swimming and pregnancy

[natharley11]

Swimming ok in pregnancy im 13 weeks tomorrow and wanted take my toddler
Am I ok to do this

Yes. Its nice actually, especially as you get bigger and heavier. The water takes the strain. I took DS1 to toddler swimming classes until I was about 38 weeks and it was fine. (Avoid the flume though)

Hes 3 and only local pool no slides. Hoping be nice gentle thing to do with him as he seems a bit jealous atm . Trying to do nice things for him

Yep, no idea what I would've done if I couldn't have gone swimming! Kept me sane through the pregnancy :)

Oh do it. You both get to have fun, its not dangerous and he's knackered afterwards and will settle nicely while head for the nearest coffee shop win-win!

Thanks girls we shall try taking oh too

Avoid doing breast stroke legs, it's not good for you in pregnancy.

I've been advised to swim.

Testing which type of breaststroke legs? Never heard this from anyone before- is it a new thing? I can't see corkscrew being an issue as your legs stay fairly close and in terms of traditional breast stroke, they are far less extreme than the standard 'squats' done in a lot of prenatal yoga and exercise classes which are there specifically because opening the thighs and pelvis helps with pregnancy mobility? Squatting down type 'knees out, open pelvis' movements have been recommended by my MW and are in several completely non-woo pregnancy health leaflets/books I have, as well as recommended by my yoga teacher?

I don't believe the breaststroke legs thing. Swimming in pregnancy is great it is the only thing you can do pretty much as usual at 39 weeks. I swam leads with dd2 and I think it helped her birth position also.

I think breaststroke legs are only an issue if you have SPD.

Here's a 'busting the myths' type thing. As I was told - any strokes are fine up to 3rd tri, after that breast stroke is useful for posture but backstroke can be uncomfortable (which most of us whales can verify just from trying to lie down LOL!) www.swimming.org/go/parents/myths-and-guidelines/

Although even here there is still a little scaremongering myth - "swimming is not recommended for women with 3 or more miscarriages" if they haven't been diagnosed. Covering their backs. My RMC clinic are fine with me swimming because my health condition has nothing to do with exercise whatsoever.

Yup, Rogan has it. In my first pregnancy I had SPD, my GP and physio recommended swimming but said to avoid breaststroke legs. If your pelvis isn't causing trouble you should be fine.

A friend of mine went swimming and did 30 lengths every day during her pregnancy. Coincidentally she had a really easy, quick labour with her first - I'm sure there was a link!

I used to swim 20 lengths twice a week when i was pregnant. I was told to avoid bs legs as well.

I do 40 lengths every other day or so. Just come back from doing 80 (short pool though!) It's BRILLIANT... it's the only place where my body feels normal and I can move as I did before I was pregnant. I do a mix of breast and crawl, I've not had any issues with either stroke that I didn't have before pregnancy.

I was more thinking floating and playing with my lo than a serious swimming session

And here- breast stroke can hurt, but if it does see your Dr for physio - it's a sign something's wrong not a cause. Indeed it sounds like people who are getting physio swim breast stroke again! www.babycentre.co.uk/x4323/is-it-ok-to-swim-during-pregnancy

Er, dunno. MW told me not to. Although I swim fairly regularly I don't do breast stroke legs because of knee problems so I didn't investigate why.

I'm another one that doesn't do breaststroke since my SPD kicked in as it makes it worse. My understanding is that you either get SPD or don't - doing something that aggregates SPD won't cause it.
I do swim regularly in both a pool and swimming lake and find that the swimming actually helps the SPD as long as I don't do breaststroke legs.

I swam regularly between 12-24 weeks (I'm 26 weeks now), but I had to stop as it was making my SPD worse. Although breaststroke legs may not have been the cause of my SPD I think it might have triggered it - my first symptoms came as I was swimming, it felt like I majorly pulled a groin muscle and I couldn't walk properly for a few days. I took a few days off and went back, did crawl only for a few weeks, then tried light breaststroke again and the pain came back straight away. I've now stopped entirely as even crawl hurts at this point.

You may not know if you're predisposed to get SPD but it might be wise to avoid breaststroke legs just in case - or at least stop doing them straight away if you feel any pain so you don't aggravate anything!

Make the most of it while you only have one! Many pools won't let you take 2 under 8s by yourself.

Make the most of it while you only have one! Many pools won't let you take 2 under 8s by yourself.

Whizzpopbang- I swam ( trained) with an adult class until 30 weeks (when I got too exhausted).

So around 80 lengths a session. I did not have an easy or straightforward labour, no link here!

O/p there's no reason why you cannot swim during pregnancy :).

I swam all the way through all 3 of my pregnancies (right up to the day before my planned CSs). It was fine. I did 50 lengths the evening before Dd2 was born and only stopped because they wanted to close the pool!

Whoever said about backstroke was right though, it made me feel sick when I was pregnant, almost from the start of each pregnancy. I couldn't sleep on my back, or even just lie on it, either.

My midwife recommended swimming, said it was the best form of exercise for pregnant women and didn't mention any issues with doing breaststroke x