We love baby swimming!

My very favourite time of the week is Sunday afternoons at the pool with my son.

We've been swimming almost every week since he was born and he is like a cute little frog. He experiences a different way of moving around in the water, he finds the echo sounds exciting, and he tries to copy the bigger children. Today he decided he could swim: With just my one hand under his tummy, he did a kind of modified breast-stroke. I am so proud of him!

From our photo shoot back when my son was 5 months old

He likes going under the water; being thrown in the air; and recently he has started hurling himself into the pool from sitting on the side. He enjoys floating in his arm-bands, riding on my back, making splashes with other babies.... and after so much activity he always sleeps on the journey home.

There are lots of baby swim classes available, but we didn't want to stick to one set time (plus most of them are quite expensive), so I got this book out from my local library: How to Teach Your Baby to Swim: From Birth to Age Six. It gave me a lot of confidence. The most important lesson by far was to be calm, never to show panic, even if your baby gets dunked by mistake or splashed by some naughty 5-year-old! They will feel safe and secure if you always act like they are.

When we're in the pool my attention is 100% there, all the other things on my mind seem to melt away. Every second I am aware of everything my son does and we have real quality time together.  I chat with other parents too, and try out new baby swimming activities with them. The baby pool is (almost a bit anyway!) like a hot pool in a health-spa and life really is good fun and relaxing while we're there.

Are any of my readers such manic baby-swimming fans as me? I can't recommend it highly enough!