BABY SWIMMING
Taking your baby swimming is a truly rewarding family experience. Babies have a real affinity with water and baby swimming helps to improve co-ordination, balance and sleep patterns. It’s a fun and sociable activity, and in our luxurious, warm pool, you can take part whatever the weather. Our baby swimming programme includes submersions which are an important part of learning to swim, but they are not the main focus of the sessions. All lessons are taught with an emphasis on fun, and we include plenty of songs, games and toys in every session.
“My twin toddlers have been coming to Chessgrove swim since they were about 6 months and they love their lessons. They are very confident in the water and their swimming is coming on leaps and bounds! We see progression every week. Brilliant teachers, brilliant pool and brilliant facilities - the best teaching pool we've seen.” Mother of Gabriel and Mia (aged 2 1/2 years)
Benefits of Baby Swimming
Babies love to be in the warm water and it is great fun to watch their swimming progress, but there are many other benefits that result from joining our baby swimming lessons. Taking your baby swimming:-
- Develops baby's fitness. Swimming strengthen the muscles, ligaments, heart and lungs.
- Improves baby’s sleep patterns & appetite, and helps your baby to relax.
- Develops baby’s motor control, agility, coordination and balance.
- Equips baby with vital lifesaving skills and develops an awareness of danger & respect for the water.
- Develops baby’s social stimulation with other children and adults
- Helps the bonding between parent and child, with plenty of skin to skin contact.
- Helps parents to gain confidence with their baby in a water environment and teaches them new skills
Course Structure
Baby swimming courses are 10 weeks long, and courses run 4 times a year, starting in January, April, July and September. Each lesson is 30 minutes long and has exclusive use of the whole pool. To give you the best mix of individual attention and social interaction, our teachers are in the pool with you, and a maximum of 8 babies are booked into each lesson. Most babies start swimming with us aged between 3-6 months, but you are welcome to start at ANY age, and we will guide you into the right class for you. If you are interested in swimming for your toddler (18 months +), click here
We are currently taking bookings for the following beginner baby swimmer classes, to start in week commencing:
- 8th July 2013
To see our full timetable of baby swimming lessons click here
Course Programme
At Chessgrove Swim, we have incorporated the Birthlight baby swimming techniques into a structured programme. Skills are developed week by week, and new exercises are introduced to compliment the developmental stages of the babies and the reflexes they exhibit. All lessons are delivered with a safe, sensitive and fun approach.
Learning to swim is like learning to crawl or walk, it requires practice! So exercises are repeated at first, then extended and developed. The course is divided into 4 key stages, Baby 1, 2, 3 & 4.
Baby 1 has an emphasis on building baby's water confidence in a gentle manner. Parents learn how to hold their baby so they are positioned correctly in the water to encourage their swimming. Basic skills and submersions are learned and will then be built on in the Baby 2 course.
Baby 2 introduces more movement and splashing practices as well as developing baby's water confidence further. More advanced submersions and activities are practised to encourage babies to kick in the water.
Baby 3 encourages babies to become more independent in the water. There are still lots of exciting swaying, splashing and movement activities and submersions will be practised without parents giving cues.
By the end of baby 4, a baby will become much more independent and new activities and games are practised so that the babies are ready to work on ASA Ducklings Awards and will be ready to progress into a toddler course.
Taster Sessions
Do you fancy a free swim? Why not give your baby their first swimming session in our luxurious, warm pool? Click here for more details.
Practicalities
What to Wear
All infants need to wear special swim nappies, not ordinary disposable ones, as these will not hold in any leaks and will become extremely heavy when wet.
At Chessgrove Swim, we enforce a double nappy policy. This system comprises of either a disposable swim nappy or a washable swim nappy as the base layer with a snug fitting neoprene nappy on top, like the Nappicova from Konfidence, or the Happy Nappy from Splash About. This gives a closer fit around the legs and the waist giving a good seal and prevents any solids leaking into the pool. A swimsuit, trunks, wetsuit or UV suit may NOT be substituted for the nappy cover, as it will not prevent leaks, although they can be worn as well, if you wish.
Babies tend to be slippery when went, so if you are using any creams on your baby, it is quite a good idea for baby to wear a swimming costume on top of the nappy, to give you something to hold onto!
Parents
Parents will need to go into the pool in all the baby classes. It is not necessary for the parents to be able to swim. The pool is 1.2m deep and you will not be out of your depth at all. We try to be as flexible as possible in lessons, and we do not expect the same parent to come swimming every time. We have baby swimmers who regularly come with Grandparents.
Spectators
We have facilities to watch lessons if you wish to bring spectators but please respect the following rules.
No outdoor shoes may be worn on the poolside
Please keep chatting to a minimum. If teachers have to shout to be heard over the noise from the poolside, the calm and fun atmosphere of the lesson is lost.
It is hot on the poolside, as the pool & air are heated to keep the baby swimmers warm, not the spectators cool. Wear light clothing and be prepared to be warm.
No photos may be taken without prior permission.
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