When my daughter was three months old I faced the dilemma whether to take swimming lessons with her or not. I surfed the net looking for baby swimming centers and other information about baby swimming lessons. Among the huge piles of splendid offers on infant swimming I found some interesting research of the American Academy of Pediatrics. So, in this post I’ll draw your attention to the drawbacks of an infant swimming for you to have the whole picture of this subject.

As you know, movement and exercises are good for babies and you may think the more movement the better – not always – the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

According to AAP children are not ready for swimming until they are 4 years old. One year old children are able to perform some elementary swim moves but these are more like the lines of a dog paddle than a traditional swimming stroke, or front crawl. When a child is not ready for something it takes him/her longer to learn, the same concerns aquatic skills, moreover they are limited by the children’s neuromuscular capacity. And even more, starting early doesn’t result into a better result. So if you want your child to become a future Olympic swimmer an infant swim program won’t help you with that.

The training can also have a long-term effect on the child’s self-sufficiency, as motivation is very important in the development of any skill and infants do not have a motivation yet.

If you want your child to attend swimming lessons in terms of his/her safety you have to mull over one fact before.  “When instruction attempts to optimize learning by reducing fear of water, children may unwittingly be encouraged to enter the water without supervision” the AAP warns.

Anyway, you are to choose. If swimming lessons is just the way of socializing and spending a good time with your child go for it. And if their task is to boost your child’s motor skills be ready, cause it can be disappointment in store for parent and child.

You can find some great baby swimwear tips in this article.