Swimming with small babies – Little B’s first swim with Huggies #LittleSwimmers

Babies and swimming – two things that usually go well together.

We are firm believers in the benefits of introducing our little ones to the water from an early age – it’s not only good exercise and good fun for both parents and babies, but also an important life skill too. With the Wee Man and Bubby D both having had lessons from around three months old, I’ve seen for myself how confident even young babies can become and how quickly they pick things up too. The Wee Man is only four but already swimming entire lengths of the pool on his own, both front and back!

And of course, being the third child, Little B has had to sit at the side of the pool and watch him learn, ever since she was only 1 week old.

Last week, it was finally her turn to begin her swimming journey – and she couldn’t wait!

She’d obviously picked up on the sights and sounds swimming because she knew exactly what she was looking at – she was wiggling on her Little Swimmers hygiene mat and gurglng in anticipation as soon as she saw the pool. And what a pool it was! Unlike the Wee Man and Bubby D who swim at the local leisure centre, her first venture into the water was thanks to Huggies Little Swimmers who had provided us with use of a private pool, tuition from Swimming Nature, and of course a Little Swimmers baby swimming nappy to go along with it – a lovely way to get things started. I’d forgotten about swimming nappies for tiny babies, which fasten the same way standard nappies do with tabs rather than needing to be pulled up, and it made getting her ready quickly a much easier experience, especially with all the wriggling going on!

I’d tell you how much fun we had, but really it’s obvious from the pictures:

Little B enjoyed herself so much she gave swimming the accolade of her very first chuckle of delight, a sound that almost bought tears to my eyes, seeing and hearing how much fun she was having.

But of course like most small babies, her first swim was over within about 20 minutes (all that freedom to kick and splash is a lot more tiring than you’d think) and she was out, dressed and sleeping so soundly that I had the time to take up the opportunity of the massage I was offered, and an afternoon tea to round off the day.

We really couldn’t have asked for a better first swimming experience – Little B was happy, comfortable and obviously enjoyed herself and I felt safe in the knowledge that we were being looked after by experienced experts who believe just as I do that swimming is a lifelong journey that even small babies can understand and enjoy.

We left armed with a set of personalised cards from Swimming Nature setting out how we could build on what we had done, as well as some big smiles and of course some Little Swimmers nappies to take with us for our next trip to the swimming pool – and given how much Little B enjoyed herself the next trip won’t be far away!

A big thank you to Huggies Little Swimmers, and also to Issy Croker for the fantastic photography 🙂