Regular readers will know that Little B and I have been doing Puddle Ducks baby swimming lessons, and now he’s about to turn two it’s occurred to me how much he’s grown since we first started swimming together.

He was a newborn baby – just 11 weeks old – when we had our first ever lesson, when he couldn’t even hold his head up and was just about starting to focus on things (pictured).

Two years on and he’s grown into a confident, strapping little boy, which I do think has a lot to do with his swimming lessons and the freedom and skills they’ve afforded him.

I’ve touched on reasons it’s worth trying baby swimming lessons and top tips when taking your baby swimming before, so now I’ve compiled a little list of 10 ways I think swimming can help your baby grow if you’re thinking of taking the plunge.

10 ways swimming can help your baby grow

1. Swimming gives them a sense of freedom they don’t get anywhere else. At Puddle Ducks – and most baby swimming schools – no floats or arm bands are used, so your baby is free to move at their own will in the water and enjoy the freedom of being weightless in your arms.

2. Swimming can help you bond. I’ve found our 30-minute swimming lessons absolutely priceless because we get half an hour to spend focused entirely on each other – which anyone with more than one child will tell you can be virtually impossible!

3. Being in water boosts their self-confidence. Moving on their own in the water and learning actions like reaching for the side all help build their confidence in the long term.

4. Baby swimming lessons teach them vital lifelong skills from an early age, such as learning to hold their breath in water. Little B loves transferring this from the pool to the bath at home.

5. Swimming teaches them water safety. Did you know that drowning is the third biggest cause of accidental death in children under five in the UK? Learning to hold their breath, get to the side and get out of water could quite literally be the difference between life and death.

6. It improves their balance and co-ordination. Being buoyant in the water and playing with toys (at Puddle Ducks we have yellow ducks) has been proven to help them develop balance and co-ordination.

7. Swimming gives them an all-round work out. I’ve mentioned how swimming is a great form of exercise in previous posts, but it’s worth mentioning again. All that kicking and splashing is a brilliant, fun work out building muscles and strength – for both of you!

8. Swimming can teach your baby trust. In a structured lesson in which your baby is submerged and passed underwater from your teacher to you, allowing for three kicks on their own before you take them, they learn not to panic and to reach for you as they resurface.

9. Swimming lessons help them learn to socialise. Being in a group with an instructor and other parents and babies helps your little one learn to interact and socialise with others from an early age.

10. Swimming can help improve their memory. Apparently, swimming helps strengthen the part of the brain associated with memory and learning because while swimming new connections between neurons are formed, resulting in a better functioning of the brain.

So there you have it – why I think baby swimming lessons are a good idea. Do you go swimming with your little ones? Do you enjoy it as much as we do?

Puddle Ducks West Kent & East Sussex is currently offering 8 classes for £80 between now and Christmas when you book by October 30th 2016. There’s no ongoing commitment and no long termly fees – so the perfect chance to try out baby swimming lessons for yourself! For more details have a look at their Facebook page.

We were given a half-term of Puddle Ducks swimming lessons in exchange for this post. As always all opinions are my own and based on my own honest experience.

Linking up with…