Baby swimming sessions have been a huge success for several years now in swimming pools in France. It is also often difficult to register and the waiting lists are sometimes quite long. Please be patient because baby swimming lessons have many benefits. Discover the 8 reasons to register your child for baby swimming.
Familiarize your child with the aquatic environment
The course of baby swimming is perfect for your child used to the aquatic environment. If during the first sessions, it is better to hold it in your arms, little by little it will become more and more comfortable over time and become more and more independent in the water. Be careful, this is not about teaching him to swim! At this age, he does not have the psychomotor skills to swim but from 4 months he can start to enjoy floating and evolve in an aquatic environment
Make him love bath time
Getting your child used to the aquatic environment doesn’t just happen in a swimming pool. After the baby’s swimming sessions, you can continue to make him like the water when bathing at home. Many babies who do not like contact with water change their attitude completely after a few sessions of baby swimming.
Promote psychomotor development
The exercises and activities during baby swimming sessions are designed to help your child wake up and coordinate their movements. This is an important stage in your child’s life and thanks to the baby swimming sessions, he learns to tame his body in a very pleasant environment without the possibility of falls or injuries.
Share a moment of complicity
The sessions of swimming babies are often experienced as a privileged moment between baby and parent. Adults are completely available for their children without the stress of everyday tasks. It is a moment of exchange, of complicity where it is possible to play and relax.
Relax and unwind
The aquatic environment is ideal for your child to relax and you too at the same time! Indeed, in the water, you move in zero gravity and you only feel a third of your terrestrial weight. The muscles relax and a feeling of well-being invades you.
Socialize
The baby swimming sessions are done in small groups. This is a chance for your child to meet other babies and start socializing and for you, it’s a great way to meet young parents and open up your circle a bit.
Make learning to swim easier
Baby swimming lessons are excellent for getting your child used to the aquatic environment and making it easier for them to learn to swim in the future. This does not mean that he will learn before others, but he will have less apprehension and will feel more comfortable.
Rediscover the sensations of pregnancy
During pregnancy, your baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid and is therefore used to being submerged. During the baby swimming lessons, he feels very comfortable and enjoys the sensations that remind him of his mother’s belly.
Contrary to what the name suggests, a baby swim session will not teach your child how to swim. On the other hand, it will allow him to feel at ease in the aquatic environment, no longer fear to splash, or even do no longer hesitate to put his head underwater. Some swimming pools also prefer the term “baby in the water” rather than “swimming baby”.
How does a baby swimming session take place?
The baby swimmer and lifeguard classes are primarily a fun time to share with your child. Thanks to the nine months spent in the mother’s womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid, a baby will naturally feel at ease in the aquatic environment. You will also notice that infants have a swimming reflex: submerged, they block their breathing, and shake their legs and arms.
Please note, to reassure you, that the baby swimming sessions are regulated by a ministerial circular. This circular mainly concerns the training of supervisory staff (the team must be made up of several professionals with an educational and psychomotor approach), and the temperature of the swimming pool: at least 25 ° C out of the water and 32 ° C in the pool. ‘water.
Do you want to register your child for a baby swimming session?
Many municipal swimming pools offer sessions for babies aged 4 months to 6 years.
These sessions are very popular, and it is better not to delay registering your child (sometimes even before birth).
Please note that the swimming pool is not recommended for babies with respiratory (asthma, chronic bronchitis, etc.) or cardiovascular problems.
Some tips for your little swimmers:
- Have your baby drink before the session, which will prevent him from regurgitating if he drinks from the cup.
- Take a waterproof layer and small doses of physiological saline solution for the eyes.
- Don’t forget to plan a snack for the end of the session (the swimming pool, it digs!).