During my baby swimming lessons, before immersing any baby completely in the water, I like to gently introduce water to their face. At this stage, it is also vital for them to learn to breath hold effectively.
The strategy in a lot of baby swimming lessons is to immerse the baby in water immediately and rely on their natural instinct with the water. However, my concern with this is that it could send your baby into panic mode and trigger the gag reflex. I prefer a more gentle approach that trains your baby to breath hold, whilst keeping them comfortable in the water. It is so important to create positive associations with water and swimming from the start.
You can introduce breath holding prior to starting your baby swimming classes, by mimicking an exercise I do in my classes, during bath time.
To begin breath hold training, hold your baby in an upright, supported position. Cup your hand and gently pour water over your baby’s face by gently cascading the water from the top of the head. Observe their eyes as they open and close, allowing your baby to recover without wiping the water away.
Listen and look out for signs of nose breathing such as ‘sniffing’ resulting in small droplets of water being inhaled. ( If this happens,don’t worry or make a fuss just continue with the exercise until you achieve the results we want.)
Breath holding is in place when the water flows down over the face and your baby is not ‘sniffing’ the water up the nose, can open both eyes, does not drink the water and plays happily in the bath water. |
This exercise is so simple, you can easily do it at home and it’s a great way to increase your baby’s confidence with the water.
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