When to take baby to the swimming pool?

run_Forrest_run

Hi All,
Our baby will be 15 weeks next Friday and has had her first round of shots. Does anyone know when you could bring a baby into a swimming pool for the first time?

Femelade

afaik 3 months is around the right age...could be wrong though.

Nevyn

You would want to make sure that youf baby has had enough of his/her injections.
Why not ring your local health/baby nurse or gp and check.

Dors1976

Hi have been bringing baby since he was 4mths. Loves it. Got his little togs in mothercare, work a treat! I find Dublin City Council pools great, always warm & they use o2 not clorine so not quite as harsh, also pools temp tested every hour. I just carry him think the best thing is for us to be relaxed then they know not to be afraid of water. Also got this from Rollercoaster.ie hope it helps:

Brought DD swimming when she was just four months. She loves it. On the practical side of things here are a few bits I found out.

1st: Shots...everywhere says baby must have all three rounds of shots before swimming. This is because the polio vaccination was a live one and so was present in baby's stool. As it's contagious, baby had to be over all of them before swimming. It's no longer the case. The vaccine is no longer live and as the first shot at two months is the most important {the others are merely boosters} it's possible to bring babies swimming after the 1st vaccination.

2nd: Not all pools will allow the use of the MC swim suits as they don't seem to realise they have a protective plastic insert so Huggies Little Swimmers work great. Not all stores stock the small size from 16lbs-24lbs but it is possible to get them so ask! I got mine in Tesco's of Navan after asking them to order them in. Well done Tesco!

3rd: When I went the first time I asked the pool manager if I could bring my D's buggy. It raised eyebrows. I very politely explained that it would be a lot easier to run the squidgy mop over where I'd run the wheels after the fact than run the risk of my taking an action against them after slipping on the poolside with baby in my arms. There was absolutely no question about allowing me to do so and that's what I do every time. This also means that I can change and dress baby and leave her in her buggy while I get ready - I forego the shower.

4th: Pampers Dry Sheets...they're great for putting into the buggy underneath her robe when she's wet. It keeps the buggy dry for later on but also means that some of the wet is absorbed so she doesn't get as cold.

5th: The basket under the buggy is great for storing your valuables and locker key as I leave mine by the poolside and its always in full view.

6th: DD loves the water and I think it's important for the kids to learn about the water and how it works at a very young age so leave the floatation devices at home...the sooner they learn how to keep themselves afloat the sooner they'll be swimming. Teaching them to rely on something that won't always be there is something else they'll have to unlearn in the future

run_Forrest_run

thanks for your reply Dors1976. the pool where I am a member also say baby must have first shots (which she does). But as you say, I will ring the pool and check everything first. The buggy idea is a great one, never thought of that. I can't wait to take her because she loves her baths so am dying to see how she takes to the pool!

Dors1976

Best of luck with that.

gypsygirl

I agree with Dors1976, don't use any floation devices, my Mother took my young brother swimming when he was 3 month, no floation equip, he was swimming unaided before he could walk.

Raiser

Hi Folks,

Am interested in bringing 10 month old swimming - anybody read about the report in the papers approx. 4 or 5 months ago linking swimming pools with asthma in babies ? Think they had concluded it was from the chlorine. Its news to me that some are non-chlorine? Had also heard that in some planned baby sessions they use extra chlorine in case of pool "accidents" - making the risk [if any] worse.

Has anyone got the full story on this ?

P.S. Can you teach a 10 month old to swim around happily, sounds great ?

Victor

Very young babies have it easier than grown ups in the water, as their breathing hasn't adjusted to "air only" (hence they can drink and breathe at the same time).

Quite a few pools now use Ozone (O3 not O2) as a sterilizing agent.

Some pools (Tara Street, ....) have the water level much closer to floor level, making things a bit easier for access.

onedmc

i think ozone is used in combination with chlorine, so there is still chlorine in the water but just much less.

Raiser

From wikipedia page on asthma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma

# air pollution, such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, which is thought to be one of the major reasons for the high prevalence of asthma in urban areas;
# various industrial compounds and other chemicals, notably sulfites; chlorinated swimming pools generate chloramines—monochloramine (NH2Cl), dichloramine (NHCl2) and trichloramine (NCl3)—in the air around them, which are known to induce asthma.[7]

Think I'll play it safe just in case, interesting that ozone gets another mention just to compound the risk :eek:

Ayla

Raiser wrote:

Think I'll play it safe just in case

Raiser,

Good point, and something to take to mind.

However, isn't it just a bit too easy to play it "too safe?" At what point do we start allowing our kids to swim? I'm sure a 6 mo. old would be more sucesptible to various environmental forces (ie: ozone & chlorine) but do we allow our 2 year olds? What about 6 year olds?

There are so many things out there that "could" affect our kids do we not allow them to do anything? If we can't teach them to swim in a pool, and the ponds, lakes etc are too polluted, do we raise future generations to not know how to swim?

There are always the bad cases, and if you look for an example of anything causing anything you'll find it. For example, now there's scientific evidence to show that deodorant may cause cancer. Well, does that mean we should all give up and walk around stinking?

I grew up swimming in pools year-round, and was in competitions by the time I was 8. I've never heard of chlorine and/or pool-related ozone "causing" asthma, and in this case I'm not going to "play it safe" out of fear.

Just my two-cents' worth.

Dors1976

Think I'll play it safe just in case, interesting that ozone gets another mention just to compound the risk :eek:[/QUOTE]

I'm almost 30 and I grew up with no child-proof caps, or gates, no un-leaded paint.... and on and on I could list things, but I'm not going to. The reality is that yes there are risks out there that CAN damage our children but think of air pollution. We can't save our kids from everything, much as we'd like to:)

I recently saw an article somewhere that said the children who grow up in the country air are far less likely to get allergies or asthma.