Thanks WaterDreamer for my first ever Blog comment, what a privilege to know someone with their own fantastic blog is reading mine! It was requested that I might talk about the swimming program we are doing with BC so here it is!
Swimming is definitely something by husband and I love to do (or at least spend time in the water, even if we're not swimming per se!) and we were excited to introduce this to our son. I haven't finished reading 'How to teach your baby to swim' by Douglas Doman but I have read the parts relevant to teaching a baby to swim and I have to say I totally agree! My belief is that all babies are born 'knowing' how to swim or at least being comfortable in the water. After all, they did just spend nine months in a fluid filled world! I believe that it is the years from birth onwards where they are not exposed to the water that prevents them from being able to enjoy the water and that creates a fear as we see in so many children. Of course this is a generalisation and there are always the exceptions to the rules or those who aren't comfortable in the water no matter what you do but we are hoping to avoid this with BC.
A local swimming chain that exists here in Melbourne has a 'Baby Play' session which is essentially a time for the Mums and Dads (or others) to bring the baby down to the pool and to play together in the water. There is an instructor there if the parents want tips on handling the baby on the water or they want to be shown different holds, games or strategies for conditioning the baby to have water over their face or be immersed. The key for us is that the water is at 32 degrees Celsius, has the minimal amount of Chlorine required to make the water safe, and the classes are conducted after all the swimming lessons finish so the pool isn't full of hundreds of splashing, screaming, noisy children. It is a private facility so it isn't open to the public for free swimming, just swimming lessons.
The Baby Play sessions run from age 3-6 months and then the children progress into a Parent-Child Class that runs from 6 months to 3 years. Daddy and I took BC to his first swimming 'class' when he was just over three months old and he loves it. We try to go weekly but of course some weeks it gets away from us. So we are by no means a perfect Doman Swimming family but BC loves it and we try to immerse him every session. He rarely minds and only occasionally will swallow a little bit of water and have a cough. He never gets upset.
First we started with water on the face which we have been doing in the bath at home for some time now. We use a cup and we tip water over his shoulders, water over the back of his head (hair) and then we say 'OK BC, 1, 2, 3...' and tip the water quickly over his face from the forehead down. We were taught that it is the rush of water over the forehead and eyes that cues the baby about what is to come and this way he holds his breath and closes his mouth so he doesn't swallow the water. It also needs to be done quickly, not a slow pour but tip the whole cup out in one go as little babies can't hold their breath for too long. From here, we waited until BC was comfortable with this and then proceeded to do an immersion at the pool with the help of the instructor.
We always start with the cup, water over the shoulders, water over the hair and then 1, 2, 3... water over the face. To do an immersion we hold BC with both arms straight out and hands, palm up under his chest (he is almost lying across our hands if we were to hold him horizontally). Then we lift him half out of the water, into a vertical position, say OK BC, 1, 2, 3... then we lift him out, tilt him down, and 'swoosh' him through/under the water, forehead first and straight out. When he comes out, we bring him straight up to the shoulder so he can feel secure against a hard surface, and then, regardless of his response, we praise him and tell him what a wonderful, clever boy he is. Luckily for us he is quite good at this and almost always holds his breath, comes out with lots of blinking of his eyes and then is back to looking around, trying to take everything in as usual.
For us swimming is fun! We can't wait to start the parent-child classes and teach him to swim for real!
No comments:
Post a Comment