It popped up that there are swimming lessons for little bitty babies. The field research on survival skills to stay alive that humans are born with transfers to the most vulnerable of humans, meaning little bitty babies. The swimming skills for babies are impressive. If you start teaching your six-month-old infant to float, by the time your baby is one-and-one-half-years-old, your baby is not as much at risk for an accidental drowning death.  

There are some cautions about who you should trust with your baby in water. Lakehub.com found conflicting recommendations online when it comes to teaching babies how to survive in a potential drowning situation. These days, people tend to look online for expertise as a way to get familiar with a potential hazard or benefit, and then go on to talk to professionals.

One caution is that “teaching-a-baby-to-swim” businesses tend to quote fear-mongering narratives, some from the governmental sector and some from academic research. For example, most childhood deaths in the U.S. are due to accidental deaths, but reports conflict whether drowning is the number one cause of accidental deaths of children under the age of five in the U.S. We did not find a consensus of that statistic.

With that out of the way, teaching your baby to float, swim, and buoy up can only be great for your baby’s first survival skills lessons. We love the outdoors. I am quite old, but I was never told to sink or swim. I never needed that admonition; I took to the water like a fish. Babies are a bit different…they can be a just a tad picky at times. Infant and toddler swimming instructors are trained to teach inhibited babies to love the water. 

Infant and Toddler Swimming Lessons

These infant swimming lessons have entered onto a stage of world-wide focus. Infant swimming instructors obtain certificates from accredited organizations. These lessons teach a “swim-float-swim” strategy to infants and toddlers. Swimming organizations offer these certifications. How do you know who to trust with your baby?

Of course, check out the certification and the organization that granted it to your instructor of choice. One of the primary objectives is that most infant/toddler swimming schools recommend is that your baby’s swimming lessons should be one-on-one with his or her swimming coach. You attend the lessons with your baby. 

Infants first learn buoyancy and balance in face-down and face-up postures. When the babies and toddlers exhibit that they can execute the swim-float-swim sequence, they begin learning freestyle strokes, backstrokes, breaststrokes, and butterfly strokes. By the time children reach five years of age, they are trained well enough to enter swimming competitions. 

The swim-float-swim sequence teaches the youngest babies skills to swim, roll on their backs to float, rest, and breathe, then roll back over to swim. Infants and babies who have not learned to walk or walk well yet learn to perform these moves and positions until someone can reach them. Once they have developed more physical skills on land, they begin learning more complex swimming skills.

Infant and toddler swimming instructors report that the best time for children to learn to swim is between the ages of one and four-years-old. Besides teaching your baby or toddler critical survival skills in the water, teaching infants and toddlers to swim come attached with other mental, physical, and social and emotional benefits.

The physical benefits of swimming are obvious. Swimming is a whole-body workout, including increasing good HDL cholesterol, lung strength and capacity, muscle flexibility, strength, and toning, and stamina. Swimming promotes quality sleep. Swimming is also great for adults and can lower blood pressure and reduce body fat. 

The mental benefits reported by infant and toddler swimming instructors are that children who learn to swim and survive become more self-confident, self-disciplined, and independent. We all know how viewing electronic screens have changed forever how children develop mentally. Swimming is a wonderful way to keep children off of computers and cell phones. Research has also shown how swimming outdoors is even better for mental health than indoors. 

Learning survival skills in the water also gives children confidence to try other activities and hobbies, especially with other water-related hobbies like kayaking, diving, or waterskiing, plus can lead them to lifelong exercising habits. Children meet and learn with other children, which benefits their social development, and they make new friends. 

Where Can I Find a Swimming Instructor for My Baby or Toddler?

If you live in a city or suburb, finding baby or toddler swimming instructors is easy. It is recommended that parents review the policies of these facilities. For instance, YMCA policies allow for genders besides women to use women’s locker and changing rooms. Today, it is important to find instructors of any discipline that align with the values parents want to teach their children in their homes. It is better to know what a facility’s policies are before you commit to a program. 

If you live in a rural area or a tiny town, you may have to look to a bigger town with more resources. I live on the lake in a small village, and I see parents teaching their children to swim all season long at my beaches. Adults can take certification courses to teach infants and toddlers how to swim. Becoming an infant/toddler swimming instructor is a good business if you live at the lake with few employment opportunities. 

The costs for lessons can be reasonable to expensive. Private lessons cost more than group lessons, but both are effective learning systems. For example, while searching around Sherman, Texas, in Texomaland, we found swim lessons for infants and toddlers have an average cost for group lessons ranging from $100 to $160 per month. Private lessons around eastern Texomaland can cost between $40 and $80 an hour. 

However you teach your child to swim, baby swimming lessons are fun! Babies learn to blow bubbles, kick, pull, float, glide, and change directions. What kid does not love that? But all babies are different, and they all learn at different speeds and levels. No matter how well trained your babies or children become in water survival skills, they still need to wear PFDs (life jackets) around and on the lake.