How To Introduce A Baby To Swimming: Walk Floating On Their Back
It is important to remember when you introduce a baby to swimming with walk floating on their back that to start with you always support your baby's head and neck and you also support underneath their back. This is so there is not too much strain on it.
This video will talk you through walk and floating your baby in the pool.
Walk floating encourages movement of water across your babies body and to gets them used to what it feels like to be moving in the water.
When you do start to move and your baby has got a bit of momentum in the water you can release the hand that's underneath their back. This gives the baby a greater sense of independence and a lot more freedom in the water to feel that water moving.
All the time you're moving backwards you can just keep that one hand underneath their head. This is because the water is supporting the back of their body. The feet legs the muscles are much denser generally than the fat in their tummy and their arms so all the time that you're moving it's fine to keep that one hand underneath their head and neck.
Important Note: If you use the cheek support keep a careful eye on their mouths. You will note the even in the video the baby tries to lower his chin and if you are not watching you could end up with your baby drinking a lot more water than is good for them. They won't drown if you make sure the mouth is out of the water at all times.
Another note is that at the end of the video there is some talk about how it's a good survival skill to learn how to float in water and how to keep their mouth above the water and it's also very good for their alignment when they're swimming it's much easier to teach a flat natural swim alignment with a baby on their back than it is if a baby is on their tummy. Which all sounds very good but there is no evidence that any of it is true.
If that is true why do it you ask and the answer is because it's fun and the kids seem to love it.
Enjoy
Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment