Water babies

Can you be too eager to put your baby in the pool or is it the earlier the better when it comes to the big splash, asks SHEILA WAYMAN

A LOOK of pure bliss spreads across the face of six-month-old Alfie Lynch as he floats on his back in the swimming pool with the help of his mother. The water is there to be enjoyed not feared.

He is the youngest participant in this Thursday morning adult-and-toddler session at the West Wood Health Club in Leopardstown, south Dublin, where instructor Pat Walsh is coaching the little ones in the 10-metre pool.

Alfie’s three-year-old brother, Harry, readily responds to Walsh’s encouragement from the deck to blow bubbles, to put his head back in the water and look at the lights, to splash his hands.

Another pair of siblings, Seán (2) and Patrick Wynne (nine months), are also clearly having fun. Seán is quite prepared to put his face in the water to push a bright orange plastic ball along with his forehead.

“He is quite fearless,” says Seán’s mother, Bríd. “It is a good way to introduce them to water and it is good to meet other kids. They bounce off each other.”

This idea of trying to instil water confidence and swimming skills in children from an early age is becoming increasingly popular. And a recent change in the advice offered by US paediatricians on when children should start swimming lessons is likely to bolster the trend worldwide.

Up to last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) did not recommend swimming lessons for children until after their fourth birthday, when they were considered developmentally ready.

This position was based partly on concerns that early swimming training would give parents a false sense of security, making them less likely to ensure their children were adequately supervised around water. Equally, it was believed that reducing toddlers’ fear of water might encourage them to enter the water without supervision.

Now the AAP is saying children as young as one could benefit from swimming lessons. The latest edition of its journal, Pediatrics, quotes research from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which concludes that swimming lessons do not increase the risk of drowning in one to four year olds and might, in fact, reduce it.

“In light of this new research, it is reasonable for the AAP to relax its policy regarding the age at which children should start learning water-survival skills,” according to the policy statement. “However, the current evidence is insufficient to support a recommendation that all one- to four-year-old children receive swimming lessons.”

The possible benefit of early swimming instruction must be weighed against the potential risks (eg, hypothermia, hyponatremia – also known as water intoxication – infectious illness and lung damage from pool chemicals).

Referring to the growing popularity of water-survival skills programmes for babies under 12 months, it says that although there are anecdotal reports of infants who have “saved themselves”, no scientific study has clearly demonstrated the safety and efficacy of this training for such young children.

Parents should be reminded, it adds, that swimming lessons will not provide “drown-proofing” for children of any age.

Bringing children aged under four to pools is growing in popularity, agrees Roger Sweeney of Irish Water Safety. “It is seen by many parents to have benefits, in that the earlier children start in a pool, the less fear the child experiences later taking classes.”

But he stresses the importance of constant supervision and making sure the water in the pool is warm enough. “Remember that the toddler will not be moving around as much as a typical swimmer.” It is also important that the child wears leak-proof nappies.

There are no issues regarding immunisations for babies going swimming. Dr Brenda Corcoran of the HSE’s National Immunisations Office recommends simply that children are kept up to date with their vaccinations.

Confusion about the safety of bringing a child to a pool straight after vaccination arises, she suggests, from the practice up to the late 1990s of using an oral vaccine against polio, when people had to be careful with the child’s excretions for a while afterwards. This no longer applies.

Good hygiene is always important and parents should also ensure their babies are well before bringing them to a pool.

Four months is “the perfect time” to start introducing babies to swimming pools, according to Swim Ireland. The national governing body for swimming has developed an “aquatic pathway”, which identifies the emotional, cognitive and physical considerations of child development and matches them to the water environment.

Its “Swimathon” programme helps babies learn water skills through colour, music and movement. It includes a parents’ pack, so that the songs and movements can be repeated at home in the bath.

“A child from four months, through to three or four years of age, begins to pick up those basic skills, which they need to take them through to swimming,” says Swim Ireland’s director of education and development, Charlotte Parker.

“At three and a half to four, when the child is more developed, that is when they move into a more rigorous, structured swimming programme.”

Swim Ireland is rolling out a new programme for children aged four to eight that concentrates on aquatic skills rather than distance swimming.

We are trying to completely change parents’ mindset, Parker explains. “When your children go to a swimming lesson, don’t expect to see lengths and lengths being swum – please expect to see fun and games and basic skills.”

Previous programmes focused on trying to teach a child to swim as soon as possible. “That is not the best way of doing it,” says Parker.

“The best way is teaching them aquatic breathing and all the basic fundamentals they need in the water such as propulsion, buoyancy and basic water confidence. The skills then develop into the other disciplines, whether it be water polo, swimming, synchronised swimming, diving, life-saving or whatever they want to do.”

Suzanne Doyle, a health and safety consultant in the leisure centre industry and mother of four, is a great believer in teaching babies water skills. Director of the Connacht Safety School in Galway, she trains instructors to conduct adult-toddler swim classes.

“With a toddler there’s the safety aspect. From day one, you are teaching the baby to hold on to the side.” Babies move naturally in the water and within a matter of weeks can be comfortable floating on their back.

She works mainly with qualified swimming instructors from leisure centres, which are recognising the demand for specialised adult-toddler sessions.

“People are going crazy for it – particularly in the last couple of years,” comments Doyle, who trained in baby swim instruction in the UK.

She has seen the “amazing results” with her own children. Her youngest son, who has been going to swimming pools since he was six weeks old, can swim on his own now at age three.

“I never get sick of watching him swim. I just love how he loves the water,” she says. “Most parents get great satisfaction in that.”

There are other bonuses, as baby Alfie’s mother, Anne-Marie, explains with a smile: “It makes them sleep great and they eat well too. I think it makes them mellow.”

Different strokes: Never too young to take lessons

THE YOUNGEST infant to attend Water Babies swimming classes in Ireland so far was just 27 days old. “The younger the better,” says Carol McNally who, with her sister Therese, brought the franchise here after seeing a leaflet about it during a visit to England. “From 10 months on, they can start developing fears because they’re beginning to crawl and walk and explore the world more. They are more aware of what they should be afraid of.”

The McNallys’ father ran a sports centre, so they grew up in the swimming world. Now parents of young children themselves, they strongly believe in the value of introducing children to swimming early.

Since starting Water Babies in February last year, the McNallys have been surprised by how quickly it has grown. Now operating in nine pools around Dublin, with more than 100 classes, 900 clients and a panel of five teachers, all their current courses are fully booked. They hope to extend beyond the capital next year, but for now they are trying to keep on top of demand in the Dublin area.

“We’re teaching you to teach your baby to swim” is the Water Babies slogan. All the teachers, who train with Water Babies in the UK, work in the pool with the parents and infants.

Children are not strong enough to swim on top of the water until they are about three or four, explains Carol, so instead they swim just under the surface. “Hence we have to teach them to hold their breath. They have a very strong gag reflex until they are about 12 months and that prevents them from swallowing water.”

The instructors use repetitive commands to reinforce that reflex. “After about six or seven weeks we see that the babies start to prepare, close their eyes, close their mouth so they naturally hold their breath going under the water – that is what we teach.”

The 40-week course is split into four terms, after which babies can progress to the toddler programme. “The overall objective is to teach them how to swim short distances, from the parent to the wall, or from the parent to the teacher,” says Carol. But one of the first things the babies learn is to hold on to the side of the pool, so “if they fall in, they know to turn around and hold on”.

Carol stresses swimming’s value from a developmental point of view. “They are using muscles that they don’t use, especially the young babies who aren’t even crawling yet. They start kicking and moving in the water and they are not doing that movement on land.”

It is also a great bonding experience for parent and child. Nervous parents who cannot swim often tell Water Babies: “I want my baby to do it because I am terrified of the water and I don’t want my child to have that fear.”

See waterbabies.ie or tel 01-8249987

Safety first: Advice for the holidays

Holidays should be relaxing and carefree, but you should not become so laid back that you drop your guard on basic water safety. Advice from Irish Water Safety to families on holiday includes the following:

1.On arrival at a holiday centre, do not allow children to go to the swimming pool until you have checked out the safety arrangements. There may not be a lifeguard on duty.

2.It is unwise to go for a quick swim after a long car journey.

3.Never swim shortly after consuming food or after drinking alcohol.

4.Obey all the usual safety rules that apply in any properly run pool, eg no running, no running dives, no horseplay, etc.

5.Be particularly careful of young children wandering off.

6. Watch out for children in baby pools that may be next to the main pool without any barrier between them.

7. Check for pool depth markings – there may not be any – and make sure you do not dive into shallow water.

8. Watch out for sudden drops or changes in the gradient of a pool floor.

9.At beaches, always swim or surf in areas patrolled by lifeguards. Swim within your depth and parallel to the shore.

10.Never swim alone or in the dark and don't bully others to take risks.