swimming pools

Mary - posted on 07/17/2009

Well, my parents have a gorgeous in ground pool, so as soon as I thought the water was warm enough, and the day was hot enough, the girl went "swimming". She LOVES it!! We have a baby float that she can sit in and she kicks her little legs like crazy. I also just sort of support her middle, adn she does her own little version of the doggy paddle. I have submerged her...babies really do have that dive reflex...and she came up laughing. I have such a love of the water, and swimming, that it was important to me to start this early with her, and make it as positive an experience as possible...so far, so good. We are taking her to the beach in late August...can't wait! I plan to do those Mommy & me swim classes with her over the winter as well

Lindsay - posted on 07/17/2009

Madeline was in the pool the first time when she was about 4 months (becasue she was a Feb. baby) and Cooper was in it at just a few weeks old(Aug. birthday). I say they were in the pool but not swimming. It was more me in the pool, holding them and getting their legs and belly's wet. We have an inground pool in our backyard so of course pool safety is huge to us. Cooper has to keep floats on if he's inside the gate to the pool and Madeline has turned into a little fish this year(thanks to her lessons!) and can swim the legnth of the pool and back unassisted! Of course they are never out there without me or another adult!

Joy - posted on 07/17/2009

Y'all are gonna think I'm nuts or something but...I live in Florida, near the beach, and my son has only gone "swimming" twice in his 20 months. The first time was in a baby pool in my back yard and he hated it. That was my fault though, because I didn't let the water warm first. I tried again later that week and even with the warm water, he still didn't like it. We took him to the beach once and he enjoyed it but not the water part. Mostly, he just wanted to play in the sand, which is fine by me because I love the beach but not the ocean. Too many shark attacks. I think my county (Brevard) has the largest number of shark attacks every year in the United States. As he gets older, I'm sure we'll keep trying to get him to go swimming. Being that we are surrounded by water and pools are everywhere, it's important to me that he learns how to swim. There are always stories in the summer time of babies drowning in pools. I just don't want to terrify him of the water by forcing it on him. My friend had her son in the pool from the time he was like 6 months old and he always hated it. To this day, he's 11 and he still hates swimming, and doesn't know how to because she couldn't even get him in the water long enough to take lessons.

I do agree that the water temp is important. Perhaps if I had made the water in the baby pool like bath water warm, maybe Jacob would have enjoyed it.....he loves his bath time for sure.

Tracy - posted on 07/17/2009

My little man started swimming safety classes when he was 3 months. He loved it. It was a heated pool and indoors and it was summer too. We also have a pool in our complex and he used to love going in it too. I am more bothered by it being cold than he is...LOL. He loves the water. We have not been swimming lately as its winter.

JL - posted on 07/16/2009

I have actually been at the public pool near my house everyday for the last two weeks. Both my kids take swim lessons for 2 weeks every summer at the outdoor pool and they love to swim so we go all the time and we also have a set and fill pool that we set up during the summer and use at home when we don't feel like going to the pool.

My son is 23 months old and he has taken the baby swim classes. I put my kids in swim classes because I know at some point they will be in a pool and for safety reasons I would rather they take classes so they know the basics to keep them alive. Like with my 23 month old he instinctively knows from his classes to grab onto the edge of the pool wall and pull himself up to keep from going under. He also knows to kick and paddle to stay afloat and how to hold is breath and blow bubbles. My daughter who is 6 can go in the water without any floation devices and swims just fine all on her own in water that is above her head and this is due to her taking swim classes.

Charlie - posted on 07/16/2009

my baby was swimming at one month , i know they start classes at 12 weeks here . summer was a hot one so it was a nice cool down and he loved it !

Sapphire - posted on 07/16/2009

I guess I'm fortunate by the hot hot weather of Arizona that keeps our pools warm. I take my son to the public pool, and there is a fanatastic kid area. But now that he is big enough, he goes down those HUGE corkscrew slides. I admit that I was way more nervous when he was an infant, but now I go frequently. I do like to avoid the afternoon sun and usually go swimming after 4 pm.

Dawn - posted on 07/16/2009

When we had a public pool (closed due to lack of funding) I'd take my then 18m and had a blast. I did have a baby size wet suit to keep him warm. He would get cold otherwise. You can get them online at onestepahead.com and at surf shops websites

ME - posted on 07/16/2009

I don't know...I took Miles swimming at 3 months, but the pool was indoors, and heated and only used by the people in my high rise apt...and not by too many of them. He LOVED it so much...I was a little leary when my mom bought him a suit, but we wound up going about 2-3 times a week from 3 months to 9 months (when we moved away). I would certainly have had more concerns about a truly public pool or one that wasn't heated...but we were lucky to have that resource available to us! We've only taken him twice in my parents pool this year, because it is SO unseasonably cold in this part of the country right now...but he still loves it, and I'm grateful for that!

?? - posted on 07/16/2009

My son has a mini swimmin pool that I fill up in the morning and by the afternoon it's warm. I won't take him to public swimming pools because I used to work at the one here as a custodian... and cleaning the place made me absolutely disgusted with people that go there and I refuse to let my child swim in the filth that those people put in and around the pool. He's been to the lake once (a couple weekends ago) and we are going again this weekend and to the river twicem the first time, he floated on a floaty thing so he was barely in the water and the second time, he sat in the water with us but in a shallow spot where the water had warmed in the sun.



He loves the water. But I think as long as the water is warmer, or the sun is out to keep babe warm in the water, I don't think there is an appropriate age, more an appropriate water temperature, as you said :)