1. Infants don’t have to know how to swim to go swimming. Blame the English language for the confusion. “Swimming” also means “bathing in a body of water.” Do place infants in water soon after birth, if you wish, to acquaint them with it and help them to overcome fears, if any. Start with sprinkling water on them. Choose lukewarm water. Let them splash with their hands. Stay within arm’s reach; infants can go under in split seconds, without making a sound. Try to keep them from swallowing water. For infants, there is a perfect place for all this: your bathtub.
2. Formal swimming lessons for infants younger than one year of age are available – but controversial. Some programs have websites showing infants a few months of age performing aquatic stunts with no adult in sight. The programs claim that the younger the infants, the greater their affinity for water, a “throwback” to their existence in the womb. They will “roll onto their backs, float, rest, and breathe.” In fact, most infants do make hand and feet movements that resemble swimming and do hold their breath underwater for a few moments However, most cannot reliably sustain keeping their head above water or holding their breath if their head slips under the surface.
3. Early swimming lessons do not “drown-proof” infants. They may swim like fish when an adult hovers over them but usually panic when they fall into water unseen. Moreover, their ability to swim may give parents a false sense of security, making parents less vigilant, perhaps increasing the risk of drowning. Also, check that adults hovering over infants are themselves swimmers. Can you, grandma or the nanny swim?
4. A time to start thinking about starting lessons is when your child reaches the “ripe old age” of one year. So says the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Academy once recommended four years. Lowering that age was based on a small study that suggested that an infant’s ability to swim may help survival rates, but very slightly.
5. One-year-olds do not learn to swim in less time than three- or four-year-olds. Nor do they necessarily become more proficient later on. Early lessons do not increase intelligence, concentration or alertness, as some programs claim. Nor is there a relationship between early walking and the ability to swim. Early lessons are fine if they emphasize water safety for parents and provide water-related fun for both parents and infants/toddlers. However, parents rarely make good swimming instructors for their own children. Better to use experienced, certified, child-friendly instructors. The American Red Cross, YMCA and other organizations train and certify instructors. Check the web.
6. Swimming lessons should not be your primary strategy in preventing drownings. True, in recent decades more infants and toddlers had lessons and fewer drowned. However, according to experts, the decrease was mostly due to adults becoming more aware about water-related safety measures: fences around pools, appointing designated “child-watchers” at picnics near bodies of water, and wearing flotation devices, for example.
7. Children should take swimming lessons at ages five or six, even if they already swim. By this age children can be taught basic water survival skills such as floating, treading water, surfacing from under water, propelling themselves at least 25 yards, and getting out of the water. Lessons should include realistic scenarios such as falling into water while wearing clothes.
8. Appropriate, US Coast Guard-approved flotation devices save lives. Numerous types are available. Check the web. Many are designed to keep young children’s heads above water. Devices should fit properly and comfortably; some are weight-specific. Toddlers should wear flotation devices when they play anywhere near the water. Most children who drown were not supposed to be in the water. Many air-filled swimming aids on the market are toys, not flotation devices. They may deflate suddenly, the child may slip off them, or they may blow away in a strong wind.
9. Swimming presents health issues. Ironically, a main risk factor for infants becoming ill while swimming is the number of other infants in the water. Skip swimming when your child is ill – and encourage other parents do the same. Even in optimally maintained pools, infants who place their heads in the water have stomach upsets more often than infants who do not. The cause is diarrhea-causing organisms – often shed by infants. Chlorine and other disinfectants kill most but not all of these organisms.
10. Children who are not toilet trained should wear swim diapers when in public swim facilities. So says the US Centers for Disease Control. Many public swim facilities insist on it. So should you. Swim diapers retain stool and urine. However, some leakage occurs, especially if diapers are not changed promptly. Check diapers frequently and change them a distance away for the swimming water.
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