Learn to swim, be safe, have fun.
Ogden Otters make Baby Swimming Lessons a fun and rewarding experience that helps to build the bond between you and your baby as it centres on trust. It’s also a great way to exercise and teach valuable life skills.
The first year of a life is crucial in terms of a baby’s development, as it is in this period that the brain grows most rapidly. Regular exercise plays a vital role in their development with every movement they make helping to strengthen their brain for new learning. Baby swimming is completely natural. By introducing your baby swimming lessons at a young age, you are starting them on a habit that will last a lifetime and teach them an important and potentially life – saving skill.
Many parents comment that the combination of gentle exercise and warm water helps their babies to sleep better and stimulates their appetites too.
Sometimes Dads can feel they miss out on getting involved with their babies development, at Ogden Otters we encourage Dads to take their baby into the water. They are often surprised at how much fun they have and some classes have more Dads than Mum’s in them particularly on a weekend.
It’s a common myth that your baby has to be a certain age before they can go swimming. The Department of Health states you can take your baby swimming at any age, , but at Ogden Otters we prefer to wait until the baby has reached 12 weeks, when they have already developed good head control and completed their course of early immunisations. So as soon as you and baby feel ready, come along and give it a go!
Making bath times fun is a great way of getting your baby used to water and building his confidence for baby swimming. Gently splash water over the babies body or lay them on their back and move them gently through the water, with lots of eye contact and smiles. Use bath toys, chat and sing songs to help your baby relax and enjoy the water. These will also act as reassuring prompts when you venture into the pool together.
We keep our facility nice and warm, the pool (33c) is bright and inviting, all our changing rooms have baby changing tables with ample seating in reception where people can enjoy a coffee whilst watching the action on our large screen TV’s . We have a large car park providing free off road parking just a few feet from the entrance to the reception so even in bad weather you can transfer baby from the car quickly and easily. Why not visit Our Facebook and look at our short promo film.