Take baby swimming?

[ThankfulMama]

My DD is 6mos old and LOVES her bath time. I thought she might like being in the water more and wondered about taking her swimming to an indoor pool, but worried about the chemicals in the pool. Is she too young? Just looking for feedback. . .

TIA

[Ambishop19]

I'm wondering about this too. I think my local rec center has parent/infant "swim" lessons that you can start when your babe is 6 months, so I would assume it's okay. I had been planning on doing it if they had a winter session.

[GoestoShow]

I took my son swimming in a pool at about that age.

He didn't grow a tail or anything.

Anyway, there really isn't that much in the pool that's going to have an adverse effect beyond possibly slightly red skin from the chlorine. I get that and only because I have super-mad-crazy-hyper-sensitive skin, as does my son. And salt water from the ocean causes far more redness than chlorine ever does.

[AvaAndMe]

My daughter is 10 months and started swim lessons two weeks ago and loves it!! I just make a point when we come home to give her a bath to rinse the chemicals off, just in case!

[azmomtoone]

I started taking my DS to the pool at 4 mos...we'd go in the water for 20 minutes max at first, then back out to limit chlorine exposure, but no issues. I think the biggest worry w/ very little infants is that they may swallow some water, and ingesting the chlorine isn't all that great.

[Kelly1101]

My daughter was in the pool after 3 months or so. We never stayed in very long (maybe 15-20 minutes, tops), and always had a bath when we got back. No problems. She loved it.

[MamaMelis]

Originally Posted by Kelly1101

My daughter was in the pool after 3 months or so. We never stayed in very long (maybe 15-20 minutes, tops), and always had a bath when we got back. No problems. She loved it.

Us as well! They love the water ~ enjoy it!

[mckittre]

I took my son starting at 3 months or so, and haven't had problems. I rinse the chlorine off both of us afterwards, and he doesn't drink the water. He likes it!

[buckeye_bebe]

We have a pool and my first was born in the middle of summer, so it was natural for us to go swimming after her birth. I spent most of my labor in the pool out in the sun too. Swim, swim, ooooo, swim, swim, oooo, swim, food. On the flipside though, I control the pool chemistry, but I would still have considered a public pool if neither myself nor my daughter had negative reactions to the chems.

[ann_of_loxley]

I plan on taking this one to the pool right away. Its never for very long and only about once a week.
I think they use different chemicals in the pools now than they used to when I was a child. I know my hair no longer turns green and its safe to mix wet swimsuits with the other laundry - it won't bleach them! lmao

[odoole]

I was wondering about this as well. The gym near us has a "therapy pool" that's pretty warm. Do babies like regular old cold pools? (I know I'm a total wimp when it comes to getting in a regular pool.)

And how exactly do you "swim" with babies. I assume you don't submerse them in water (like the Nirvana cover) ... or do you?

[ann_of_loxley]

I think babies like it warm lol...I wouldn't take my baby into a normal cold pool. At our local pool they have baby/toddler hour which they make the water warmer if nothing else. Thats when we go.
And yes - you can gan submerse a baby in water ...but ill let someone else cover that! lol

[GoestoShow]

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Edited by GoestoShow - 1/4/11 at 8:53am

[ThankfulMama]

Oh thanks so much mamas! I am looking forward to trying this. Now, I should have asked in my original post, but what do I put on her? A special swim diaper? I looked them up just to see, but they don't make them in her size. . . TIA!

[MaddieMay]

We took DS swimming on vacation when he was a month old. He LOVED it! We both held him, he was in the (warm) water for maybe ten minutes. We took him out, I nursed him, and then he had a bath. I also just used a regular sposie-they didn't have swim diapers his size. He also had swim trunks over them. He was a pretty predictable poo-er, so I made sure he'd gone before we got him in the water. Have fun!

[GoestoShow]

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Edited by GoestoShow - 1/4/11 at 8:53am

[Carhootel]

We took ds around 5 months and it was great. I wasn't too worried about the chemicals since the swimming lasted all of about 5-10 minutes and I know a lot of other babies go in the pool at that age. It was great and I wish we went more

[hotharmony]

You can submerge babies, it's good for them. Just count down by bobbing up and down then right before you go under blow in their face and they will inhale a bunch of air.

If you have never been in water with a baby thought I would recomend some infant/child cpr classes all new parents should have them just in case.

[KaliShanti]

I had my DS swimming around 6 weeks (he was a late Spring baby). He loved it! I'll take DD in the indoor pool around the same age I hope..

[ThankfulMama]

thanks again!