It’s is considered that swimming for babies can’t be called swimming as such, because it’s believed that a child isn’t able to learn to swim until about the age of 4. But it’s interesting to take advantage of the innate reflexes that babies have in the first few months of life to get them used to the aquatic environment. Here are all the benefits they get, both physical and psychological:
Greater self-confidence. In addition to losing fear of water (which in the first few months of life they usually haven’t even yet acquired), the agility of movements and the testing of their reflexes produce an increase in self-esteem and self-confidence.
Development of psychomotor activity. The coordination of movements is stimulated and the muscles are exercised, which is useful for learning other activities such as crawling or walking.
Improved relationship between mother/father and baby. Physical contact provides a feeling of security and parental protection towards the child, strengthening the emotional ties.
Exercise improves the performance of the respiratory and circulatory systems.
The baby relates to other children, which contributes to developing social skills.
The baby is relaxed and having fun, which is a benefit positive enough to decide to initiate matroswimming.
Despite all these benefits, experts also advise taking a series of precautions when choosing a pool for this activity: they must be specially set up for babies, with the chlorine perfectly controlled and the water temperature at around 30ºC. In these types of pool, the
saline chlorination system or other alternative methods for water disinfection are increasingly being introduced, as they pose less risk to the baby’s skin and respiratory system.
