Swimming

[ajane]

Originally Posted by mibarra Over 3 months. Have to be careful under a year as they are not as good at regulating body temp, so no more than 30-60 minutes in the water. Also, no head under water until at least a year, maybe as late as age 2?? Can't remember. Young babies will swallow reflexively and can get water poisoning.

Totally not true. My kids were going under the water at 6 months. DD2 was diving down 8 feet to get rings off the bottom of the pool at 18 months. ALL of mine were going under the water WAY before age 2 and even well before age 1. The younger they go under the better. The reflex is to actually put their tongue in the back of their throat to block the water from going down. When they come up out of the water then the water comes out of their mouth.

[momofdestructobaby]

Mine were both in the pool (with me) at less than 3 months. In the lake within their first year (there is a lake here where we live).

Mine are now 2.5 and 5. Both can go in the water independently. 5 year old can swim short distances.

[TigersBabygirl]

Originally Posted by ajane Totally not true. My kids were going under the water at 6 months. DD2 was diving down 8 feet to get rings off the bottom of the pool at 18 months. ALL of mine were going under the water WAY before age 2 and even well before age 1. The younger they go under the better. The reflex is to actually put their tongue in the back of their throat to block the water from going down. When they come up out of the water then the water comes out of their mouth.

Interesting! Is your DD2 especially interested in water or very advanced for her age or is this kind of normal? Our 11 months old is a little scared of the pool right now. She loved it at 6 months but now she cries when I take her in. She loves splashing at the edge of the pool, though.

[ajane]

Originally Posted by TigersBabygirl Interesting! Is your DD2 especially interested in water or very advanced for her age or is this kind of normal? Our 11 months old is a little scared of the pool right now. She loved it at 6 months but now she cries when I take her in. She loves splashing at the edge of the pool, though.

Was there a break of time with her being in the pool? Once ours hit 6 months they were in the water year round. I have always lived on water (either pool or lake) so we wanted our kids to be comfortable in water. They have been in swim lessons early on to learn basic water safety skills and to be comfortable. Dd2 is seriously a mermaid. She was our earliest swimmer and swimming on her own at 14 months. When she needed a breath she would flip on her back and breathe and then go back in the water. I would say she is not normal, lol. Dd2 was swimming on her own around 2 1/2 (Due to her Dec. b-day), Dd3 is our latest swimmer at 4 (still ahead of "normal" though, lol) and DS is about there at 2 1/2. He is actually learning rotary breathing since he naturally turns to the side when he swims. The aquatics director says he is a natural butterflier since he automatically does the stroke when he is in the water. He was actually doing the butterfly at 10 months.

Dd1 started on the summer swim team at age 5 and Dd2, age 3 was begging. I told her no she was too young. That fall Dd1 tried out and made the year round swim team with USA swimming and the following summer after talking to the coach of the summer team I let Dd2 join at age 4. She was naturally heated first and by the middle was swimming in the middle heats and won the most improved swimmer of the team. Dd1 won her age group for most points for the team. At age 5 Dd2 tried out and made the year round swim team. She ended up in 37th place nationally of all 5 year olds to swim the 50 back. They are kind of crazy, lol.

None of our kids ever had floaties or anything in the pool. If they were in the pool, we were working with them. It was more natural and normal for them to see how their bodies move in the water. Plus swim lessons year round.

[MinkaK]

All probably around 8m or so. My youngest is 6m and he hasn't gone in yet. Sometimes the water is just so cold- my older two lips turn blue even with the moving all around, so I don't want to put him into that yet.

[AmyfromKY]

She's 3 months now and hasn't been in, but as soon as the pool hits 86 we will take her in. It's a salt water pool so it's super gentle on our skin.

[TigersBabygirl]

Originally Posted by ajane Was there a break of time with her being in the pool? Once ours hit 6 months they were in the water year round. I have always lived on water (either pool or lake) so we wanted our kids to be comfortable in water. They have been in swim lessons early on to learn basic water safety skills and to be comfortable. Dd2 is seriously a mermaid. She was our earliest swimmer and swimming on her own at 14 months. When she needed a breath she would flip on her back and breathe and then go back in the water. I would say she is not normal, lol. Dd2 was swimming on her own around 2 1/2 (Due to her Dec. b-day), Dd3 is our latest swimmer at 4 (still ahead of "normal" though, lol) and DS is about there at 2 1/2. He is actually learning rotary breathing since he naturally turns to the side when he swims. The aquatics director says he is a natural butterflier since he automatically does the stroke when he is in the water. He was actually doing the butterfly at 10 months. Dd1 started on the summer swim team at age 5 and Dd2, age 3 was begging. I told her no she was too young. That fall Dd1 tried out and made the year round swim team with USA swimming and the following summer after talking to the coach of the summer team I let Dd2 join at age 4. She was naturally heated first and by the middle was swimming in the middle heats and won the most improved swimmer of the team. Dd1 won her age group for most points for the team. At age 5 Dd2 tried out and made the year round swim team. She ended up in 37th place nationally of all 5 year olds to swim the 50 back. They are kind of crazy, lol. None of our kids ever had floaties or anything in the pool. If they were in the pool, we were working with them. It was more natural and normal for them to see how their bodies move in the water. Plus swim lessons year round.

Yes, there was a break - a long one! She was born in June and I didn't feel comfortable taking her while she was tiny. Well, and there are no heated indoor pools in our area. So I took her to the pool twice during vacation and then waited until our outdoor pool opened last week. I guess it didn't help that the shallow end has all kinds of water fountains splashing around, I should have avoided that!

Your kids all sound like natural swimmers/water lovers. That's awesome and I bet you're super proud!
I'm okay with our daughter taking a while to take to water again but I would love for her to learn to swim and enjoy the pool eventually.

[melyndie]

DD was close to a year, and even then the outdoor swimming pool was too cold for her--she chilled easily and didn't enjoy the experience. Now at almost 2, DD had a blast playing in the cold lake the other day. It was a warm day, so she didn't seemed to get chilled.

[jbug_4]

dd was about a year, but only because she was born the end of July and we didn't have access to water. SO we waited for the next summer. DS was about 6 months- Oct baby so his first summer. Both of my kids love the water, but we don't get much opportunity.

[mkrisel]

We started swim lessons at 6 months as something fun to do in the summer. She loved it so much we continued. Lessons were also free with our YMCA membership. We moved and joined a different Y at 18 months, and now have to pay for lessons. So we have been swimming every week, but just tried lessons again. The instructor is amazed at everything she can do, yet I know she can do less than our friends who are at the Y we used to be at. She has gone underwater since 6 months, and now loves to jump in and comes up by herself at 2. But, she can't handle a regular temp pool. The Y pool is warm-like bath water warm. She only lasts 15 minutes still in a cold pool before she is miserable.