Baby swimming - Lesson #2

It was our 2nd baby swimming lesson today. minibeanie appeared to enjoy the water a little bit more than the 1st lesson. He seemed a little less tentative and even splashed a little and smiled. He even 'razzed' ("pfffffffftttt" accompanied by bubbly drool) which was his way of saying he was enjoying it :D

There were preparatory stuff we had to do at home even before taking the 1st dip in the pool. First off, we'd to lower his bath temperature to 32c gradually and then, he had to get used to the sound and sensation of the shower by showering with him. I guess that was scary to some little ones...

It was a small pool of 20m or so. There were toys such as ducks, pails, floating mats and tube floats bobbing around. 8 to 10 babies were in the group from 4 to 7 months or so (that's my guess, because they look like GM babies otherwise.... u know, similar to those humongous gigantic pumpkins) The session started by everyone forming a circle and singing a song with a little bit of splashing as warm up. Then, each baby & parents drifted off to do their own thing.

For our 1st lesson last week, we were instructed on the various ways to hold minibeanie safely. The objective was to get him acquainted to the sensation of weightlessness and all the sounds & sights at the pool. The most important thing was to have fun :) We think the overall experience was a little overwhelming for minibeanie because he had his "what's-going-on" look which was big button eyes, knitted eye brows & puckered lips forming an 'O'. He was a brave sport though and didn't bawl.

Then, for our 2nd lesson today, the instructor wanted to see if he still had the diving reflex. If minibeanie held his breath with water running down his face, he still had it which meant that we could proceed with diving next week! How exciting!! To do that, we demonstrated to him twice with water pouring out of a tiny pail; on the third time, the water went over his shoulder, before finally pouring the water over his head. Phew, thankfully, he hadn't forgotten 9 months of holding his breath :) He didn't complain which was a really good thing.

After a few more tries and horsing around in the pool, the half hour session ended with a group sing-a-long. Oh yes, some practicalities. Hygiene was paramount for obvious reasons. Everyone had to shower before getting into the pool and each baby had to wear a pair of swimming trunks or bodysuit with swimming diapers....just in case of u know what. Apparently, there were 11 poopy incidents last year which resulted in the company having to change the water in the pool at €400 a pop. I say, how embarrassing for the parents who had to put up their hands in the pool and say, "err... I think our son just pooped..." I would imagine every parent to swim as fast and far away from the poor tiny offender and his parents as they could :D


minibeanie is 4 months, 1 week & 6 days old