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Even before my baby was born I decided he will start swimming from 3 month of age. Well, it took a bit more than 3 months because we wanted to do the 4th month immunization first, but eventually we took Eric to the Aquatic centre. At first I was only going to let him swim with the Little swimmers (or Water babies, some course of that sort) but then Rob and I discussed it and decided that we want to let him try once on his own – to see if he even likes the water.

I did my research and found this great resource about how parents can safely enjoy the water with their babies and we decided to follow their advice. There are so many concerns – what if the water is too cold for my baby, what about the germs, infections and other dangers of public pool, what if he will get scared and hate water for the rest of his life, what if , what if… The only way we could overcome it all is to stop thinking and “just do it”.

We were in luck – Eric loved the water. At first he felt insecure but never cried, he nervously splashed with his hands but after a while he relaxed and we played, I bounced him up and down and he was laughing. He only started to cry when we took him out of the pool, but I knew why – he got hungry, water has that effect on babies.

The next scary moment was when Rob decided that Eric has to learn how to dive. I thought I couldn’t do it myself and insisted that only a swimming instructor should do it. I know that babies supposed to hold their breath under water instinctively but – what if something goes wrong, what if Eric swallows too much water, I don’t even know how to perform CPR on babies! But then Rob spoke to the guy who works with babies in Aquatic centre and got an explanation of their technique out of him. The way they do it is very simple – they distract the baby and then dunk him in the water – forehead first, so that the water doesn’t get into his nose.

When Rob told me to try that – I was shaking like a leaf, I don’t think I was that scared ever in my life. Even skydiving and bungee-jumping don’t compare here. I finally did it – and he lived, looked a bit confused but didn’t swallow any water.

Looking back, I really think swimming was good for Eric. It made him stronger, healthier and gave him better coordination. We never enrolled to the Water babies class but every week at least once Eric goes to swim.