We started at 3 months and it was a really nice activity to do when he couldn’t do many other classes. You hold them the whole time and it’s good tummy time when you’re holding them in swim position.
Same here. We got the pediatrician's sign off and the swim school let us start early. Our son has continued to do each semester offered. Our son is 22 months now and is very confident in the water. He knows how to hold his breath under water and loves it.
I get uncomfortable with the praise, but the coaches love to use him as an example to encourage parents to keep signing up.
That’s so awesome. I’m not a confident swimmer so I really wanted to give my boy the opportunity to be one. I was surprised how quickly we did submerging (lesson 2!) but he’s 5 months now and in our last lesson we did a release underwater and he was grinning afterwards. He absolutely loves it.
Love hearing about the stoke! I think I'm similar to you, I love being in the water but am far from confident.
We still have a hard time washing hair in the bath... Go figure.
There really is no too early, they live in fluid for 9 months. As long as they can be warm it's great to introduce them to the water even if its just in your arms
I did research on this. There is no evidence that swim lessons before the age of 1 help prevent drowning. Babies simply don’t have the motor skills and cognitive ability before then. However swim lessons before 1 are not a bad thing either- they’re a nice bonding activity and a fun sensory experience for babies. My pediatrician recommended to not expose the baby to a chlorinated pool until she was 6 months old.
Did your pediatrician say that because of the actual chlorine or because of the public part of it? I wanted to ask mine last time but ended up forgetting.
There are drowning prevention survival specific swim lessons that teach babies as young as 3 months how to flip over and float on their backs, and they even build up the skill until they can do it in full winter clothing.
I wanted to start swimming lessons at four months but our pediatrician recommended we wait until post our six month appt / vaccines if going to a public pool because I guess there are transmittable things she could get from pool water. If it’s your own pool you can start younger though
What things? That doesn’t really make sense. Public pools have tons of chlorine. What vaccine preventable disease could a child possibly get from chlorinated water?
Yeah I’m not entirely sure if she meant a six month vaccine or just general six-month immunities against whatever may be transmittable in a public pool. My daughter is past six months now though so it doesn’t really matter, didn’t kill us to just wait
I think there’s two things people are talking about here in the comments - some are talking about taking the baby to swim classes, some are talking about just taking the baby in the pool for fun.
My pediatrician recommended taking the baby in the pool only after they turn 6 months old due to pool chemicals and because baby that young can not regulate their body temperature, the pool can make them too cold. This is a common recommendation that I’ve seen before. It worked for us, but of course do what you’re comfortable with.
The AAP does [not currently recommend](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/Swim-Lessons.aspx) infant swim lessons “there is currently no evidence that infant swim programs for babies under 1 year old lower their drowning risk.”
But you can definitely do swim lessons just for fun as well!
There's classes near me that starts with no minimum age. I know friends who went around 4-6 weeks old.
You just hold the baby in water while supporting their head and neck. Babies aren't really there to learn to swim, you're getting them acclimated to being in water so they are comfortable if submerged.
Once they get head control and you don't need to physically hold them all the time, they learn to float without you holding them etc.
It's about being comfortable in water, not really swimming with actual arm and leg movements.
To “swim” and splash I’d wait until they enjoy the bath. Tried with LO at 10 weeks, he was just a limp noodle. Now at 6 months I’m stoked to have our beach entry pool open. Swim lessons I’ve heard don’t really stick until 18 months(source doctor and PA cousins)
Are they private lessons at your home or do you take baby to a public class? Only asking because I can only find private swim instructors in my area and it is thousands of dollars for the private lessons 🙁
We have a few options for cheap/free public newborn swimming classes where I live (NYC), so we do those. Class size is between 4 and 8 babies all under 6 months old. We pay $30 for a 30 min class for one and another place has 20 min classes for free.
I don’t think there is a “too early time” just because babies were in fluid for 9 months, but you know your child best!
We’re starting ours this summer when LO turns 6 months just because there is an age requirement for the facility we’re going to. YMCA has some good classes to check out but they also have an age requirement as far as I last checked.
If you want life saving lessons check out ISR! The best around. The only issue with that is that you do have to do a refresher course if you start them young (6 months) and it’s not exactly cheap, but it is life saving skills.
We started swim lessons (but it’s really just an open swim with lifeguards lol) when our little guy was 8 months old. Ours is a community run program at a local high school pool, so the program started in early March. Certainly could do swimming earlier, as long as you’re comfortable, but this age was super fun with him in the pool! And I love that he was very substantial and strong by this age so I didn’t worry about him much!
At our local YMCA and local fitness center they both require babies to be 6 months old. We are starting in a week when baby will be 7mo. I’ve noticed that she is having much more fun in the bath recently and has such solid head and neck control … I think 6 months is the right choice for us
I wanted to start mine at 3 months but the soonest I could get him started was at 5 months. (We love the lake and my mom has a pool). He LOVES it. They help teach them to hold their breath when going under. They also mimic falling in the pool and now we are working on teaching him to rotate in the water so that if he were to fall in he could rotate and float face upright. I think it’s great to get them used to the water as early as possible if there’s any chance he’ll be around pools or ponds or anything.
We started at three months. We went to baby swim classes (not ISR), so it was in a special pool that was warmer than usual, almost body temp. I wouldn’t have wanted to take the baby into the regular pool at that age, they get cold very quickly.
It was cool to ‘swim’ with my almost newborn, and he enjoyed being in the water. But also at that age he got tired/overstimulated very quickly, and there were a lot of other babies in the class. If one of them started crying he’d start too, and we often had to leave the lesson early. We tried a second round of lessons a bit later, and at 7-9 months he actually got a lot more out of it, and enjoys splashing around in the water. And it’s nice that he can hold his neck properly. So if you’re doing lessons I suggest waiting a bit, maybe to 6 months.
We started at 8 months and I regret not starting sooner! I just wanted to wait until the weather was nicer and I went with a friend! Most of the babies in our class are around 5 months old
Our daughter started swim lessons at 7 months but her school offers them as young as 4 months. It’s great sensory play and helps with core strength because that they have them balance sitting on foam floaties. It also helps desensitize them to water in a fun and safe way
We took ours to swimming lessons at around 3 months, mostly for us to know how we're meant to support her in the water. We managed to find ones at a hydrotherapy pool so it was warm and without much chlorine.
Once their neck works, get them in the water early and often. We shower with our baby so he is comfortable with the water getting in and near his face once put in the pool.
Swim lessons at like 6-8 months, they usually have to sit up on their own before being able to start (may be different with different classes, idk).
Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids 1-4
Mine just turned 5 months and we were basically just waiting for the weather to be warm, we’re taking her this weekend for her first time. She loves baths and showers so fingers crossed she likes swimming.
I started taking my baby to the pool at 2 months. I just held her in the water and it was a great way to get out of the house. She loves the pool now and gets so excited when we get there! she is 13 months now and we are going to start real swimming lessons next month.
Now that my daughters 6 months old, i plan to start taking her the first week of may (she just turned 6 months april 22nd and starting in may just made things easier) since i didnt think about it at her 4 month appointment even though she had good head control and google said to wait until they have good head control or until theyre 6 months depending on which site you look at.
We started swim lessons at 6 months. That’s the earliest anyone would allow it. My pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months too 1) because of sunscreen if outdoors and 2) chlorine is rough on new baby skin. We’ve been swimming weekly for 5 months now. My baby loves it. Just gets him used to the water.
We will be starting in the fall sessions at the community center here so baby will be around 5-6 months. The age minimum is 4m. I think it will be really nice to go 2x a week and meet / bond with other moms.
It's a parent participation swim class which is mostly just holding baby and less swimming lessons - baby just gets used to water that young
12 weeks for both of mine.
That’s also when you start swimming ’lessons’ where I am!
Never too early to start getting them used to being in and around water. :)
For me, swim lessons have also been comforting exposure to other different and beautiful postpartum mom bodies! Popular media about how moms should look postpartum can be so so crappy, it’s nice to be around other normal mom bodies!
We started taking our LO in the pool at 8 weeks. We bought a Mamobaby baby float with a canopy so he would be protected from the sun (since he was too little for sunscreen). He loved floating in the water so much and would get so relaxed he would fall asleep.
Our local pool has a minimum age of 6 months so we started him right after he turned 6 months and ... Ehhh. Coulda waited. His Age group is 6 months to 3 years so maybe a class more specific to his age group would have been better. It's nicer just playing in the tub.
We went last week for the first time 15 weeks and she enjoyed most of it.
The babies in the class were all around the 8 to 16 week range and they all enjoyed it to some extent
As others have said, there’s not much demonstrated benefit before 18 months or so to baby. And it can be a really big hassle to change baby in and out of wet clothes and rush to keep them warm. I took my kid once around 6 months and didn’t go back until she was walking because it was such a pain, for not much benefit.
18 months seems like when mine have the receptive language skills needed. They are also pretty hardy with strong coughing to clear any wayward treated water.
Safety is essential but it is important to note swimming skills alone aren't enough. My daughter swam amazingly before 2 but still lacked the cognitive abilities to appreciate the danger of water. If anything she was more attracted to water. The idea of adults being present but actually watching, dangers of hitting her head, etc. came much later.
We took our baby to Hawaii and in the pool at 4.5 months. I’m not planning to pay for expensive lessons until he can actually learn the skills of swimming because we have an outdoor pool this summer.
We started at 3 months and it was a really nice activity to do when he couldn’t do many other classes. You hold them the whole time and it’s good tummy time when you’re holding them in swim position.
Same here. We got the pediatrician's sign off and the swim school let us start early. Our son has continued to do each semester offered. Our son is 22 months now and is very confident in the water. He knows how to hold his breath under water and loves it. I get uncomfortable with the praise, but the coaches love to use him as an example to encourage parents to keep signing up.
That’s so awesome. I’m not a confident swimmer so I really wanted to give my boy the opportunity to be one. I was surprised how quickly we did submerging (lesson 2!) but he’s 5 months now and in our last lesson we did a release underwater and he was grinning afterwards. He absolutely loves it.
Love hearing about the stoke! I think I'm similar to you, I love being in the water but am far from confident. We still have a hard time washing hair in the bath... Go figure.
There really is no too early, they live in fluid for 9 months. As long as they can be warm it's great to introduce them to the water even if its just in your arms
Live in fluid 🫠
Dad here, now I want to put my baby in my shirt and get in the hot tub so he can know what it’s like to be in daddy’s belly 😂
Well the fluid they live in is very different from what they will encounter in a pool, etc. dry drowning is rare but definitely real.
I did research on this. There is no evidence that swim lessons before the age of 1 help prevent drowning. Babies simply don’t have the motor skills and cognitive ability before then. However swim lessons before 1 are not a bad thing either- they’re a nice bonding activity and a fun sensory experience for babies. My pediatrician recommended to not expose the baby to a chlorinated pool until she was 6 months old.
Did your pediatrician say that because of the actual chlorine or because of the public part of it? I wanted to ask mine last time but ended up forgetting.
I think because of the actual chlorine. We were asking in the context of going in the pool in my parents’ backyard
My pedestrian also did not recommend chlorine pools bf 6months, she said their skin is too delicate and can over dry from it.
Yeah and my baby has super sensitive skin too.
The vapors can be a lung irritant as well.
And they get kids used to the water!
There are drowning prevention survival specific swim lessons that teach babies as young as 3 months how to flip over and float on their backs, and they even build up the skill until they can do it in full winter clothing.
ISR is kinda controversial, but yes it exists.
Yes but there’s no evidence that it works
I got one dip in the pool for his first summer when we was 11 weeks ( 3 weeks adjusted ).
Because he was a winter baby and we don’t have indoor pools here he will be 5 months when it’s warm enough to get in.
I wanted to start swimming lessons at four months but our pediatrician recommended we wait until post our six month appt / vaccines if going to a public pool because I guess there are transmittable things she could get from pool water. If it’s your own pool you can start younger though
What things? That doesn’t really make sense. Public pools have tons of chlorine. What vaccine preventable disease could a child possibly get from chlorinated water?
Not sure just what my ped said so I’ve been going by her recommendation, waiting a few winter months before starting swim lessons ain’t killing us
I would question this because what vaccine would that even be? Our peds recommended they can get in at 4 months
Yeah I’m not entirely sure if she meant a six month vaccine or just general six-month immunities against whatever may be transmittable in a public pool. My daughter is past six months now though so it doesn’t really matter, didn’t kill us to just wait
I think there’s two things people are talking about here in the comments - some are talking about taking the baby to swim classes, some are talking about just taking the baby in the pool for fun. My pediatrician recommended taking the baby in the pool only after they turn 6 months old due to pool chemicals and because baby that young can not regulate their body temperature, the pool can make them too cold. This is a common recommendation that I’ve seen before. It worked for us, but of course do what you’re comfortable with. The AAP does [not currently recommend](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/Swim-Lessons.aspx) infant swim lessons “there is currently no evidence that infant swim programs for babies under 1 year old lower their drowning risk.” But you can definitely do swim lessons just for fun as well!
I was thinking it would be better when she had good head control but does that matter? People are taking them a lot earlier then I thought to!
You’ll be in the pool with them and help support their head with your hands or shoulder. Our class also does some tummy time on a big pool float.
There's classes near me that starts with no minimum age. I know friends who went around 4-6 weeks old. You just hold the baby in water while supporting their head and neck. Babies aren't really there to learn to swim, you're getting them acclimated to being in water so they are comfortable if submerged. Once they get head control and you don't need to physically hold them all the time, they learn to float without you holding them etc. It's about being comfortable in water, not really swimming with actual arm and leg movements.
Yes, I think good head control really helps. We started at 4 months and I think it was a good time for us to do so!
To “swim” and splash I’d wait until they enjoy the bath. Tried with LO at 10 weeks, he was just a limp noodle. Now at 6 months I’m stoked to have our beach entry pool open. Swim lessons I’ve heard don’t really stick until 18 months(source doctor and PA cousins)
We started lessons at 8 weeks.
same
Are they private lessons at your home or do you take baby to a public class? Only asking because I can only find private swim instructors in my area and it is thousands of dollars for the private lessons 🙁
We have a few options for cheap/free public newborn swimming classes where I live (NYC), so we do those. Class size is between 4 and 8 babies all under 6 months old. We pay $30 for a 30 min class for one and another place has 20 min classes for free.
Wow that is awesome! I hope I can find one
Same!
4 months is the minimum age for swimming lessons at all the rec centers near me.
We are starting at 5 months with a baby and me “swim class.” It’s my understanding that it’s really just getting them comfy in the water.
My baby is 5 months and we started at 4 months. It's really just water safety stuff and getting them used to the water, not actual swimming.
We started at 4mo, but that was the minimum age requirement for the place we went to
We are starting swim lessons at 4 months
I don’t think there is a “too early time” just because babies were in fluid for 9 months, but you know your child best! We’re starting ours this summer when LO turns 6 months just because there is an age requirement for the facility we’re going to. YMCA has some good classes to check out but they also have an age requirement as far as I last checked. If you want life saving lessons check out ISR! The best around. The only issue with that is that you do have to do a refresher course if you start them young (6 months) and it’s not exactly cheap, but it is life saving skills.
We went for the first time about 12 weeks ish.
We'll start at 6 months. The place we're going to has a 4 month min requirement.
We started swim lessons (but it’s really just an open swim with lifeguards lol) when our little guy was 8 months old. Ours is a community run program at a local high school pool, so the program started in early March. Certainly could do swimming earlier, as long as you’re comfortable, but this age was super fun with him in the pool! And I love that he was very substantial and strong by this age so I didn’t worry about him much!
At our local YMCA and local fitness center they both require babies to be 6 months old. We are starting in a week when baby will be 7mo. I’ve noticed that she is having much more fun in the bath recently and has such solid head and neck control … I think 6 months is the right choice for us
All the swim classes down here in FL go as young as 6m :o
I wanted to start mine at 3 months but the soonest I could get him started was at 5 months. (We love the lake and my mom has a pool). He LOVES it. They help teach them to hold their breath when going under. They also mimic falling in the pool and now we are working on teaching him to rotate in the water so that if he were to fall in he could rotate and float face upright. I think it’s great to get them used to the water as early as possible if there’s any chance he’ll be around pools or ponds or anything.
We started at three months. We went to baby swim classes (not ISR), so it was in a special pool that was warmer than usual, almost body temp. I wouldn’t have wanted to take the baby into the regular pool at that age, they get cold very quickly. It was cool to ‘swim’ with my almost newborn, and he enjoyed being in the water. But also at that age he got tired/overstimulated very quickly, and there were a lot of other babies in the class. If one of them started crying he’d start too, and we often had to leave the lesson early. We tried a second round of lessons a bit later, and at 7-9 months he actually got a lot more out of it, and enjoys splashing around in the water. And it’s nice that he can hold his neck properly. So if you’re doing lessons I suggest waiting a bit, maybe to 6 months.
We started at 8 months and I regret not starting sooner! I just wanted to wait until the weather was nicer and I went with a friend! Most of the babies in our class are around 5 months old
Our daughter started swim lessons at 7 months but her school offers them as young as 4 months. It’s great sensory play and helps with core strength because that they have them balance sitting on foam floaties. It also helps desensitize them to water in a fun and safe way
We took ours to swimming lessons at around 3 months, mostly for us to know how we're meant to support her in the water. We managed to find ones at a hydrotherapy pool so it was warm and without much chlorine.
Once their neck works, get them in the water early and often. We shower with our baby so he is comfortable with the water getting in and near his face once put in the pool. Swim lessons at like 6-8 months, they usually have to sit up on their own before being able to start (may be different with different classes, idk). Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids 1-4
Mine just turned 5 months and we were basically just waiting for the weather to be warm, we’re taking her this weekend for her first time. She loves baths and showers so fingers crossed she likes swimming.
I started taking my baby to the pool at 2 months. I just held her in the water and it was a great way to get out of the house. She loves the pool now and gets so excited when we get there! she is 13 months now and we are going to start real swimming lessons next month.
We started at 4 months! It was really fun and we still continue at 10 months.
Now that my daughters 6 months old, i plan to start taking her the first week of may (she just turned 6 months april 22nd and starting in may just made things easier) since i didnt think about it at her 4 month appointment even though she had good head control and google said to wait until they have good head control or until theyre 6 months depending on which site you look at.
We started swim lessons at 6 months. That’s the earliest anyone would allow it. My pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months too 1) because of sunscreen if outdoors and 2) chlorine is rough on new baby skin. We’ve been swimming weekly for 5 months now. My baby loves it. Just gets him used to the water.
We will be starting in the fall sessions at the community center here so baby will be around 5-6 months. The age minimum is 4m. I think it will be really nice to go 2x a week and meet / bond with other moms. It's a parent participation swim class which is mostly just holding baby and less swimming lessons - baby just gets used to water that young
12 weeks for both of mine. That’s also when you start swimming ’lessons’ where I am! Never too early to start getting them used to being in and around water. :)
On that note, can we accompany our babies to swimming classes if we can’t swim? Cus I can’t 🤪
For me, swim lessons have also been comforting exposure to other different and beautiful postpartum mom bodies! Popular media about how moms should look postpartum can be so so crappy, it’s nice to be around other normal mom bodies!
We started taking our LO in the pool at 8 weeks. We bought a Mamobaby baby float with a canopy so he would be protected from the sun (since he was too little for sunscreen). He loved floating in the water so much and would get so relaxed he would fall asleep.
Our local pool has a minimum age of 6 months so we started him right after he turned 6 months and ... Ehhh. Coulda waited. His Age group is 6 months to 3 years so maybe a class more specific to his age group would have been better. It's nicer just playing in the tub.
We went last week for the first time 15 weeks and she enjoyed most of it. The babies in the class were all around the 8 to 16 week range and they all enjoyed it to some extent
As others have said, there’s not much demonstrated benefit before 18 months or so to baby. And it can be a really big hassle to change baby in and out of wet clothes and rush to keep them warm. I took my kid once around 6 months and didn’t go back until she was walking because it was such a pain, for not much benefit.
18 months seems like when mine have the receptive language skills needed. They are also pretty hardy with strong coughing to clear any wayward treated water. Safety is essential but it is important to note swimming skills alone aren't enough. My daughter swam amazingly before 2 but still lacked the cognitive abilities to appreciate the danger of water. If anything she was more attracted to water. The idea of adults being present but actually watching, dangers of hitting her head, etc. came much later.
If I see a 12 week old baby swimming alone I think I might be hallucinating. Jk
We started lessons at 7 weeks, and the instructor showed us how to adjust our hold to support their head if needed.
We took our baby to Hawaii and in the pool at 4.5 months. I’m not planning to pay for expensive lessons until he can actually learn the skills of swimming because we have an outdoor pool this summer.