Hey ladies, we just moved to a house with a pool and the weather in NM is getting toasty. I am excited to get in there with LO but I'm paranoid about safety and what you put baby in at this age. What did you stms do? Also, the pool is fenced in and I plan on keeping the gate locked up like Fort Knox. I've never had a pool before so paranoid doesn't even begin to cover it...
Re: Swimming advice
At this age with DD1, we used a pool floaty with built in canopy (from walmart) and always kept a hand on her, or I wore her in a sling (if I was cleaning the pool or something that I needed my hands free). As she got older, we moved up to a life jacket, and started swimming lessons. We just did winter session of lessons, and I'm helping her practice until next winter. She's 3 now, and is very good about pool safety. When other kids visit, we have a rule that an adult must be in the pool with them, and every kid not swimming independently must be wearing a life jacket to be on the pool deck.
It says 8-24 months on it. You could always buy it and try it out and if it doesn't work, return it. I haven't used it in the pool yet, but I put my baby in it and it looked like the mesh seat fit him well. He is also bigger though: 22 lbs and in the 98th percentile for height.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ARPETGY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1464031503&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=baby+floats+for+pool&dpPl=1&dpID=41uGBTeMKiL&ref=plSrch