MSE Newborn to 1 year Baby Club 1

*Nutella*

Sammie_03 wrote: »

Nutella - wow you really have worn her out! I keep saying I need to take Noah more often as he absolutely loves the water. Really need to get my bum into gear and do it! X

Well, if you need an incentive... If he's anything like my LO, you'll get a couple of hours all to yourself whilst he has a super-long nap afterwards Oh, and you should also go because he loves it of course

Cake4brains

Afternoon all,

What age would you say is best to start babies swimming? I always said if I ever had a baby I would get them swimming as young as poss, cant imagine taking 2 though!

missbunbury

Cake - I've been told that now A has had her first set of jabs we are ok to go, but only in a specially heated pool, there's a baby swimming class company round here who seem to use the pools in gyms and hotels and places like that. Me and A both need swimsuits though because when we last swam I was fat and she was the fat, if you see what I mean!

*Nutella*

Cake4brains wrote: »

Afternoon all,

What age would you say is best to start babies swimming? I always said if I ever had a baby I would get them swimming as young as poss, cant imagine taking 2 though!

Where we go they said 4 months, other places recommend that they've had at least some jabs, whereas some accept babies as young as a couple of weeks old. We started at 4 months, and it's taken quite a while for her to really start enjoying* it, but I know some babies take to it straight away. I think the key is to find a place where you can try it out on a pay per session basis - a friend of mine paid £200 for a Waterbabies course, only to find that her daughter absolutely hated it and wouldn't stop screaming Check your local options - somewhere with a hydrapool is ideal. We do a weekly parent & baby session with an instructor (lots of singing, splashing, rubber ducks and the like!), whereas others on here simply to go their local pool as and when suits them.

Tbh I think taking two babies at the same time would be impossible, and I doubt the pool would let you anyway, so I'd definitely bring another adult along - or take one at a time if you have someone who could look after the other one in the meantime. In addition to holding onto them in the water, navigating changing rooms and lockers and the like is hard enough with one baby, I can't imagine coping with two!

* She never actively disliked it, and we've never had tears, but for a while she just had a blank look on her face that said 'I don't see what the fuss is about!'

dizziblonde

I'm sensing a rough night ahead - we've got a really grotty cold with stuffy nose, plus loads of ear pulling and cheek rubbing and crying like mad from teeth (hopefully one's actually making progress to come through if it's bothering her THIS badly). Daddy's gone to start to settle her down (as she's knackered from the cold) but if she makes it through the night without ending up in our bed it'll be a miracle I think.

*Ro*

Hello all x

Fab news sunshine !!

fluffnutter

Cake4brains wrote: »

Afternoon all,

What age would you say is best to start babies swimming? I always said if I ever had a baby I would get them swimming as young as poss, cant imagine taking 2 though!

It's a bit of a myth that they need to have had jabs first - they're not dogs . Any caveats about age are more likely to do with their inability to regulate temperature when they're young. Which is fair dos - even at six months, Freddie still goes purple in the pool.

I really struggle on my own with just the one - unless you're regimented supermum take someone with you to help with your two. Our pool allows up to three children per adult (which surprised me TBH) but some won't let you swim unless you have one adult per child, so check your local pool's policy. Personally I think it's ridiculous to impose such restrictions - most people have more than one kid, and some, like yourself, have twins. Are these women destined to never be able to take their children swimming without enlisting help?? But that's by the by - you'd never be able to argue with some jobsworth's 'health and safety' policy so you have no option other than to check first.

Just be prepared to spend an hour at the pool, only five or ten minutes of which are actually spent in the water - the rest is getting changed, and getting changed again

fluffnutter

*Nutella* wrote: »

She's been sleeping for two hours and 15 minutes now! This is what swimming does to my little girl!

Ain't that the truth. When I took Freddie yesterday, we had ten minutes in the pool and he was so exhausted afterwards, his eyes rolled back in his head like the anti-christ and he was asleep within 8 seconds of being put in his pram. Normally it takes jigging, rocking, singing, etc. before he'll nod off. I love swimming!

dizziblonde

With swimming I think that we waited just until she was in size 2 nappies - purely since they were the smallest swim nappies I could find. Wanted to get her in there early since both sets of grandparents live next to bodies of water (one set are on a riverbank the other live on the side of a loch)... good intentions have since gone out of the window on this one temporarily - we don't even get to the family swim sessions since we got sick of idiot daddies egging huge galumphing great toddlers to jump in pretty much on top of us.

Cake4brains

Thanks everyone

Will definitely have a helping hand with them when we go. No way I can handle them both on my own. Didn't even think about swim nappies! Will have to see if smaller ones exist.

And just realised I don't have a cozzie either :cool:

Not much forethought gone into this as you can see!