed at the pool as he always seems to do a poo on the way there!
• Get baby changed first, then you.
• If a slightly overcast day take a cardigan or hoody for baby to warm up afterwards.
• Once baby is big enough to roll on changing table (or randomly pick at manky bits on the changing table edges or walls!) take a little toy to distract them.

If your local pool doesn’t have steps that easily allow you to walk into the water holding baby (ie if it’s a deep pool with just the climb in steps) look up how to get into the pool safely with baby on your own.

Thank you for all the responses! Lots to think about, I need to make a plan! It’s a big modern leisure centre, I haven’t been for a few years but I think I do remember there being large changing cubicles labelled “family” so I’m guessing they have either a changing table or space for the pram? I’m going to give them a call and check