When is the earliest you would take DD/DS in a pool?

[flagger]

This is a question we are going to ask our Pedi about, but we might be taking Cocoa into the water at my mother's house. Sun is not a problem as she has lots and lots of shade. She will be 4-5 weeks old when we go.

Edit: Not the same subject but when giving a bath what do you do about water getting into their ears?

[ginalc]

In one area of Russia, a Dr. encourages Moms to birth in the Sea and throw baby by it's feet from one adult to another just after they are born. I saw this on video aout 10 years ago and I was horrified! They let baby swim unassisted and help it to come up for air periodically. AT that point, baby looked too terrified to breath or scream, just gasping for breath. Scared the HXLL out of me just watching it!!!

When these same babies were older, like 6 months, they could swim on their own, with minimal assistance. Bad video, bad concept IMO!

If you are in tune with baby and the water temperature, baby should be fine with swimming. Judge by lip color. Lips will turn purple when baby needs to be warmed up. If the water in chlorinated, minimize contact with face and water. Babies can swallow large amounts of water in a short amount of time.

gina, mom to 3

[egoldber]

I think it would be fine for short periods of time, like no more than 10-15 minutes at a time. To be honest, I'd be more concerned about the chlorine level than the water.

And I don't do anything about water in the ears, in the bath or the pool.

Edited for spelling. :)

HTH,

[LisaS]

I agree with beth - I'm sure it would be fine. We were planning to bring DD in my in-laws pool at 8 weeks - Dr sd it would be fine for a little while.

But, we ended up not bringing her in b/c the pool was rechlorinated the day we arrived - even the pool guy said to us "you're not going to put the baby in today, right?" We ended up not having a chance to bring her in again b/c of weather and other time committments but we would have several days later once the chlorine level settled down.

We did bring her in at 16 weeks elsewhere with no problems. WE held her or put her in a baby float which she loved.

I got one of those shampoo visors to keep water out of her eyes and ears during the bath as a gift, but I never actually used it. I've never worried about water in her ears. I use a cup to rinse her hair and always hold my hand over each ear like an umbrella, just out of habit.

DD took swimming classes at 6 months and had no problems with the water getting in her ears either. I guess if it went in, it didn't bother her before it made its way out.

[Melanie]

If it's chlorinated (or highly- as in the case of a complex or public pool) then we waited until 5-6 months b/c we figured the ped. said no sunscreen until 6 months and chlorine has got to be worse for the skin than sunscreen (IMO).

For the bath, we didn't submerge so I don't think water got into his ears? Maybe just a dribble or so. The ear's hair naturally move substances out so unless it's gross amounts, I wouldn't worry.

The submerging in the pool thing has two opposing positions by "professionals." We did it with "a counting of 1-2-3," (this was what the YMCA instructor said) he choked, sometimes, and I was sorry. There's the "you blow in their face to make them hold their breath" set (The YMCA people said not to do this b/c it wasn't a natural association) and then there's the 'don't submerge until they are 3' set b/c they can't really understand to hold their breath. I think we're going with the latter for now.

[egoldber]

We just took a toddler swim class through my local county parks&rec. It was for ages 18 months to 4 (!!!). They taught the kids to blow bubbles in the water and then gradually introduced them to getting their faces in the water. We didn't really do this part since Sarah isn't so good at following directions yet. :) But the older kids in the class all seemed to do OK with it.