Teaching Toddler to Float on her back in swimming pool

[SundayCrepes]

Our daughter (2nd birthday today) is amazing in the water. She just jumps right in, kicks her arms and legs, gets to the surface for a breath, then sinks back down again. At that point she doesn't seem like she's going to come up for another breath, so that's when we pull her up. She can do this over and over and over again for at least 2 hours.

She's slowly realizing that if she keeps her head tilted back she can get more air when she comes up. We're trying to figure out how to teach her to float on her back. She's not too keen on that idea. I just fear her near a pool. She has no fear and I can see her jumping in because it's fun with no one around. (I wouldn't let that scenario happen, but I try and cultivate a fear of pools.)

So, if we can teach her to float on her back, then she'd be a little safer around pools. Any suggestions on how to do that?

[crunchy_mommy]

I don't know but I do remember taking a swimming class when I was a kid & they FORCED me to float on my back. It terrified me & I still to this day hate floating on my back. And I think I refused to go back to swim class. So no advice except to not force it!!

[SundayCrepes]

Yeah, I had a swim instructor that forced me off the diving board over and over again. I have memories of him grabbing my ankles so I wouldn't belly flop, but I don't know if that memory is accurate or not. Whatever, it was awful. So I agree with you, we don't want to force her, I just want to have her be more water safe.

[starling&diesel]

In our infant swim class the instructor had us hold the babes so that they're on their backs with their head on our shoulder. In the second class (DD is 18 months) they have us hold them away from us. So that was our transition. We're still a ways away from her floating on her back by herself, but we're getting there!

[Picard]

We've had success by starting DS on his belly, distracting him a bit and at the same time slowly turning him around while holding his head. I tell him to keep his belly up, out of the water and to kick. It has taken several weeks of steadily going to the pool to achieve this.

[LuminosaJane]

Some kids take to it more easily than others, but your dd sounds like a natural swimmer.

I always start out supporting their body with the child's cheek right next to mine so s/he knows that someone is nearby. Once they get comfortable I create more space. A couple considerations: is it really sunny out? Remind your dd to close her eyes. Is she getting splashed by other swimmers? Find a quiet place to float.

Some cues are to take a deep breath, point your belly button to the sky and put your chin up (low chin is a challenge to floating).

Aside from the back float, you should work on belly float with her. It's not too hard to learn to breathe and move forward after that. Typically, when I had 2yos who could swim like your dd, the challenge was teaching them to breathe. A good place to start is on the steps or other shallow area where she can learn to put her feet down to come up for air then you can have her move forward to you in deeper water as you remind her to breathe.

Have fun! I was a swim baby like that and am so sad that it's so stinking cold in the northwest this summer that my dd won't get that much swimming in.

[Caterina]

I've seen huge changes in my DD's swimming ability (she also LOVES to swim) in the last little while and I think it's because she's been taking her doll in the bath and we make him swim. He jumps off the side, goes under, blows bubbles and floats on his back (his natural pose if she lets go of him). She used to refuse to lay back even with lots of support, but since her doll does it, she started experimenting with lowering herself back and laying on the bottom of the tub while it's filling or emptying (and there's only a little water) and then the other day at the pool she was all about laying back and resting her head against my chest and letting herself relax. So I think we're well on our way to floating some time. By the way, using the doll also helped her get used to getting dried off. For a long time I had to dry the doll first and then her, but now she lets me dry her off happily. We have the Corolle Tidoo doll - it's soft bodied and quite nice dry too.

[SundayCrepes]

Thanks for the suggestions. When she's coming up for air, she tilts her head back and it would be a natural movement to just let her body rise and she'd be floating. I've tried supporting her head on my shoulder and holding her body in a float position and she doesn't want anything to do with that.

I have floated on my back for her to see and she was a little less resistant to trying it, but not that much.

Using the doll is a good idea. She likes to put her doll on the potty. I'll check into that doll if it's one that floats.