Baby Water Safety First
We understand your need to get your baby comfortable around water. From a safety standpoint, it’s vitally important, and involving ABC Swimming in your baby’s water safety ensures that they are in a safe environment, surrounded by professionals who can support their needs.
What We Do
We make use of the “soft method” to teach your baby how to swim. This has us focusing on play, songs, and skills-based activities that have your little one feeling comfortable in the water in no time. In addition to the play elements of this method, we focus intently on water safety, which includes us covering:
- Climbing in and out of the pool
- Kicking
- Arm movements
- Submersion
- Prone and supine floating
- Breathing techniques
- Actual swimming
- Changing direction in the water
It’s important for you to keep in mind that the soft method will take longer than what you may have seen in videos online of babies floating on their backs by themselves. That method is known as “drown proofing”, which isn’t something we teach at ABC Swimming. Not only can this method cause trauma in the baby, it’s also not entirely safe. Instead, we focus on enjoyment-based teaching that puts your child and their state-of-mind first.
We teach babies how to swim from the time they’re 6 months old. The reason for this is because from the time they’re born up until about 9 months old, babies have a special reflex, called the diving reflex. This means that when this reflex is activated, babies can go underwater without swallowing water. Once the baby is over 9-10 months old this reflex disappears.
What to consider:
- Babies between 6 months and 2.5 years old (and sometimes up to 3 years old) must swim with mom or dad, as they are not ready to swim without you.
- Once your child is 2.5 years old, we do a Bridging Class, which means that mom or dad might still be in the water, or sitting on the side of the pool, but the teacher starts doing most of the work.
- We slowly wean mom or dad out of the pool area until your child is happy for you to watch from the waiting room – this does take time, but is worth it.
Dive In with Us!
Ready to dive in? At ABC Swimming, we’re excited to help you or your child learn to swim with confidence. Reach out to us today to start your swimming journey!
