anyone has taken their babies for proper swimming classes?

[cmeilim]

hi mummies,

as above. i am curious because i hv seen advert by aquaducks on swimming classes for as young as infants of just a few months old. i have never seen such a class in action and really wonder if babies that young can learn how to swim when they don't even understand basic instructions. will babies really be able to keep their mouth closed and hold their breath underwater? if so, i will be soooo amazed, wow! usually, i just see infants and young toddlers splashing and kicking water at the public pools, with their parents.

can mummies who have babies/kiddos who have been through such classes share please...? thanks!

 

[Phoebii Cheng]

Hi Carol

I have a friend who brought her son to aquaducks as young as 6mths old, and he thoroughly enjoyed it

I wanted to bring my son too, but everytime want to bring, he would have flu, so so far the only swimming he has done is at home on the bathtub....hahaha

 

[cmeilim]

Hi Carol

I have a friend who brought her son to aquaducks as young as 6mths old, and he thoroughly enjoyed it

I wanted to bring my son too, but everytime want to bring, he would have flu, so so far the only swimming he has done is at home on the bathtub....hahaha

hi phoebii

do u know how the instructor at aquaducks teaches the infants or did your friend share with you? i think babies in general enjoy water play, hence the popularity of babyspa and swimming lessons like hwaxia. but to me, hwaxia is play-play type which parents can do easily at home with an inflatable bath tub or at the public pool. but aquaducks seems to claim it can really teach babies how to swim properly. DH and I are curious how much of this is marketing gimmick and how much is real, solid instruction that is bang for buck....

 

[Phoebii Cheng]

hi phoebii

do you know how the instructor at aquaducks teaches the infants or did your friend share with you? i think babies in general enjoy water play, hence the popularity of babyspa and swimming lessons like hwaxia. but to me, hwaxia is play-play type which parents can do easily at home with an inflatable bath tub or at the public pool. but aquaducks seems to claim it can really teach babies how to swim properly. dear husband and I are curious how much of this is marketing gimmick and how much is real, solid instruction that is bang for buck....

Actually I have a friend who is an instructor at aquaducks.....and my friend also share with me, that her son really enjoys it, but of cos one parent have to accompany the bb

 

[cmeilim]

well, i guess our 'cynic alert' is up when we see photos of mainly caucasian class participants and high-end venues (eg private clubhouses) for their lessons. i recall the fees are quite steep as well. =p but then again, maybe that's just us. heehee!

 

[Phoebii Cheng]

So you intend to send your son there?

Now I don't think I want to send my son there, will bring him to mayb public pool let him play with the water.....mayb when he is older then will enrol him to a swimming class:tlaugh:

 

[weightp]

Yup nowadays alot of children very young learn swimming. I have seen as young as 6 mth, so scarry. LOL

 

[cmeilim]

So you intend to send your son there?

Now I dont't think I want to send my son there, will bring him to mayb public pool let him play with the water.....mayb when he is older then will enrol him to a swimming class:tlaugh:

i just found out yesterday that aquaducks can arrange for a free trial subject to class availability. i signed up our boy out of curiosity, just to see how they teach and maybe learn a few tricks here and there, though the trial class will be really short (half an hour only). i suspect what they can teach at such a young age is more about water confidence, comfort in water, rather than real swimming techniques.

anyway, DH said we will send our boy for formal swimming classes only when he's older, like 5 or 6 years old. now just play water under our supervison is good enough. =)

 

[cmeilim]

Yup nowadays alot of children very young learn swimming. I have seen as young as 6 month, so scarry. LOL

ya lor....they can't even understand 'yes' and 'no', how do they understand instructions during class? that's how i am so curious and keen to find out...hahaha, half the time i 'use' my boy as an experiment...

 

[cmeilim]

Yup nowadays alot of children very young learn swimming. I have seen as young as 6 month, so scarry. LOL

ya ....they can't even understand 'yes' and 'no', how do they understand instructions during class? that's how i am so curious and keen to find out...hahaha, half the time i 'use' my boy as an experiment...

 

[weightp]

Nowadays children are so clever compare to children my age. you wont be surprice they understand yes or no. LOL

 

[zenmoonflower]

i just found out yesterday that aquaducks can arrange for a free trial subject to class availability. i signed up our boy out of curiosity, just to see how they teach and maybe learn a few tricks here and there, though the trial class will be really short (half an hour only). i suspect what they can teach at such a young age is more about water confidence, comfort in water, rather than real swimming techniques.

anyway, DH said we will send our boy for formal swimming classes only when he's older, like 5 or 6 years old. now just play water under our supervison is good enough. =)

Hi cmeilim, I just started my 6 month old not long ago at AquaDucks. I had the option of signing up at ONE 15 Marina, where I'm a member, but I chose the Suntec City location because they replied to me first, and also because currently, it's more convenient for me to drive to Suntec than to ONE 15. So, they don't just hold lessons in chi chi locations.

You're right, for babies this young, they teach more of water confidence than actual swimming. And they go slow. We always start off with a game where the coach throws a lot of floating rubber toys into the water, then encourages the babies to go towards them, grab them and put them back in the basket. All the while, we are holding on to our babies. They always require one parent to be in the water with the baby. That's probably better than Hwa Xia, where they have a neck float and are just basically kicking in the water. A bit tiring, if you ask me.

Then, the coach takes a plastic basin with small holes in the bottom and holds it over each baby's head, to get them used to the sensation of water running over their heads and faces.

After that, the coach sings some songs while we do some simple actions with our babies in the water: kicking, swishing, etc.

The last lesson, there was an activity where the coach tried putting each baby's mouth in the pool (leaving the rest of the head above water). However, since my baby's so young (his classmates are 19 months old and 1 year dunno how many months old), the coach did that only with the two older babies and not mine.

It could be due to individual temperament and also the babies' experience with water, but the one year old boy really enjoyed his lesson - he was smiling and laughing all the way. The 19 month old girl is often scared and clingy to her mommy. The boy began swimming at Hwa Xia since he was 3 months old, whereas this is the 19 month old girl's first swimming lessons.

I have a friend who says, too, that it's good to start babies young in the water. They build their brains as well.

They may not understand the instructions now, but there are very few instructions per se. My boy doesn't know how to put the rubber toys back in the basket yet. Rather, when he gets hold of one (with me steering him in the water), he just holds on to it and examines it, while his two older classmates know how to put the toys back in the basket. But it's not a big deal. I figure he'll learn when he's older.

Now, I just think it's a good idea for us to get out of the house, because there are some things I can't let him experience at home, and I also get to chat with other mommies.

 

[cmeilim]

Thanks for sharing. Our boy went for one free trial with aquaducks. Although we didnt sign up after the trial, my Hubby who is the more cynical half was also pretty impressed with the systematic teaching approach. It's definitely way more superior than hwa xia where babies r just left to kick and float around on their own with neck floats. The hwa xia way, we easily did it at home with our boy when he was younger with an inflatable pool at home. But aquaducks method was well thought thru and during the 40min class the instructor went thru step by step with increasing level of difficulty to slowly get the babies used to having more and more of their bodies immersed in water, all without floats since their purpose is ultimately swimming competency. We picked up the concept and useful tips to continue exposing our toddler to swimming and building up his water confidence after the trial

 

[tiggerlovesme]

Hi mummies,

I also have a query about swimming. I always have been an avid swimmer i will love to start my baby young.

So my question is should my baby go with just trunks , wear regular diaper or use those swim diapers like the Huggies little swimmers?

I read it here that using the swim diapers is better as it is fuss free? or "accident" free if baby does their business in water.

Please share with me your experiences

 

[cmeilim]

Hi mummy, it is not so much convenience n fuss-free or not but civic consciousness n being thoughtful to other public pool users as well as hygiene. It's also actually required by our public pools that babies n toddlers who r not toilet trained must wear proper swim diapers. If not the lifeguards on duty hv every right to stop Yr child fr using the pool.

 

[tiggerlovesme]

Ooh well i intend to bring the baby to condo pool. So no lifeguards.

However, my query is, is the huggies swim diapers good?

Or are there other brands i can try?