GUIDE TO PARENTS ABOUT BABY & SWIMMING | Found this when goggling the tips & how to teach my baby to swim. This is very useful & can be used as a guide to us as parents. But, be careful. Take a VERY GOOD CARE of your own baby, ok!!!
-moves by daddy based on our books-
[LOCATION: 0.9m pool – be CAREFUL. Don’t let ur baby swim there unattended]
SWIMMING ROUTINES & POSITIONS
Swim Position
This is one of the most basic positions and is used for many routines. Keep yourself low in the water, and try to allow your baby to float rather than supporting them too much with your hands.
Neutral Position
This position is used for many routines. Your baby is vertical, held by your hands under their armpits. The position doesn’t really have a name, I just called it neutral position as it is how we hold our babies most of the time.
Back Floating
The first back floating position (there are others) we were shown was how I naturally held our baby during bathtime. Supported with your hand under their head. I’m left handed, right handers will want to switch hands. When your baby is small you can have their feet pointing towards your tummy. As they grow you will need to have them slightly to the side.
The moves used during baby’s swimming lessons
Cradled Head Holding Back Floating
Here your baby is actually floating on their own. Your hands are cradling them under their head to support them if necessary. Older babies may be less willing to lie still enough. We were told to allow their ears to submerge.
Sitting On The Side
This position is the start of many routines. Your baby is sitting on the side, held by your hands under their armpits. The first routine using this start position is ‘Humpty Dumpty’.
In the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ routine your baby starts off sitting on the side of the pool while you say the nursery rhyme. At the appropriate point (Hunpty Dumpty had a great fall) you lift them into the water so they hit chest first and end up in swim position.
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Assisted Underwater Swim
2 Adults are needed, your baby is passed from one person to the other with enough gentle momentum for your baby to travel a short distance unsupported.
Assisted Underwater Swim In Detail
The baby is held by one person while the other waits to catch the baby. The baby is held in side holding swim position. This is where you hold them to one side of your body, with one hand at either side of their torso just below their armpit level.
As always, you prepare your baby by saying ‘name … ready … go …’. This is said by the person waiting to catch the baby, and is the trigger for the other person to begin the move.
The person holding the baby can now take the baby forward and under the water in a smooth and gentle action.
At this point the baby momentarily is not held by either person as they continue the short distance to the catcher.
The catcher can then lift the baby out of the water for a hug.
For clarity here is the move again from a distance and from one angle.
There are variations on this move, which I will explain. The first is for more advanced babies who have done many underwater swims. Here we simply remove the hug at the end of the routine. Instead they are immediately placed in side holding swim position by the catcher and taken on a little swim away from the side of the pool.
They are then turned around and taken back to the side still in side holding swim position for a reaching hold on.
The second extension is for the catcher to be underwater for the catch. Here the move starts the same, but once the catcher has said ‘name … ready … go …’ they go underwater. This is great fun for the catcher because they get to see the baby swimming towards them underwater. The catch is made under the water and then the catcher surfaces with the baby ending up with a hug.
Here are some tips for the catcher if they decide to do the catch underwater. Firstly wearing goggles will allow you to see the baby better. Don’t take a deep breath as it will be harder to stay underwater, try breathing out instead. Use the gutter or bar to help you stay under, I use one hand on the bar to help me get underwater. Finally it’s very easy to kick out and accidentally hit your baby. Crossing your legs will avoid this, I doubted this advice but when you do the move it’s easy to see how you could accidentally kick out.
Credit for the owner of BRINGEMUP bringemup.com informations, thank you so much!! I also wanna learn this tips!!! TQVM.