Gymbaroo...

Has anyone done Babyroo?? Is it worth it at such a young age - from 6 weeks? Am also going to do swimming but want to wait for this icy cold Melbourne weather to warm up a bit!!

I did a couple sessions of gymbaroo at around 6 or 7 months. Personally I just didn't think it was worth it for the fact that a 45min session cost $18.
I thought maybe when she is older I may go back. Alot the things I can just do at home, even though I don't have all the equipment some things I could just improvise on.

i have done something similar to gymbaroo - but waited until DD#1 was 18 months i think.....i dont know if they start them that early (6 wks). Im sure someone could tell you.
I still take my girls swimming in the winter. Its like a big warm bath !!! They dont start the little ones till they are 6 months....but i have heard of other places being earlier.

I take DS to Gymbaroo. He really loves it, but it is a bit of a rip off!!!
I am not continueing after this tearm though as we are moving house. I am going to start swimming lessons instead.

we had a free coupon for gymbaroo but only went the once, didnt feelit was worth it, though i did like the singing side of it.
we do swimming lesson which stared about 3 weeks ago, before this we just went to baby play once a week to get bubs used to it, was very beneficial, were in melbourne too and the centre i go to the air temp is 29 degrees!!!!!! very humid

Mackenzie does Gymbaroo (and loves it) but only since she was 18 months old. (she's now 3) It has been great for her at that age as she never crawled so never climbed and the Gymbaroo equipment really helped her to learn to climb etc. Also the routine of play, mat/dance/treasure bag, play has been good for her - it has helped her follow structure. I would recommend it but maybe at a later age. I think at 6 weeks you can give your baby as much stimulation as they would get at Babyroo but thats just my opinion. Mackenzie did swimming from 9 months even in winter. The pools are all heated and it's nice and warm in buildings etc. When dressing her at swimming I always give her a warm shower, wrap her up and then dress her top half first then worry about the bottom, just to keep her chest warm. I think Gymbaroo give you a free trial session no harm in going to get a vibe yourself.

We do Gymbaroo with DS (4 1/2) and love it, our centre works out $110 for the term I think???? We like the pre-school program as they do a lot of coordination, pre-reading, listening to instructions, turn taking etc. We are not taking DD as she hasn't really got a routine yet and I don't want to be waking her up/missing feeds to work around the time. I think pre-crawler it's a lot of tumy time and left/right coordination stuff (called crocodiles) which we do at home. Also I find them VERY right handed bias.

Hi Tan

I took DS from 11 weeks to babyroo and really enjoyed it! I have heard that it does depend a bit on the centre and the teacher. I found that I got really could info re infant development in the first year and good ideas for tummy time, exercises, massage and music. Yes, it is a bit expensive - about $17 per session.

Now that DS is older I am finding it to be a bit of waste of time. He loves climbing on the equipment and doing his own thing - which I could do in any decent park and he is not interested in partipating in the music or other set activities, and other things I will do at home. So I am going to leave it for a while and decide whether to do it again when he is about 2.

So I'd say try it! I found that under 3 months of age it was pretty trying as DS got pretty cranky by the end but from around 4 months of age he enjoyed it more. You can book trial sessions before committing to a term.

I've been doing Gymbaroo with my DS, we started at about 3 or 4 months and he loves it. While I agree that a similar kind of stimulation could be replicated at home, I prefer to go to the session because DS gets to look at other babies, be in a different environment and I also get out of the house (we don't have any family down here in Melbourne so our social circle and opportunities for DS to interact with people are a bit limited). It's also a nice break for me to have somebody else leading an activity with DS. My DS is very inquisitive and quite frankly I sometimes run out of ideas.

There is a 6 week old in our BabyRoo class and it is ever so sweet! He looks a bit stunned most of the time but at that age their brains are so receptive (eg the benefits of reading to tiny babies are proven), I am sure that even though he is so tiny, he must get something out it. His mother seems to be a big believer in Gymbaroo, he is her second child. However I must say that I wouldn't be madly inclined to start quite that young.

Babies usually nap really well after a Gymbaroo session (a big plus IMO ;)).

We also do swimming - the baby pool is really warm and it is very warm and humid inside, so it's actually quite pleasant to walk into the pool area from the chilly car park. I dress DS in fleecy trackpants and a hoodie to keep him warm from the pool to the car, have the heater blasting in the car on the way home and we have a shower together when we get home.

There is so much demand in our area for baby swimming lessons I am glad we started now in the "off season" because now we are "in" and get priority re-enrolment - I reckon if we'd waited till summer I might have had trouble getting him a place in a class.

Lastly, speaking as an ex-swimming teacher myself, the younger you start them the better. The older they are when they start swimming, the more likely they are to be nervous or frightened initially. As babies they are brilliant - so much more accepting!

Oh Mads, you need to come to our Gymbaroo. It is not in a big hall, they have separate rooms for mat time and equipment time - so it is HEATED in winter, and cooled in summer.
The sock thing is a standard Gymbaroo thing - so the children can develop better sensory perception through their feet. If the lawyers had anything to do with it, the children would be wearing steel capped boots for insurance reasons so they didn't stub their toes (no offence to lawyers intended!!)