Boosting The Confidence of Your Baby In The Pool

Your Baby In The Pool For The First Time

When you take your baby in the pool or any a new environment for the first time, they will naturally feel anxious. How parents respond to their baby’s anxiety will impact their confidence when they are exposed to the new environment. This is particularly true when babies are introduced to swimming for the first time.

The key is to get babies to stay calm and to gain confidence when they are in the water. In this blog post, we will review the advice provided by expert Laurie Lawrence, in which he discusses how to use non-verbal communication to relieve babies anxiety in the swimming pool and to improve their aquatic development.

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Enter The Pool With Your Baby

You need to keep your baby calm and relaxed when in the pool. Enter the pool with your baby resting on your shoulder or on your chest. They will always maintain contact with you and will feel assured that they are “safe” with their parent, even if they are new to the aquatic environment. Once they are settled, provoke them to paddle.

When you can sense that your baby is comfortable floating in the water, hold their legs and move them in a paddling motion. You will be subtly teaching them to paddle, kick, and move about in the water.

Maintain eye contact with your baby and reinforce positive gestures such as smiling and a sense of optimism, so that your baby will become more confident in the water.

Reinforce Positivity And Optimism When You Are In The Water

It is important for your baby to see and feel like what you are doing is positive. If you feel alarmed or anxious, your body language will come across to the baby and they too will feel anxious and uncomfortable in the water.

Focus on positive reinforcement

Don’t be alarmed or panic if something doesn’t go to plan. Instead, focus on smiling and being reassuring. Focus on getting the baby to learn how to move in the water if they experience something that makes them feel anxious.

Below is a video from Laurie Lawrence, where he discusses the importance of using eye contact and positive social signals when teaching babies how to swim.

As the baby becomes more confident, they will react to their natural instincts. It is important to get the baby to learn how to react without panicking or feeling anxious. So it is important to reinforce positivity for the baby’s aquatic development.

Enjoy     
Tom.

Author bio

Tom is one of the pool equipment experts from Mr Pool Man. He has a passion for pool safety and enjoyable experiences in the pool. You can read more about pool maintenance and safety on the Mr Pool Man blog.