What have you done as far as swim lessons with your LO? Has anyone done those life saving classes? Like this: https://www.infantswim.com/
Jake LOVES the water. We took him to the indoor pool in my parents development, and he shows such interest in wanting to put his face in the water and to use his arms and legs to move. He even wanted to swim on his back. I know this is very scary to some kids, so I want to harness his interest if I can, and see if swimming will maybe be a strength of his someday! (His cousins are actually competitive swimmers, one pretty much on her way to the junior Olympics in a couple years!)
Anyhow, I know it's early for Jake to do anything much, especially since they don't really recommend lessons until age 3-ish. But what have you done?
Re: Swim Lessons?
Our local indoor pool starts lessons at 18 months, and I hope to start Caroline in May when she is 18 months.
I think the earlier the better, as far as lessons go. You never know when it might come in handy, or even save his life.
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Who said no swim lessons until 3? In our area, swim lessons start whenever the parent is ready. They have baby & me classes, and then toddler and me classes, and then private or group lessons minus parent.
We started swim lessons with G when he was 10w old. We waited until 2 weeks after his first Polio vaccine (per his pedi recommendation). While we don't go to swim class weekly, G now loves the water and is excited about swim class.
S2 is now 3 months old, and I hope to enroll him in a regular swim class as well. the only reason we haven't yet, is that the week-end mornings classes are booked, and the available week-day classes are too late for him. He wants to be in bed at 6:30 and class is 6-6:30.
We've now worked with two different swim schools, an with each they stress NOT using swim gear such as floaties while in the pool. They want the kids to get acclimated to not relying on those devices.
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I wanted to do them last spring with Sofia but we were too busy and the times didn't work out. So we ended up just getting a pass to the community pool that we can walk to and going there a couple times a week during the summer. She loved it!
This year we're doing mommy and me swimming classes with the local parks and rec group. It was a lot cheaper than doing it with the Y and you get more classes. They're even held at a time that DH can go too so we're going to switch off classes. We're really looking forward to it.
We did swim lessons at the local YMCA in the fall. DS didnt really love it and my belly was getting bigger which made it difficult so we stopped but it was definitely worth trying.
My cousin takes her son who is 4 and has since he was maybe a year? Maybe younger. He has always loved them and is a great swimmer for his age because of them. I was hoping DS would be the same way because I want him to know the rules around the pool and how to react if he falls in, etc.
The Y classes are a mommy and me thing until they get to a certain age so you arent just throwing your baby in the pool. You hold him in different positions to get him used to the water - on his back, under his belly, hold his hands and have him kick. You sing songs. Work on blowing bubbles and eventually putting their face in (when they're ready).
I would definitely do it sooner rather than later.
-----Lisa-----
Our Y offers a program membership which is $80 for the year and then you pay for the class on top of that. It isnt cheap for one session but if you end up using it for the whole year, it really isnt that expensive. You only have access for the classes, not for general use of the Y facilities. Did you check to see if your Y offers that?
-----Lisa-----
Thanks so much for the feedback ladies.
Brooke, I will definitely keep you in mind as I search for something in our area! You're living in TR now, right? That's where I grew up, and learned to swim - Quad 2! The kids will have a blast swimming there this summer!