Hi All,

We often see Youtube videos where western baby born out not long, they will let them try to swim in a public / home swimming pool. It is very interesting but at the same time a little scary.

My husband and I are discussing at what age is it suitable for us to let our baby play in a pool of water? Of course, with adult supervision. We do not have a swimming pool at home but we intend to buy a baby pool that should at least fit 3 children at age of 5. Our baby is going 4 months old now. We do not intend for him to submerge in the water. We do not want to frightened him. We intend to let him use a float, keep his head above water and let his leg do some kicking.

My colleague advised us not to try too early as water has bacteria that causes polio? We have no idea what is that. We are very tempted, yet skeptical. Has anyone ever tried? At what age did you try it? Or do you disagree to it?

merchant, i'm tempted to let my 5 mo boy swim in the apartment's children swimming pool... but no idea if it's really safe for him... i think it's important for the young ones to learn swimming coz who knows when they need it in for their survival... mayb i'm think too much or kiasu...

I was advised to only let my son swim when he reached 6months after the first few vaccinations. My apartment has a pool and as you know public pool is more prone to bacteria hence I waited till 6 months. my son always love the water so we had no problem introducing the pool to him.

As for having your own 'pool', I think u may start earlier as u wd just pour new water each time unlike the swimming pool. Maybe can use filtered water? Just put a filter fitted at the outside pipe...so that it wouldn't be that teruk.

This post has been edited by phythia79: Mar 13 2011, 10:03 PM

My bb had her first swim at our condo pool when she was 8mths old, she enjoy the session very much.
Drinking the pool water is inevitable but there was this one incident she drank a lot and choke quite badly, we were really worried and the whole nite she dun look ok, I search the net and found about dry drowning, it means someone especially small children can have water in their lungs without realizing and this can cause drowning few hours after the swim. I panic more and kept watch for any abnormal signs the whole nite.

After that incident we never took her swimming no more. I think we're not living in atlantis, swimming is afterall not that important, she can always do swimming when she is much older.

So be very careful if you decide to let your bb swim, thigns to watch out is see how clear is the water, if you see the water a bit cloudy that means the chlorine is not functioning and bacteria or algae is starting to bloom. Avoid going to the pool in these condition, only go when you see the water is crystal clear.

Get those BB suit like divers, covers her shoulder, this will help your bb from getting chilled.

hi,my daughter is 10mths but i still dont dare to let her swim in the wadding pool..scared she will get sick cause the water is so cold

I bought a swimming vest from Mothercare for my son..it's supposed to keep your child warm so that they can be in the pool for a longer time. For me, I would let my son be in the pool for max 1 hr (if he's using the vest)..if not, 30 mins.

ive been tempted to take my son into the swimming pool during holiday or somethng, but it is yet to happen

i guess it is not that important, reading the experiences here, can wait till he is older and hv better immune system... thinking again, the common swimming pool water is indeed dirty.. and i know my kid likes to take water in even while bathing.. LOL perhaps get a kid's swimming pool to play in the hse only...

Few months old dont la

Still so young till they at least go kindergarten can communicate only teach them swim la. WHat the rush to make them go to the water so fast?

scared 2012 world will be flooded they cannot swim?

It's not abt teaching them to swim..it's just letting them into the pool to play with the water. Doesn't need much communicating.

Then its dangerous. Better wait till they grow up maybe age 3 or 4 only let them play with adult supervision. No hurry to let them play water when they cant even stand and walk

Obviously it will be with adult supervision..and of coz with the parents carrying their baby...and by age 1 or 1.5 yrs..they have already learnt to stand and walk. By then too..it will always be with adult supervision. It's plain common sense

This post has been edited by phythia79: Mar 17 2011, 02:15 PM

But is still too young. They need to develop the basic understanding of life b4 throw them in water.

urrm...I don't think we should throw them into the water..i didn't do that to my son..i brought him in gently...at this point..it's not about survival..it's introducing a big mass of water (besides his normal shower and bath time) which can be very daunting to a small child.

If you do throw them into the water..they'll be scared. My nephew sort of did that to his daughter (about the same age as my son)..it took her the next few months to go into the pool again.

It all depends on how you introduce the pool to your child. If i'm not wrong, the main concerns here is whether introducing the pool to their babies would pose any health threat significantly.

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Added on March 17, 2011, 2:33 pmI would be mad if i would just throw my son into the pool...hoping he would know "the basic understanding of life"

This post has been edited by phythia79: Mar 17 2011, 02:33 PM

I think if a parent hold them is ok but then when i read from all the experience shared here, I think I will postpone it till 1 year old.

You see in the west, baby are equipped with those float on the neck and arms and let them kick their legs in the water. I think that's good exercise and the thought of them being close to how they were before (in the womb, with water, etc), thought will make them happy...???

give my son 1st try to our apartment swimming pool abt 9-10months.
actually he only know can play water. only hand, body and leg in the water.
he is enjoying. this is the float i bought.

now 15 months, he start know how to move in the water
the string behind is easy for me to hold him in the water, so that he will not head down in water

do ur babies wear swimming diapers? i'm still thinking if swimming diapers r accessories or necessities?

There's swimming diapers? keekeke..i didn't even know. I let him use the normal diapers..and when he gets out of the pool..it's one full diaper .

phythia, got... they're specially design so they can contain pee n poo n outside is waterproof lo... got disposable n reusable... so far m'sia can find reusable only...

oh...i think i know..i bought it from mothercare..but i dont dare to try it out..so i still let him use diapers as well.

phythia, how much u bought? y u din use?

sorry..i used it just that i don't dare to test if it really works. I can't recall how much..i bought it last year.

phythia, so u're saying ur boy is on 2 diapers?

I introduce my boy to swimming pool when he was at 9mth. Of coz, my parents shout at me for being "cruel" because old ppl never see babies could go to the pool.
But basically being a parents should know when your child is ready.

Am lucky to have a baby who love water so much where he never make a single cry during bath and kicks water in his bb tub when he was just 10weeks old. We have a phrase last time "When he is in bad mood, bath him."

During his 1st swimming experiece, I brought a float which only tug in his 2 thighs. We teach him kick and soon enough he could drive his own boat happily. Once in a while we will take him out of the float and dug him in water.. started push him low til shoulder, then to neck and then head and up immediately. Motive is to make him brave. And he love it.
At that same day we saw a 2yr old little girl. She was screaming doesn't wanted to get into water.
So, I am not sure is because she is a girl vs mine is boy. Or 2yrs old is too old to have the bravery training. Because at age 2, they already know wat is dangerous and tend to scare easily compare to younger child.

I brought huggies swimming pants last time.

This post has been edited by cc980024: Apr 1 2011, 01:27 PM

cc980024, where u got the pants?

now i'm getting confused myself. I bought this swimming pants from mothercare and let him use the diapers too..though it said that the pants can hold the poo..which i never tried.

I'm definitely getting older.

phythia, swimming pants hold poo? i only know swimming diaper can hold pee n poo... my neck float has arrived so i really need more input

maybe they meant poo that is hard ..lOL. i know bf babies have softer poo.

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Added on April 1, 2011, 4:14 pmthey said can hold if there's any accidents happen in the pool..so i guess must be poo

This post has been edited by phythia79: Apr 1 2011, 04:14 PM

phythia, accidents eh? i guess pee n poo lo... but ur son wear the pant n regular diaper together?

I am not sure Huggies still selling the swimming diapers or not.
Last time (3yrs ago) got sell in anywhere.. Jusco, cold storage, some hypermarket also got.

Yeah..I let him wear both.

if anyone wanna know, i've found the huggies swimming diaper at giant nusa bestari, jb... price at RM29.99 for S12, M11, L10

I am sure if one GIant sells it, others would have it too. Thanks for sharing the information. We thought about it and might let him swim naked. I just need to figure out where to get the float and pool too. We dont live in a condo so we need our own inflatable pool.

The last time I went to a baby shop, a indian boy doing sales wanted to sell me a pool. Quite large, the picture show it can fit 3 young children, not babies. But when I asked if it comes with a pump, he said "guna mulut tiup boleh lah!"

I asked if he was crazy.

Hard to find good quality inflatable pool, especially the ones where the base of the pool if also inflatable. I dont want a flat base that is against the hard floor.

merchant, i've bought a mamobaby neck float n it comes wif the pump so no need to blow ur lungs out~! mayb u can check out mamobaby swimming pool... i c from the picture which looks like inflatable to me... perhaps it comes wif pump too...

Where did you buy it, nicKit?

merchant, bought it online from lelong.com

i introduce sea water @ tioman to my 3 months old son
he enjoyed it and even sleep floating on the tube.

now he is 13 months old and will go to swimming pool every weekend.
in this age what the children love to do is playing with water and he needs to know that playing in the water is fun

I use this float when intro bb to swimming pool, its very good n safe, only her legs and hands can play with water


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so cute!! Which reminds me..i should get one for my son..dunno if he will like it as he doesn't like being confined (ie stroller and walkers)

Moorish,

Where did u get that and for how much? not sure if it fit into a personal pool. We live in landed home, so no swimming facilities.

bought at jusco, cant rber how much but I rber not expensive, below RM50

This post has been edited by moorish: Apr 9 2011, 07:07 PM


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnDS1uowamY


Anyone tried the Arab's swimming lesson??

very sick parents, obviously they've never heard of dry drowning

why no just let ur baby play/swim in a balloon pool or bath tub... much more safer and hygiene then public pool^^ can control water temp oso... usually public pool veli cold. i myself oso knot tahan... wat abt de babies~~

This post has been edited by huangpl89: Apr 13 2011, 07:38 AM

How is dry drowning related to drowning in a swimming pool filled with water ( wet ) ??

water goes into the lung while playing in the pool, then hours later develop complications or even drowning.

The parent in the Youtube video above obvious arent very responsible and good parents. You dont push your kid into the pool like that even if they are not babies but toddlers.

You introduce them to something gently and slowly with patience and brains!

Anyway, after the water get into their lungs, they can developed dry drowning at night. I read this somewhere, I think here and Google for more information, scary thought.

Yes, we intend to introduce our babies to our blow-up pool since we do not live in condos, so we dont have swimming pool facilities. We are trying to find the biggest we can to accommodate our son and our future children!

Thats normal drowning ler...I thought dry drowning is caused with toxic gas etc??

normal drowning is when you're still in the water la, dry drowning is you die after you go home.

Ok didnt know that. Sorry. Basically just drowning la. All drowning can lead to death so no need to classify dry, wet, moist , hot, cold drowning.

my son enjoys his bath time, later on i started introducing the pool at my parent's place...
he has 2 floaties on, i started training him to not be afraid of the floating by himself by having stand on the stairs (water level at his chest), then calling him to jump on to me.. i would then take a few step backs so he lands on the water instead of me..

it took about 2 sessions to get him confident... and now he doesn't like people holding him when he has his "swimming / floating" time.

hihi all,


i put my bb into those pool we bought when he was 1 y, he really love it n after playing , the nite itself he sleep really well, so i guess it's good exercise, the one i bought is not deep one, more for playing water than swimming hehe

I am desperately looking for a baby pool. I want it as big as possible for my 5 months+ son. I want it big because so it can be used with other siblings in the future. If weather is hot, even I can sit in it with him.

Where can I find a big pool that has air at the bottom (so he doesnt hit his head) and comes with a electrical pump and a neck float for my son to keep his head above the water?

I saw a nice one that is RM49.90 in a baby shop nearby but it does not come with any pump. The shop said will sell me a manual pump for RM20 but have to pump 10,000 times to get it inflated. Setting up the pool will kill me in the process... 10,000x!

Please help on where I can find such a pool with inflated bottom (optional).

try this Mybbhouse

i've always wanted to bring my daughter to a pool, but never got a chance. maybe will bring her to that klcc children pool. early morning on weekdays should be okay right? no ppl coming. haha

I took my son swimming when he was 3 months old at my condo pool and we swim at least once a week since then. I submerged him underwater from that age and when he was 14 months he can swim by himself underwater for a few feet. He is now 3 and can swim a few meters taking his head above water to breathe. My older boy, 6 yo can swim all 4 strokes fairly well already. I myself am a good swimmer and for me it's definately am important skill to have.

Downdog,

Submerge in water as in fully? Even the head also in the water? Will that not scare them? How can they breathe? It is all very tempting but at the same time, a very scary experience for a woman like myself. My husband is so keen on trying but I have repeatedly told him not to submerge our baby boy under water. He has agreed to keep the head above the water.

Yesterday, we tried 'swimming' with our baby boy of 6 months. We fill up the bath tub and I showered first before stepping in, then my hubby put our baby to sit with me. Not sure if water too hot or he is afraid of the volume of water.

How do you introduce baby to swimming? We bought a pool but due to the experience yesterday, we have not pump the pool yet.

merchant9, u can always try again we oso tried to introduce cold water to him (like swimming pool) during his bath... obviously he's not happy we dripped cold water at him

will the baby's hearing system (ears, etc) will infect by germs due to shared public swimming pool?
bcos baby still dont have enough antibiotic to overcome different germs...

My practice when it comes to swimming pool...I always see the colour of the water...if the water is clear which usually means the pool is in good working condition and the chlorine is also doing its work in killing most of the germs.

If u are worried as to when shd u introduce the pool, I'll suggest introducing at abt 6mo, after your baby has the important jabs.

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Added on May 22, 2011, 3:16 pmLast week, I introduced my son to seawater. He wasn't afraid of the sand but of course doesn't like the taste of the water.

This post has been edited by phythia79: May 22 2011, 03:16 PM

The people in uncivilised would know this

generally if the pool water is crystal clear that means the chlorine is working fine and infection would be minimal risk, but then again I spose there is always a small possibilities

he went for his first "swim" today... at first he din like it due to cold water... slowly he could float on his own n even tip toed on the floor is it good news?

that's good news!! I suggest getting that body warmer (but it's from mothercare) suit. It helps to keep babies warm in the water..and they can stay in the water longer too.