14 month old and swimming

Victoria - posted on 06/24/2010

I bought one for my oldest and found it to be not useful. My daughter is almost 15 months and loves the water. I just sit with her in the kiddie pool and let her splash around. My hubby lost a brother in the pool at that age when he was a kid, so we are extremely careful with the kids around water. No special gear, just parental eyes and ears, I guess.

Jennifer - posted on 06/23/2010

I understand and agree that kids need to learn how to swim and that floaties may be a sense of false security. BUT, with that said, I really like the built-in life jacket (into her bathing suit) that my daughter has. I may not use it for long, but it sure did help introduce the water to her. I thought she might be afraid of the water, but she likes it and I think that it might have been due to the floatie. I wont use it forever though. I do want her to learn to swim; I will just use it for a few weeks to get her liking the water.

Pam - posted on 06/23/2010

i bought my son a float that he sits in, it has two rings to prevent flipping, he loves it

Kelly - posted on 06/23/2010

I just bought my 15 month old son one of the life jackets that has some what of a pillow on the back to keep their head out of the water. It works great, but the only complaint I have is that when I let go of him, which he doesn't like, it puts him on his back.

Karen - posted on 06/22/2010

Mandy has already said it but be very careful with thise as a baby's head is the heaviest part of its body, they will very often end up face first in the water, my little man has been in water babies swimming lessons since he was 12 weeks old and loves it..

Barbara - posted on 06/22/2010

I've been taking my 15mo daughter to swimming lessons since she was 6mo. I think in the long run it is safer for them to learn how to float on their own than to be lulled into a false sense of security. Living in a country where you are never to far from the sea/rivers or lakes (New Zealand) I felt it was important for her to learn to respect the water, and to be able to fend for her self if she needed to.

Mandy - posted on 06/20/2010

I tried to put one of those on my baby and it made her fall forward and her face went in the water! If they don't know how to balance themselves, it won't help them at all.

Now my 3-year old - I don't know what to do with her. She is in swim lessons but still can't swim, and is way to brave in the water. I want her to be able to play without being held the whole time (we watch her of course), so we let her wear a lifejacket or arm bands. I mean, what are you supposed to do until they can swim? She wants to play and splash around!

Carisa - posted on 06/20/2010

I have a 15 month old and a 4 year old who both like swimming. I never used a life jacket because I was always in the pool with them (unless it was a kiddie pool and very shallow) I probably wouldn't use a life jacket unless we were going on a boat. I do use a reusable swim diaper, though...if your baby is going to swim a lot, it is much cheaper than the little swimmers...of course, you do have to clean them if your baby poops!

Angela - posted on 06/17/2010

Your child has to know how to balance them self first before putting them in one of those suits

Angela - posted on 06/17/2010

My first had armbands!!...........wot a mistake that was...........she got out of them at 4. My other 3 did not have any device attached to them only floats or noodles. They were swimming early, my 4 year old can now swim unaided for at least 25m, and has no fear. My 15 month old loves the water, she puts her own head under and swims on my back and we float together, she is never forced to do what she doesn't like and am teaching her to enter the water safely. The best thing I ever did was to teach them early, we have loads of fun together. Would recommend Water Babies by Francoise Barbira Freedman.
Good luck

Krista - posted on 06/16/2010

I have more confidence in the regular life jackets. I bought one that is made by Roots actually and they step into it and it does up on one shoulder. Sounds awkward but actually it isn't and they seem comfortable in it. I used it for my now 3 year old and I have just started using it for my 15 month old.

Carmen - posted on 06/16/2010

Pamela has it right, I was a swimming instructor too and those suits are scary because of false security and also teaching your children false balance and flotation in water. Bad idea!

Emma - posted on 06/16/2010

i teach swimming and i have a 15mnth old son and i hate them like jackets they make the baby float upright and teaches them bad habbits when swimming its best for them to learn to be in the water on their tummy so they learn to hold their face out and they learn good posture for swimming arm floaties are the best if u want to be able to let them go but i only use pool noodles they can hold themselves hope this helps

Heidi - posted on 06/14/2010

To be honest, I dont agree with them, yet I dont agree with teaching your child to swim using floatation devices! As it gives the kids a false sense of security, as one day when they are not wearing it, and they fall it, then it turns into a fatal situation.

I believe in swimming lessons for your child, they benefit greatly for the child, my daughter stared at 5 months, and the major aspect of the lessons is water safety and water familiarisation..

Pamela - posted on 06/13/2010

yes CPR is very useful to have !! the only time we use aides is to help with confidence and stroke correction .. or on water safety days. once a term we get the kids to hold on to anything that floats and get used to it.

Vasanta - posted on 06/13/2010

pamela: thanks for the heads up on swimming lessons! I am looking to the YMCA to start the parent-tot swim lessons I used to teach swimming. I am also a CPR teacher for the Red Cross encourage everyone to take a class as well!!!

Sini - posted on 06/11/2010

hi i have been taking my 15 month old boy for swimming classes every week and its almost 2 months now. Here they advise armbands or floatbands that will really help them to float and ofcourse encourage them to swim. U get those in mothercare and go for the baby sizes as they really fit well. u can use them and encourae ur little one to swim by keeping her on top of u as u swim...guess this helps...

Gina - posted on 06/11/2010

Hi I'm using it , is a build in float. quite save but still need to look after her while in the pool

Gretchen - posted on 06/11/2010

Pamela, thank you for the info. I was wondering if it would end up not being a good thing for teaching her how to swim so I'm glad you let me know. I do want to get her into swim lessons and am hoping to in the near future. Thank you again for the helpful information.

Pamela - posted on 06/11/2010

NO do not use it .. I am a infant swimming instructor.
It causes the infant to become to use to the feeling of water holding her up it is great to teach kids to grab onto aids and the edge of the pool when they fall in. I would not do this any type of floaties are not good. Get her into swimming lessons my Sons started at 3 months the first 3 years is all about safety but we make it so much fun .. Also a good thing to have is a pool noodle teach her to hold onto it and drag her around the pool by 18 months she should be strong enough to use it unaided with you very close to her. using the horse under there arms also helps them to learn to float correctly and through there legs is great to teach eggbeater kick which is important for skulling water

I also thing these sort of aides make parents overly confident about turning there back on a child for a few seconds and such Im not saying you would but alot of times the parents think oh she knows how to swim with her floaties on and turn there back to pick up sunscreen of something and it just takes a second for accidents to happen .

Kendra - posted on 06/10/2010

I have a son who is 15 months old. i've never tried the built in life jacket suits, but I have made him wear the regular one to the pool. I've found that it just puts him on his back, which freaks him out, and doesn't allow him to walk. At 14 months, your baby should be super close at the pool, and I find the life jackets just get in the way. The built in ones seem like they would be super hard to get into, and probably just out grow it quickly.