It’s a good question, because at around £13 per class they’re not cheap.
Although I took BB swimming regularly when she was a baby it didn’t occur to me to look into anything more structured until I was asked to write a piece about baby swimming lessons for Mother & Baby magazine after Little B was born.
There are a host of franchises out there from Water Babies to Puddle Ducks and Little Splashers, all offering pretty much the same thing. We tried out a Puddle Ducks class in Ovingdean, Brighton, which I was sure Little B would love given he was born in water and gets terrible gripe.
When the dreaded griping pains take hold a nice warm bath seems the natural way to soothe him; as soon as he enters the water he stops crying and wreathing around and his tummy, previously as tight as a drum, relaxes.
The prospect of shoe horning myself back into my tankini was daunting: it’s time to face the fact that no amount of oil or stretch mark cream is going to shift my linea nigra any time soon. It resembles a drunken snail trail. Where did Nigella get that burkini, I wonder?
On the upside, I’ve got a chest I can finally be proud of, even if one boob is significantly larger than the other owing to milk supply and both are decorated with angry blue veins, some of which have the audacity to actually stick out.
But it wasn’t about me, it was about Little B, so I pushed all that to the back of my mind and headed to our ‘floaties’ class for babies from birth to six months.
It turned out the name of the class was rather ironic – on the day of our lesson Maxi hadn’t done a number two for three whole days, and having googled the problem it seems ‘relaxing in warm water’ is one of the ways to get things going.
While it would no doubt have made colourful reading, luckily the water didn’t have a laxative effect.
It was such fun! There’s singing, splashing, submerging, and of course lots of floating. At one point I was supporting him just by his head, allowing his body to float freely in the water. It might sound reckless, but all the babies loved it, and one mum told me her baby had actually fallen asleep during the previous lesson.
With the idea being to get babies to love water for life, there is also a chance for them to experience being underwater. This isn’t for the faint hearted, but given that the first time I saw Little B he was totally submerged it wasn’t as dramatic as it sounds.
Holding him firmly under his arms and tilted slightly forward so that water didn’t rush up his nose, I counted to three and said his name as a cue, then dunked him under, pulling him through the water for a count of three.
Amazingly none of the babies cried, and I think being immersed in water on a regular basis like this means that if they were ever to fall in somewhere they’re less likely to panic.
As well as introducing building blocks for water safety and spending half an hour in nice warm water together (the pool was a balmy 32 degrees) what I hadn’t bargained for was how much of a bonding experience it would be. We enjoyed skin to skin contact for practically the whole lesson, which was priceless.
Admittedly the lessons aren’t priceless – more’s the pity – but if your baby really loves water I’d say do it if you can. We signed up to the rest of the term and have re-enrolled for summer thanks to the Bank of Granny.
You can read our feature in the April 2015 edition of Mother & Baby magazine.
Linking up with…
I honestly don’t think they’re worth the money until they can swim in a group without parents. As long as you go regularly before that obviously.
Great post, I was actually looking into this myself. What age did your baby start that? I love your honest and funny posts, keep up the good work x
I take my 10 month old to puddleducks – we’ve been going since he was apprx 4 months and we both enjoy it. The first three classes he screamed blue murder but I’m pleased we persevered. It is expensive working out at £12 per class however we figured if we took him swimming weekly ourselves then we’d both go which would cost £9-£10 where we live and paying the extra couple of quid for an actual lesson was worth it (plus we used present money (christening / Christmas!)). It’s also amazing what they pick up at such an early age!!
I would caution anyone attending that you might want to skip the term your baby starts nursery. Our daughter has missed a lot of the classes this term with the various bugs she’s caught. It’s also something of a bind when back at work having to be at class every weekend but while I was off we found it a great way to introduce her to swimming and I feel confident taking her in the pool now
I have been taking my daughter to puddle ducks since she was 8 months old and she is now 18 months. I think what she has achieved and the bonding we have in the pool is priceless. I’m the one teaching my daughter to swim each week and from doing so I’ve lost my fear of water. My daughter at 18 months old can sit on the pool side and wait for me to tell her to jump in, happily be submerged under the water and hold onto the pool side without support as well as other things she has learnt. For me these lessons are important as I want her to be confident in water unlike me as a child.
Most definitely worth every penny. I took my daughter to puddleducks at age 6 months as we live near a canal and have a pond. She totally loved it. Now she is 6 and can swim 50m no problem. She loves jumping in and is very confident in the water – thanks to her ongoing puddleducks lessons at swim academy with Luisa Mackey. She is in development class in the deep end without any adult supervision in the pool – just her awesome teacher poolside! Thank you puddleducks! xxx
My mother in law insisted that I enroll our daughter in swimming lessons. They have a large creek in their back yard and she says she would feel more at ease knowing that she’s had a few swimming lessons. We started when she was 6 months old. She couldn’t swim if she were to fall in, but she would surely know to kick and roll over onto her back. The next thing we are supposed to work on is swimming to and grabbing the side. Seeing her progress made me so proud and she is so excited at every lesson. The experience is well worth the money. She is now 13 months old and we will be starting again in a few weeks. I’m very excited 🙂
We did Water Babies from 3 months old, and I loved it. N went through phases of ambiguity, loving it, hating it (water wobbles for a year – which I reckon was their record!). The bonding is wonderful, and seeing them enjoy it. As well as the safety aspect – being able to hold themselves on the side on their own as little tots is fab, and building the muscle memory of kicking, breathing, arms etc.
N was the only one in their class not to be able to do 10 metres without an aid, but he did love it by the end, and would take part in all the activities. He’s now in normal swimming lessons and loves it.
I think, if you’re not able to/or won’t take babies swimming regularly, then baby swimming lessons are pretty much essential. I know I’d never have taken him otherwise, plus we got the social side – we were in a class with all my NCT friends, plus another mum I’m still friends with 4.5 years later.
Wow it sounds like you had a great experience. We’re sadly not going anymore as we just couldn’t afford it – I’d love to pick it up again in future though x
It seems great, but I have never taken my daughter to swimming lessons, I was worried that she could catch something, i was told to go after all jabs only and I just never had time to shave)
We definitely went before Little B had his jabs – it’s true you need to make time for shaving though!