how to handle swimming with a 4 yo and 2 month old?

[snoopy5386]

Yesterday we joined a friend of ours at her swim club and had an awesome time and now I'm thinking about joining as well. It is around the corner from our house and is pretty small and intimate. Yesterday my family and my friend's family were the only kids in the baby pool area. I'm still trying to figure out how to manage the baby and the 4 yo in the pool though. Yesterday the baby didn't swim with us, we just hung out in the shade under an umbrella sleeping and nursing. My friend watched her while I went in the big pool with my DD. I am totally comfortable leaving her sleeping in the shade and getting in the baby pool with my 4 yo as long as the baby pool isn't busy (it is in a gated area, I'm about 2 feet from her and can see her the entire time). I think I'd also be comfortable leaving her in the shade near the edge of the big pool (once again where I could see and watch her the entire time) and getting in the big pool with my 4 yo. I mentioned this to DH and he thought I was crazy and said no way. I guess I'm writing this post to see if I'm out of line or he is. What do others who go to public pools with little babies do? I've ordered a water carrier and plan to take her in the big pool with us when she is awake, but not for too long - she is still wayyyyy to young for sunscreen to I need to keep her out of the sun as much as possible.
Would love any ideas/advice!

[new2texas]

I have 3 kids that I take swimming, 5, 3, and 7 months. I have a mesh water sling for the baby and I put her in a long sleeved swim suit with a really big hat so she doesn't get any sun. It works pretty well.

[dakotablue]

I just have my one, but I have nieces. I was also going to suggest a sling or water carrier of sorts.

Maybe because I grew up being threated to come home at dark or else I'd get stolen, but I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving either one alone, just because I don't trust people.

It sounds awesome though! I wish you luck!

[lilyka]

I had to stop swimming for a bit while my youngest was a baby. My 3 year old slipped out of her life jacket. by the time I noticed she was on the bottom of the pool. I coulndn't dive down and get her because I had a tiny baby in my arms. finally I passed the baby to my 9 year old but she had to take the time to process the request and then get over to me, drug Lily up from the bottom of the pool and was about to start cpr (had tilted her head back to start rescue breathing) when she threw up/coughed up a bunch of water and stuff. there was a life gaurd but she never looked up from her book despite the screaming and thrashing. So the baby was fine but I could not fully attend to my younger one because I had a baby in my arms. I couldn't bed over or scoop up my preschooler and a three/four year old needs a parents full attention in the water.

and I think leaving your baby sleeping by the edge of the pool is not a good idea at all. unless they are securely attatched to something such as sleeping in a carseat buckeled in or in a pack n play (can you bring something like that? my friend used to do that at the public pool. haul her pack n play in and then her baby was safely resting just a few feet from the edge of the pool where she was playing with her older baby,. I thought it looked like a horrible hassle but it is an option.

[elmh23]

Our rule is that we have to have one adult per child. This might change as they get older and are better swimmers but currently none of my kids (ages 5, 3 and 4 months) can swim. As a result, many times we do not go swimming or one parent and one child goes and the other parent stays with the other two. I wouldn't be comfortable with a water sling unless my child was a really good swimmer and wouldn't need any help at all in the water.

[SeekingJoy]

I wouldn't do it. I have taken mine (2 yr and 4 yrs) to splash parks and kiddie pools, but both could touch the bottom. Neither was allowed near the deep end/pool.

[Drummer's Wife]

I have to have DH (or another adult) to swim with my four kids ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. The older two do okay in shallow enough water, but I can't hold on to/watch the younger two by myself safely. Maybe when they are all older - but not now.

[caedmyn]

Haven't done it, but I'd either go with a water sling and cover-ups for baby, or leave her in a playpen. I think I'd worry about a bigger kid coming along and picking baby up or something if I got distracted for a minute. Personally I'd be comfortable with my 4 YO playing in a baby pool area without me right there. Guess it depends on the personality of the kid too, as my 4 YO is very timid and there's no way she'd do anything remotely reckless in a pool. I wouldn't let her play in a big pool without an adult right there, though, even with a life jacket (not that she'd do it anyway, she's way too scared!).

[MommaCrystal]

I take my 4yo, my 2yo and my 6 week old to a kiddie pool. The water is pretty shallow, only about waste deep on them. They aren't allowed to use the slide unless Daddy comes. The baby goes in a solarveil mesh sling with a big hat and lots of cover. It all works fine. I just stand in the water or lean against the edge and watch the older two. Or the water gradually gets deep and I'll sit just where the water starts so my legs get wet. My older two stay within arms reach.

[pianojazzgirl]

I took dd to a very shallow wading pool when ds was a baby and I just sat on the side with him (on my lap or in a carrier). There was also a lifeguard and it was a small and never-too-crowded pool.

I would maybe feel comfortable with a baby strapped into a stroller at the side of a (bigger) pool while I was in with dd, but really it just sounds stressful to me. I imagine baby starting to freak out and me having to haul dd out, or not being able to properly focus on dd because I was always looking to see how the baby was doing, etc.

[EdnaMarie]

I have faced this. I wouldn't take a two-month-old into the pool. You could never keep her in there long enough for the older child to have fun anyway. She'd get cold too fast unless the water was super, super warm.

I think your only choice is to have your friend help with the child, or sit outside with the baby (as suggested, under an umbrella in a stroller or carseat).

not being able to properly focus on dd because I was always looking to see how the baby was doing, etc.

Yep.

What do others who go to public pools with little babies do?

I'm hiring a babysitter if swim lessons don't start soon. It sucks but I really don't see an alternative.

[lilyka]

I should point out my story was directed at deep pools. I wouldn't hesitate to take a baby and toddler to a wading pool (glorified puddle) or sprinkler park. And I also wouldn't hesitate to put sunscreen on a baby. :

[lolar2]

Sign the 4-year-old up for swim lessons and take the baby on your own? That's what people at our pool generally do, from what I've seen.

[liberal_chick]

I put my 15 month old in a floatie (one of those things that you sit them into with the little shade) and my 5 year old has a life jacket like this that I'm in love with. Last summer, when ds2 was itty bitty, I just held him in the water while ds1 swam around in his life jacket. When ds2 was sleepy, I'd go nurse him in the shade while ds1 played in the kiddie pool (not even up to his waist in depth) and then lay ds2 down either in our stroller or on a towel in the shade, well away from the pool's edge.

[snoopy5386]

thanks all. DD1 is in swim lessons but nowhere near able to swim on her own yet. If not in the pool with us the baby would be strapped into a carseat or stroller. We'd be in the shallow end of the big pool which is shallow enough for her to stand. And it has been near 100 degrees here lately so I'm sure the pool water will be warm enough for the baby and quite a relief for her. I think I'll stick to the baby pool when I'm alone and only take DD1 in the big pool with a friend/DH there or the baby in a water carrier.

[Peony]

Last summer when DS was a newborn, I had a 6y, 2, and a baby. We would go to the pool twice a week. The older one can swim very well, I don't have to worry about her. I would wear the baby in a sling and chase after the 2y old, we only would go to the indoor rec center pool because it has a large shallow play section. It is more difficult now that I have a 1y and a 3y who want to be at opposite ends.

[ElliesMomma]

good replies. might i add: for those concerned about sunscreen (i try not to use it either), just go to the pool late in the day, say no earlier than 4 p.m., preferably around 5 p.m. very unlikely to burn at that late hour.

as for me, my son is 9 months old, and my daughter is 4 years old. i use a homemade water sling -- it's sports mesh and modeled after my moby wrap. works well! and i made it for $10 in fabric. my daughter wears a "flotation" swim suit when we go to the deeper parts. she's also in lessons, and starting to catch on. she can actually swim in that float suit. i let her jump in to 4 foot deep water and she comes up on her own and swims to the ladder to get out and do it again. i just stand there with the baby. we do this right under the lifeguard's chair, also. if there was ever an emergency, i could yell right up to the lifeguard for help.

[pigpokey]

I think you should look at the lesson situation, is it working? Consider boot camping the 4yo, that is, do private lessons for 4-5 days a week for 1-2 weeks and get it over with.

I thought the doctors were starting to reverse the advise of keeping babies out of the sun completely?

[jillmamma]

I use a water sling and take my kids (ages 7.5, 4.75 and 5 months) to the local pool here about 2-3 times a week. Mostly, we hang out in the kiddy wading pool, but occasionally in the deeper water. My older 2 are in swim lessons right now and getting pretty comfortable with a pool noodle. So we go and let them practice and I keep the baby in the sling. I do use sunscreen on all 3 as we are in Texas. No worries about anyone getting cold here...it has been steadily close to 100 every day, and the water feels like bath or sauna water (water temp has to be at least 90!).

[mummyofan]

I used to have a 1:1 ratio policy till both my children could fit into safety accessories, and my son can swim with them now. There must always be a lifeguard paying full attention when I go (but there always is at our club) and I NEVER go if I'm tired.