Baby learns to swim with Konfidence

In April we were thrilled to be chosen by Konfidence to be official Swimologists (ambassadors).  Baby had never been swimming before and so we jumped at the chance to be involved in this programme.

I have written this post in parts over the last few weeks, as a record of Baby’s ‘learning to swim’ journey.  I wanted to post something that may be useful to other parents, whose children are not naturally comfortable in water.

Background

When Baby was first born, we bathed her a few times, she disliked it and would get quite upset.  A friend suggested taking her in the shower with me and so I have done this ever since.  As you can imagine it is much trickier now, than it was then!  Recently, we have tried bathing her again and she gets incredibly distressed.  So much so, that her breathing is disrupted for up to an hour after our attempts.

With this in mind, I thought learning to swim may be a bit of a challenge.  For a normally thrill seeking baby, I imagined the water may be an issue and I was interested to see how she progressed.  Learning to swim is such a vital skill, that hopefully she will overcome her fear at some point.

learning to swim with konfidenceOur swimming diary (First 4 lessons):

1st week – 6th May: We arrived really early and waited by the pool for 30 minutes before our class.  Baby made a friend and watched other babies in the water.  She grizzled a little when I put some pool water on her to keep her cool.  We sat on the side of the pool and as soon as Baby sat beside me with her feet in the water (and not on me) she started to cry.  Once in the water she let rip and cried for most of the 30 minute session.  The class leader was amazing and tailored what we did, so not to overwhelm her.  We did a lot of singing and Baby was better when we were singing, but the distractions didn’t work for long.  She spent the whole time in the water pressed to my chest with her head in my neck.  So at the end of her first session she had given her lungs an amazing work out.  She fell asleep within 3 minutes of leaving the car park, her breathing disrupted for her whole 45 minute nap.

2nd week – 13th May – We arrived a little early again and sat on the side of the pool.  Baby was very unsettled and cried.  I gradually kept putting some water on her and trying to get her to look at the other children, to distract her.  The crying quietened, but every time I moved my legs, she got scared and cried.  We popped into the water and she cried quite a lot.  Quite quickly she was distracted by the singing and liked focusing on, and chewing, her blinky duck from Konfidence.  I managed to turn her round and hold her facing out so she could see the other children.  I pushed her a little to do a simple version of what the other children were doing.  Sometimes she started to cry, but it didn’t last long.  She managed a few little smiles and was engaging with other children.  So much better than the last session.  The other parent’s mentioned how much better she was.

We went to the beach – full report here.  Baby was amazing and waded in up to her chest, splashed around and didn’t want to get out.  I was AMAZED!

3rd week – 20th May – I was very hopeful for this session, considering how fabulous she had been at the beach.  We sat on the side before our session and Baby sat between my legs, splashing her feet in the water.  I kept covering her with water and she was chatting away to the other children and was so relaxed.  She had a little cry when I put her beside me to jump in, but as soon as she was in with me, she was fine.  I am so amazed with her.  She joined in with almost everything the other children were doing (apart from going underwater), but she had water poured over her head, was splashed, sat on the side and on a float and jumped in.  She went into swim hold and we chased a little fish round the pool.  We sang and we swished around, splashed and clapped and all without tears.  The instructor was so thrilled with her and the other parents were, again, so complimentary about how much she has improved.  I am so excited to see what happens next.

27th May – No swimming due to half term

4th week – 3rd June –  I went to this session hoping that Baby hadn’t regressed during the week’s break, I needn’t have worried.  From the start she was incredible! No crying, no grizzles.  She did EVERYTHING all the other children did, INCLUDING diving under the water head first and going under and swimming up with me.  She jumped in from the side and floated on her back.  Our instructor gave her a special mention at the end of the session, as her transformation has been phenomenal.

Konfidence

We start our second five week course next week and we cannot wait.

A big thank you, also to Kate our instructor with Aquababies West

Disclosure:  As Konfidence Swimologists, we were enrolled onto a 10 week swim course and provided with Konfidence products.  All opinions are my own and are 100% honest.

Ethans Escapades
Not My Year Off

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  2. Well done for persevering. I understand how hard it can be, but it just goes to show that it will be all worth it in the end.

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      Thank you. I did wonder after the first lesson whether I was doing the right thing by preserving, but so glad we continued x

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  5. Swimming is such an important life skill, I think it’s one of the best things you can get your kids doing as early as possible. And we love Konfidence, they’re a great brand.

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  6. She is doing so well! My littlest loves water but my eldest has sensory issues and although he likes a shower he feels very overwhelmed in a swimming pool.

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  7. It sounds like Baby is doing amazingly Aby- that’s great news. Both my girls were the same when they first started and they quickly got used to it, we did lessons with Mads but stopped and started again when she just turned 3 and it took her ages to get used to it again. I definitely think the earlier you start the better. She loves it now and I can’t wait to take her on holiday in a few weeks. x

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  9. It’s so great to see how far she has come! Swimming is such a vital life skill, and I only wish I’d taken my boy when he was a baby (I didn’t because I felt I was too fat to go into a swimming pool) but he can swim now, but time over again, I’d do it from very young x

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      I hear you hun. It has taken the Konfidence role to get me in the pool. I wanted to take her but would have rather be seen dead than in a swimsuit. The Konfidence offer gave me the kick up the bum I needed x

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  12. Baby swimming lessons were one of the best things we did. It gave my son water confidence and it also gave me confidence too. My son still goes swimming every week, although we don’t do lessons anymore, I just take him and we put into practise everything we learnt in our classes. Well done to Baby 🙂

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      Thank you so much. The swimming teacher keeps saying they teach you how to teach your children x

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  16. What amazing progress! I am so thrilled for you all, even just having water confidence is so important.

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  23. That’s absolutely fabulous 🙂 My little girl has been swimming since she was six months old, I think it’s such an important thing to learn. Well done Baby! #SSAA #loudnproud

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      Thank you hun. I wanted to take her when she was younger, but my body confidence issues prevented me. x

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  24. Oh the swimologist program sounds wonderful! My son is really showing great strengths in swimming and I recently joined the local swanky hotel’s pool to take the girls more too- they all love the water and its such an important skill to have 🙂
    x x

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  26. Wow, that course sounds fantastic. Learning how to swim is such an amazing gift to give to our children. I must try again with our eldest-she wasn’t a big fan of water the first time around but she loves her baths now so maybe it’s time to try again with the pool. #SSAA

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  27. What amazing progress, and well done you for sticking at it. It must have been quite stressful at times. I think swimming lessons are great fun with our little ones and also a great bonding experience.

    Thanks for linking up with Small Steps Amazing Achievements :0)
    x

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