The Importance of Treading Water

I’ve been teaching baby classes for some time now, and while I like to make the curriculum full of bonding and tender approaches and songs and all that, I’ve also been focusing on parental safety more. Meaning I get some shocking looks when I tell my mommies and daddies we’re now going to practice treading in the deep end while holding our babies.

Okay. Back up. I don’t shock them that much. I build up to it. After the units (meaning individual families) have learned back floating techniques and are truly understanding floatation properties, we give a focus to their treading.

Treading is the art of combining “egg beaters” on the lower body/legs and “sculling” with the upper/arms. In this case, treading becomes just lower body movement as parents must use their hands to lightly support a floating child either on their back or tummy down.

To get a good tread started, I’d begin in about four feet of water. I get a lot of parents saying, “It’s too shallow!” You want shallow. Because a good treading position almost looks like you are sitting in a seat. In fact, the longer you extend your legs/body, the quicker you are going to sink.

So in our “sitting” position, begin by rotating your lower legs at the knee joint drawing circles with the heel. You can have righty move in first and lefty follow. You can have them move in together at the same time. Your body mechanics will straighten out the best coordination. But start out moving the feet inward. That equates to going clockwise for lefty and counter-clockwise for rightly (what I’m saying above is that you don’t both have to be at 3 o’clock at the same time).

You might be asking, What am I supposed to be doing with my child here? Hello! I have a baby in my arms! My answer is stop trying to hold your baby so close to you or out of the water. One of the top reasons a baby cries in the water is that mom or dad has held them too close to their body heat and thus refrained from getting the baby used to the actual temp of the water. All of us experience a 50-80% totally body weight loss due to buoyancy, so work with it: Lower your child to their chin and support lightly with your hand under their tummy (or head/back, if they are doing a back float). If you try to lift your child out of the water, you will submerge yourself. So get your baby used to the temp and floating.

The hard part about treading is that it is hard. The good part about treading is that you can get better real fast with a minimum amount of practice. That piece of information should inspire you enough to stick with it. Begin with keeping your feet up for 10 seconds. Then move on to 15. And so on. Look, if you can keep your mouth out of the water and at surface, you are a success.

Treading is great for building defined quads. It is even better for saving lives. You have to ask yourself as a parent, What would I do if I found myself in deep water with my baby? It’s what I ask my units in my baby classes. And that’s why we work on treading in the deep end.

6 Reasons to Never Downsize Swimming Time

Holy smokes have I been under a time crunch lately! My writing or work-from-home business has seemingly quadrupled as of late with additional work from previous clients (and a new one as well). But this is no excuse to not write about swimming. So I’ve been thinking lately how parents must feel when they are under a financial or time crunch and looking to downsize activities. I’m going to fight for swimming to not be one of them, pointing out all the hidden benefits:

• Swimming cleans you up. I made this point in my Parenting article. I’m not suggesting the pool is a bathtub as much as I’m suggesting parents take advantage of the free locker room showers and soap products if you have ‘um. Time and money (on water and soap bills) is saved for sure.
• Swimming gets your kid one step closer to bed. I often see parents change their kids into pajamas after an afternoon lesson. That saves time wrangling the critter into sleeping clothes later.
• Swimming provides a barrier against colds. While it isn’t wise to go swimming when sick or to stand around in cold water, the pool has a nice chlorine barrier that I have used numerous times when coughed upon.
• Swimming is the only exercise that makes sense on a rainy day. Can’t play on the monkey bars. Can’t play soccer. But you can do cannonballs and get in many laps in if you belong to a warm, indoor (even heated outdoor) pool.
• Swimming doesn’t require a lot of expensive equipment. You need a discounted Old Navy swim suit, and old towel and a pair of $12 Speedo googles. Good teachers should provide the tools such as fins, kickboards, hand paddles and diving toys.
• Remembering how to swim saves lives. Kids can forget their swim skills after a few months — even week’s — time. Also, I ask my parents of infants exactly what they would do if they ever found themselves in water over their head with their child. And then I teach them how to handle the situation if they need a workable answer.

What a Swim Instructor Can & Cannot Do

Learning to swim really is a miraculous experience. It’s my belief everyone has the potential to swim. Some of us might float better than others, some might have different abilities, but I think the body loves water.

There can be much confusion, or at least a difference of opinions, when a group of parents, instructors or kids for that matter sit down an try to define what swimming is. For one mom, it’ means their 3-year is able to jump off the steps and use arm and leg motions without assistance. For another, it’s dropping her 7-year off at a swim party with no fear the kid would be able to take care of his/herself with little pool supervision.

Just the same, it’s important to distinguish what an instructor can and cannot do:

• A swim instructor cannot drownproof anyone. I’m not drownproof. It’s a false term and any person or school that advertises this benefit is promising something they could never deliver. But a swim instructor can teach swimming and water survival skills.
• A swim instructor cannot stop a child from panicking. We can give the skills and review over and over again what to do, but it’s really age, personality, strength and comfort that helps a child act correctly in a dangerous situation. People don’t drown because they cannot swim; they drown because they panic.
• A swim instructor cannot stop a 2-year old from running straight for the water. We think starting early means getting more control: As the Academy of Pediatricians states, children are not developmentally ready for lessons until 4, and what they are getting at is anyone younger has a lack of judgment skills. Teachers who are certified in or specialize in infant survival skills can teach infants and toddles to roll on their backs if they fall in.
• A swim instructor cannot tell you how many lessons it will take for your child to swim. Especially if they never saw your kid swim. I can estimate. I can ballpark. I can assess, reassess and conference with you every step of the way. But there are too many variables to put a number to it and every child is different.
• A swim instructor cannot talk a child out of being cold. In all my years, I have yet to learn how to do this. Temperature comfort is one of the most important element in swimming — a teacher can make important decisions about creating optimal pool comfort.
• A swim instructor cannot give your child a lot of one-on-one time in a group class setting. If I have 6 students in a :30-minute period, it’s easy to figure the math: I can give your kid a little under five minutes of individual attention.

Hope I don’t sound like I’m venting. It’s actually the complete opposite. I think instructors need to be as open and honest as possible with their clients, and their client’s time, money and kids. Learning about swimming is as much of a lesson for the parents as it is for the kids.

Tips for Safe Bathing

I want to point infant mothers over to a great article on BabyCenter about bathing your little one. From a swim instructor standpoint, here are some of the highlights:

• Reminder your baby can drown in even an inch of water. Without the ability to sit up, it’s totally possible. Also, it takes just a teaspoon of water to cause a drowning (a dry drowning, that is, where water enters into the lungs).
• Make sure it’s warm. Babies don’t shiver when they are cold, but their lips turn blue. Look for the signs. BabyCenter recommends 90-100-degree water. I teach in a90-degree pool and infants love it.
• Sit, don’t stand in the tub. Proper water entry and exit is an important first step in becoming safe around any body of water.

Infant Swimming: Survial Skills vs. Water Exploration

When is comes to infant swimming, two clear approaches exist: One is about focusing on life-saving techniques, the other is about feeling more comfortable in the water.

How do you decided what is right for you or your baby? It’s sort of a trick question to ask whether or not you’d like your child to be as safe as possible in the water. Of course you would. But learning infant survival skills comes at a cost. The price can be stress, for both the parent and the baby.

To Turn Over or Not to Turn Over — That is the Question

Infant survival really breaks down to teaching a baby to turn over and float unassisted on their back, should they fall into a pool, so they can breathe. All mothers should watch this amazing video clip I posted on this entry. It shows 11-month old Miles falling into a pool wearing his jammies. Miles is able to roll onto his back, stabilize a float, and just relax, breath, and cry until help arrives five whole minutes after the fact he fell.

It should be noted Miles is the baby to a doctor who started and teaches an infant survival swim program. Miles, in all reality, has had the most and best practice. And that is what would come down to you and your baby being able to do this: consistent (as many as five sessions a week) and frequent (10-20 minutes) of just placing your baby in a face-down float and assisting in a roll over until they prove they can do it themselves.

Stress is the Price You Both Pay for Such Safety

Obviously, an infant survival approach to swimming takes a lot of nerve as well as faith in your instructor. It is an involuntary act for the infant, meaning they do not get to make a choice in the matter.

It can be very stressful to watch your infant float face-down and will them to turn over. But to deal with this,  it is good to know infants have two physical instincts when water hits the face. First, they have a Diver’s Response. This is a fancy term to describe infants sense the lack of oxygen and their bodies start conserving what oxygen they have in the system — for as long as 1/2 hour. Second is the Gag Reflex. This means the epiglottis, a flap that closes off the trachea (which leads to the lungs), creates an air-tight seal. So water does not enter the lungs. However, the esophagus, which leads to the stomach, remains open. So if your baby coughs, it is because water entered the stomach. Why some babies don’t swallow and some do is genetics — some Gag Reflexes are just stronger than others.

Developing A Confident Relationship with Water

Comfort takes a backseat with infant survival techniques, but fun and “water exploration” comes first with a baby class like my Mommies-in-Motion or a Splash! class.

Water exploration is about learning water skills for mom and baby at a speed they are comfortable with. I reviewed an outstanding book about teaching babies water explorations skills here.

Often in my classes I can clearly see an overprotective mom with a very water-curious baby; although I encourage the mom to push her comfort boundaries, I don’t force. I use ‘exploration’ verse ‘swim’ in order to indicate our traditional definitions of swimming — independently swimming from one person to another — will not be achieved.

Definition of Swimming is Different For All

I usually ask participating parents at the beginning of any infant class what their definition of swimming is. Then I ask if they expect their baby to meet those expectations, which is met with a gasp and howl of ‘no.’ But sometimes not. Sometimes the parent has high expectations. Sometimes they want infant survival skills.

In the end, you have to ask yourself what it is you want, and whether or not you are ready and willing to do those things to achieve it. I am not against the teaching of infant water survival skills. I personally teach from a comfort-based philosophy, focused more on the mother and baby coming to terms with their individual water confidence as one, but it doesn’t mean I’m not interested in the latter.

Some might argue that in order to feel more comfortable in the water, you must first feel as if you could survive. I advise to work with the body language you have, rather than the body language you want, to address building water safety.  You simply cannot force a participant — mother or baby — to have confidence with water. They must develop it.

Full Submersion: Taking Young Ones Underwater for the First Time

It’s a comfort thing. A comfort thing that begins with your own.

Taking your infant or toddler between the ages of a few months to almost 3 years of age underwater might first feel like you’re going against an instinct to protect a child from danger. Or maybe it feels extremely natural to you.

What Exactly Happens When You Take Your Child Underwater?
We touched on a recent post here about how babies naturally conserve oxygen when their face is underwater. This is called the “diving response.” The circulating blood utilizes oxygen efficiently, mostly to the brain and heart and can do so for as long as 30 minutes. Then the babies also do what is called the “gag reflex” or a laryngospasm.

• Gag reflex: When water gets into a baby’s mouth, a spasm of the epiglottis shuts the trachea (windpipe) so water cannot enter the lungs. However, the esophagus which leads to the stomach remains open. Water intoxification is when a baby swallows too much water. Some babies have a stronger gag reflex than others. Cuing and swift submersions help stop water from entering, along with lifting and blowing in the face (both cause babies to hold their breath slightly).

Exactly How Do You Do Take Your Child Underwater?
Mind frame and body language needs to be in confidence mode on your end. Ever heard of the saying, Fake it until you make it? Put on your best face, get your child’s attention, give the cue 1~2~3! and with no hesitation, swiftly take your child under and back up. No matter the reaction — crying, look of surprise, laughter, coughing — your response is positive with smiles and congratulations. Repeat until you feel you both are getting it. A few quick submersions each session is the least-riskiest path.

What if My Child is Not Really an Infant, But a Toddler or Older? Talk to them about what you want to do. Show them how you do it by holding your breath and get them to mimic. Use cuing. If they understand and you get a verbal “no,” measure the intensity of that no. Are they saying “no” because they don’t really know what to expect yet, or is it a tearful “no” developed from a traumatic water experience? If the former, understand they are still young enough that you can get away with trying it. I feel it is only appropriate to control/force submersion to children younger than 4 years of age; however, maybe once a year I force a submersion for a child who is 4 or older, and you should read the exceptions post here.

The older a child is, the harder it is to get them to do a forced submersion with you or even get their face in the water. Regardless if you are not going to start your child on lessons before age 4, you need to start getting them used to their head and face being wet in the pool or the bathtub.

10 Things to Increase Your Child’s Water Safety Right Now

For those of you who have been following the infant posts as well as all the Parts and Pieces about the pro’s and con’s for starting your child early, thanks for hanging in there and reading. The topic is ladled with controversy and opinions, especially having to do with the statement the American Academy of Pediatrics made found here about children not being developmentally ready for swimming lessons until age 4. And so the topic goes around and around …

I’m going to keep it simple today by listing 10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Increase Your Little One’s Water Safety. We are defining Little One’s as any child under 4 years of age.

1. If you own a pool, buy a 4-sided secured gate and keep the gate closed.
2. If your neighbor owns a pool with a gate, ask them to keep the gate closed. This idea was brought up to me yesterday by a swim client. Unfortunately, the mom cannot get the neighbor to close the gate. Go figure. In this case, make sure your backyard fences are more secure.
3. Don’t leave toys around or in the pool. It encourages attention.
4. Always enter the pool first. Then allow your child to get in after you. I understand if they are so young you need to hold them.
5. Always leave the pool last.
6. Encourage climbing out of the pool. If age appropriate, of course.
7. Use cues. No one jumps or swims to you until you say 1~2~3! or Ready~Set~Go!
8. Learn infant CPR. You can learn this on-line in an hour for $30. Go to CPRtoday.com.
9. Practice back floating.
10. Practice submersion, or going all the way underwater.

I started a new Mommies-in-Motion class this week with a wonderful group, and we began the first class by talking about all the infant swim controversy. I was asked by one of the moms if I agreed or disagreed with what the American Academy of Pediatrics philosophies.

Obviously, I understand where the academy is coming from. But obviously, I also agree with parents becoming very involved with swimming lessons at an early age. A safe water plan is a lifestyle agreement the family lives out together on a daily basis. An instructor might only get 20-30 minutes of your time twice or perhaps just once a week, depending on the type of lesson or class you sign up for. To quote the academy, Remember, teaching your child to swim DOES NOT mean your child is safe in the water.

I also received a well-written comment about this issue from Cheryll Boissevain, who is the Aquatic Program Manager at the Osher Marin JCC and owner of the swim school, Swim with Cheryll. Check out the comment here.

Infants in Pool Controversy: American Academy of Pediatrics Has Big Concerns

What a timely topic for us SquidKid readers: The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a big story about the controversy behind teaching infants to swim last Friday, which included interviews from the very popular La Petite Baleen infant swim school and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The article can be found here.

Basically, the Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2006 that concluded children are not developmentally ready for formal swimming lessons until after their fourth birthday.

A neurodevelopmental pediatrician, Dr. Marilyn Bull, who chaired the academy’s committee, made some interesting and hard-to-argue points in the article:

“Teaching swimming [that] early gives parents the potential to assume their children have become drown-proof. Do they really want to reduce their children’s fear of water at that age? If there’s one thing we’ve learned over time, parents tend to overestimate their own child’s cognitive skills and underestimate their physical abilities.”

Thank you, Dr. Bull, for being so forthright. I’ve been doing a nice job dancing around these issues, because I am a swim teacher and it is my job to teach. Recap for your newbies: We have been talking about the Pro’s & Con’s of starting your child swimming early, found in Part 1, Part 2, and then I wrote another entry about starting way young (younger than six months).

The very reason I approached the SquidKid posts on the subject using the term Pro’s & Con’s is because from an instructor’s perspective, the trepidation is caused from exactly what Dr. Bell sited: An inability for parents to see the depths of the dynamics behind swimming, water, and safety. Parents for the most part aren’t experienced swim teachers or even water parents/people.

Before you agree or disagree, I have to ask if you get into the pool with your child on a regular basis. Not just summers, either, but at least two times a week for exercise or family fun. By looking at the issue from inside the water, you can better understand where all sides are coming from, including your own. If you better understand all the angles and perspectives, you’ll have a better, safer swimmer. Isn’t that the goal?

Obviously I’m for schools like Le Petite Baleen. No matter who uses it, the term “drown-proof” is a false one in my opinion, as if you can stop any person of any age from ever drowning. I could drown tomorrow, and I’m a swim instructor. The issue is more if you can “panic-proof” a person. I don’t feel small children can be panic-proofed; they might calmly turn over onto their backs if they fell into a pool, but not be physically able to climb out of one. That is why I personally would not let my child go to a pool party without me (but with adult supervision) until they were about 8 years of age.

In general, I think this is an issue that parents want to have a complete sigh of relief about, and I question whether or not it is an issue you can ever have a sigh of relief about it. You can just know more about it, including your little swimmer and how he/she ticks (or swims). This you cannot do from the pool deck.

As always, I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say — especially after reading the Chronicle article!

Concerns With Starting Infants Under 6 Months of Age in the Water

A SquidKid reader, new mom, and definitely water curious posed this question to me a few days ago:

“I have a daughter who is 1-month old and am interested in starting her swimming as soon as it is safe for her … can you please tell me what might be the concerns in starting an infant swimming under 6 months? Any suggestions about taking her into a pool on my own?”

I did discuss the pro’s and con’s of starting your child early with a Part 1 entry followed up by a Part 2. These entries have received the most views on my site, but they did not include advice for infants this young.

The Pool: Take into Account the Uncontrollable Water Variables
To swim, you first have to find some water. And the type of pool facility you pick will dictate the type of swimming environment you will get.

The best place to get started is with your local phone book. You might end up calling a person who runs an infant program out her backyard or a 5,000+ members YMCA. The bigger the pool or business, the more of a balancing act the pool becomes in order to meet demands from its users. The more users, the more splashing and noise.

Pool temperature is another factor. I recommend an indoor pool that is at least 88 degrees. If the pool is outdoors, what about the sun factor? The environment needs to feel warm and soothing for your infant.

The Class or Instructor: Ask the Right Questions
Finding the right pool will also lead you down the road to finding the right class or instructor. Here is what you need to ask about infant classes:

• Infant age limits. There is a lot of controversy with starting children too young, and some facilities follow the advice given by professionals. For example, the American Academy of Pediatricians doesn’t recommend swim lessons (not swimming) until the age of 4.
• The structure of the classes. Do they offer one-on-one private instruction, or group? Infant survival, or water play? Which is better and why?

The teacher can certainly be yourself. A very helpful book I share with parents is Water Babies: Safe Starts in Swimming by Francoise Barbira Freedman. This magazine-sized book captures the spirit of infant swimming with colorful image examples, photo captions, bullet points, and sidebar boxes.

The First Skill: Be Comfortable
Swimming needs to be a fun and happy experience. Your comfort — and thus the comfort of your infant — hinges on the merging of a good pool and plan.

Remember that swimming in a natural experience. In fact, the younger the infant is the more able they will take to the water. Here are few pointers for the very curious (defined as those waiting for the Water Babies book or a class/lesson to start):

• Hold your infant in the water as you would on land. Take advantage of the fact your infant will feel a 50-80% total weight loss, meaning experiment from cradling to working into light floating with a hand under the head and another under the backside.
• Babies naturally conserve oxygen when submersed underwater. They also close off the larynx, which leads to the trachea and thus no water enters the lungs; however, the esophagus remains open, so some water can get into the stomach. Water intoxification is when too much water enters the stomach.

I’m just touching on the many, many questions related with infant swimming, which I will get to here on SquidKid. Who ever knew there would be so many variables involved in really young infant swimming? It feels like one of the only places you can control these variables is sitting in your very own bathtub. Truth be told, this is an excellent place you can start.