Infant swimming – at what age should you start?
Learning to swim earlier than walking. At first glance, this phrase sounds a little absurd, but in reality the benefits of swimming for infants are obvious. With simple exercises, experienced instructors do not just teach children from a young age to swim. Such training contributes to the development of the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, and nervous system of the baby.
You can start practicing in the water after the umbilical wound has completely healed. In most cases this happens at the age of two to three weeks. For starters, parents with an infant can practice on their own in an ordinary home bath.
Over time (at about two months) it becomes small for the baby and you can move to a full-fledged specialized pool. At what age to take the child to the pool every parent decides, but most often the first lessons can be signed up for as early as three months. An early start in this case is only a plus.
Infant swimming – why do you need it?
In addition to the complex development of the infant’s body, training in the pool provides:
- Hardening and general improvement of health;
- Effective strengthening of muscles and bones;
- The prevention of respiratory diseases;
- The formation of the correct posture;
- Quickly get used to physical activity.
We should add that after water procedures the baby feels calmer and gets an effective emotional discharge, charged with positive emotions and impressions. Moreover, exercises in the pool are shown to children with posture disorders and problems with the musculoskeletal system, prematurity, overweight, cerebral palsy, hyperexcitability syndrome, etc.
Infant swimming – the benefits and a few more advantages
Exercise in the water have a number of advantages for children of different ages. For infants they are:
- Have a positive effect on movement coordination;
- Develop motor skills;
- Becomes the prevention of diseases of the circulatory system and the central nervous system;
- Guarantees improvement of sleep, appetite and a huge number of metabolic processes;
- Develop physical abilities of the child, increasing endurance, coordination, as well as strength.
Many of the positive effects in this case are not quite obvious. So, with a competent exercise program is prevented flatfoot or predisposition to this pathology. In addition to physical and mental development of the baby. Thanks to studies in the water baby becomes more sociable.
How to prepare?
The optimal schedule of visits to the pool is chosen by adults, because children are happy to be engaged at any time. The duration of the procedure is most often about half an hour. This time includes warming up the child. Please note that before the session:
- Babies should not feel overworked;
- It is worth refraining from excessive feeding (in this case, the baby should not be hungry either);
- It is important to avoid overexcitation of the child.
In addition, you should bring a towel, waterproof bedding with which you can change your son or daughter, as well as special baby diapers.