age to teach your baby to swim?

how old can your baby be when you start teaching it to swim, or more, start taking it into the pool.
I cant swim and im not even a big fan of swimming pools, i just like to get in to cool off, but i grew up in vic and swimming wasnt that big of a deal.
But since we're in qld and theres never a bad time fo year to swim, i want my baby to love being in water and know how to swim.
TIA ladies :)

It depends on the centre you go to what age they need to be to start lessons.

Where I take DS they start from 6 months.

I just booked DD into swimming lesson and they said they like them to be no younger than 6months, so we just got in as DD is just 6months.
Not sure if that includes them being aloud into the pool or not HTH
xx

AustSwim recommend 6 months because that's roughly when they learn regulate their own body tempreture, so they don't get a chill (or so I've heard)...

thanks ladies :)
i will def check with my closest swim school (or whatever they are lol)

My DD started at four months! But it does depend on the swim school.

We started taking both DD's to the pool from 3 months but they started lessons at 6 months.

DD has been taking lessons since 6 months. They wouldn't accept her for lessons before then. She loves the classes and being in the water. She is not scared at all, which is fabulous.

Our swim school (Stateswim in WA) starts them from 6 months. Although, DS had been in a pool since 10 weeks. At the hospital where I had him, the physio dept runs post natal aqua aerobics where you bring bubs into the pool (heated) with you and we do nursery rhymes for 15 minutes, get out, change them, feed them and the mums do a workout while the babies are watched by a hospital nanny. It was great and DS loved it. He loves the water now.

Local pool in here (I'm in WA) has baby swim classes from 3 months but I think it's more to introduce them to the pool.

we did baby play from 3 months and lessons from 6 months

Which end of the coast are you Stevie? I can recommend a swim school at Coolum (I think she takes babies from 3 or 4 months), but if you're at Caloundra i've no idea where to go.

You go in the pool with bub, but the pool is only about a metre deep so you don't need to be able to swim.

I'm in Vic and learning to swim is super-prioritised for my family - between sea, lake, river, dam and pool swimming, water bodies are everywhere!
I also don't go to my nearest swim school because I don't like the programs much - they are too 'play' based and not skills based. The one I go to accepts babies from 3 months and teaches them, in a fun way, how to survive - not just how to enjoy water.
My SiL takes her DD to one of the local places and is really disappointed with the pace they work at, especially when we talk about where DS is at with his swimming (and he's a particular gun at it - the lessons harness his confidence or he'd have drowned ages ago).
Janie - where are you? Vouch for me! Janie and her DS also go to Emma's Babyswim (formerly BabySwim Australia before the Ringwood pool one was sold to one of Cookie's teachers).
DS has been swimming since he was 4.5 mo, though he'd been in pools before then.
You can start by bathing with your baby when it gets here - it's been swimming in your belly, after all, and won't need 'familiarisation' ;) Bathing with you instils confidence in you and in the water because your baby looks to you for survival anyway. If you have a healthy attitude to being in water, your kids will, too.
Oh, and whenever you can, get to a hydrotherapy pool that allows kids, cos they are the right temp for babies to stay in for longer than 5 seconds :) If you don't feed for at least an hour before entering the water you should avoid 'accidents', and use a very tight fitting (around the bum and legs) so that nothing leaks out.
Don't take him underwater unless you know what you are doing - it's very important to keep each experience as positive as possible, as negative imprints are challenging to reverse.
A Lawrie Lawrence endorsed program would be good to find (I think he's in QLD).
Just remember, your nearest program won't necessarily be the best - ask lots of questions about progression and the survival aims of the program. Most programs at pools around here are taken by teachers who are best teaching older kids and they don't know much at all about research into baby swimming.
My nearest heated pool is about 10 mins away, but I drive about 20-25 mins to get to our school as I decided it was worth it in our case.
It IS fun!

We had DD in swimming at 6 months but we werent happy with the program & she was scared of the teacher and screamed every lesson but was fine in the water before or after. We've pulled her out for a while, and will look for somewhere else.
I think saltwater pools will take lessons earlier, but dont quote me on that

DD2 has been swimming since 3 months ( she is now 6) she loves it. The instrutor keeps an eye on DD to make sure she isn't getting cold, we stop and have a cuddle is she does and the pool area is kept super warm too. Its a small private swimming shcool dedicated to teaching kids swim not a big public pool.

We have a pool and want to make sure the girls are happy and secure swimming in the pool.

Mayaness - does Emma's swim school have a website? I am in Camberwell and wondered if you know anything about Camberwell swim school or one that is closer than Boronia (although that is not too bad I used to go to Boronia every day for work).

The original swim school is in Blackburn, and contact details are:
Babyswim Australia 23 Fuchsia St, Blackburn, 3130 ph: (03) 9877 3525.
Otherwise, she's had a 'coming soon' notice on her website for 3 years now!
Emma's Babyswim has no website, unfortunately. She's in Ringwood, so a bit closer to you than Boronia (Emma lives in Boronia, so that's why it comes up in Google searches), I think.
Speak to both Cookie (I'd speak to Cookie first, she's the one with the first hand research :) ) and Emma about what you'd be looking for in swim lessons if you couldn't get to either one of them.

Here I am!!! I was just coming in to back you up Maya ;).

Yep, water safety and enjoyment is a huge priority in our family, and we started with babyswim when DS was 4.5 months. We would happily have started with the others at 3 months, but DS was prem, so we needed to wait for his corrected age to be 3 months.

More than anything else, I think our lessons have taught ME how to be more confident in the water with my little one. Kids are not born afraid of the water, they swim around in it for months before they're born for goodness sake! If they have only positive experiences then water can be so wonderful for them, they need never know fear or uncertainty. I, on the other hand, am not a great swimmer (although I do enjoy the water), so doing the lessons with DS has been wonderful in getting me to relax and show DS what he needs to learn, and how to have a good time :).

It's kind of like training a dog :p, you want an instructor who is going to show you how to teach your child what to do, under the teacher's supervision. Good luck with finding a swim school that can help you with this :). And BTW, I'm so jealous that you live where it's never a bad time to swim!!!!!!

Double post

Thanks for the details - I am in the UK on a holiday at moment but will contact when I get back. Took DD to the pool for first time today - she was fine seemed a bit overawed by it all and not really that interested in the fact she was in the water (unlike when in the bath) but she didn't cry at all and got a few smiles and splashes.

A further question, mentioned to my MIL about going swimming again when visit her in a couple of weeks as she is a keen swimmer and has been asking about it for ages, and she asked if DD had got arm bands - my immediate thought was isn't 4 months too young for arm bands and what is the point when you will need to hold on to them anyway but did see that you can buy arm bands that are meant to be suitable for from 3 months, so is some type of flotation aid a good idea or is it better just to let them be free to splash and kick while supporting etc?

Arm bands are good for little babies to give them a rest after they've had a bit of activity in the pool :) As are pool noodles when they're a bit bigger and able to hook arms around them. We used them nearer the end of lessons so that they're not screaming the pool down from fatigue and enjoying the floating feeling withotut being propped up from underneath by a hand.
This last point is why it can be so counter-productive to use bath seats in baths - babies are used to flotation and when that is aided by a feeling of being held from their bums they start to lose that comfort and become dependant on having to feel the bottom of the bath or pool...a luxury you don't get when you're drowning, necessarily!
Anyhow, not a bad idea to get arm bands - I think we started to use the waist rings at about 6 months, from memory. Again, in the last half of the half hour lesson, to give them a break :)