Can My Baby Learn To Swim?

Our twins, should have rivaled Michael Phelps with amount of time and money we spent on swim lessons. Yet, somehow, they looked like they could barely float half the time despite having several years of lessons. Heaven forbid they had any adversity in the mix… like falling in the pool with clothes on, no goggles, no bribes from mom or 15 “thumbs up” from the sidelines. UGH. When they were toddlers learning to swim (they are now 8) we put put them in lessons once a week at a local “big box” aquatic center. It was painful. It was crazy expensive and the worst part: the progress was SO SLOW. It took them years to learn to swim. In my humble opinion, I think that once-a-week swim lessons for young children LEARNING to swim is a complete waste of time and money. As moms, why do we put our young children in swim lessons? Do we want them to break a record in the 50-fly? Hell no. We want them to NOT DIE. That’s it. That’s what keeps us up at night and prevents us from ever enjoying any social event where there is water around. With 4,000 drowning deaths per year, this is valid and stomach-churning concern.

Before number three came along, we put a pool in our backyard. YIKES. With or without the pool, I VOWED to do things differently when Griffin came around almost 6 years later. A friend had recommended a program and I was hesitant. I had heard some questionable stories about these “sink-or-swim” survival programs. This was NOT that. After researching ISR (Infant Swimming Resource), my fears were put to rest as I learned that it is a certified program that is extremely gentle and calculated. With a little bit of progress every day for ten minutes a day (M-F)) for about 6 weeks, the child quickly learns self-rescue skills. They closely monitor the child throughout the entire program. BABIES (as young as 6-months old) were learning to float! It brought tears to my eyes. Does every baby and child smile and jump into the instructors arms willingly? No! Mine included. From what I saw, most children were happy in the water after the first week or two. Griffin, our son, was a crier. But our instructor, Misty, used his crying as an indicator for timing when teaching him breath control. It was amazing to watch. Even when he was crying, he made progress every single day. Thank GAWD. After the first week or so he stopped crying and shifted to just being “uncertain”. His uncertainty quickly turned to talking about Misty at home and asking to go back to her house for more “simming”. Every child will be different here, but short of any major health issues, almost every child successfully completes the program. I even asked if Griffin was exceptionally skilled at one point because I was so impressed with his progress. Misty tactfully answered that the success rate for all children was really high. LOL.

Pool safety precautions, such as constant supervision, fences, covers, alarms are all important layers of drowning prevention. However, training the child themselves (a.k.a. self rescue) is another essential component of drowning prevention.

This picture was taken in July 2018 when Griffin was 18-months old at the last class of his initial ISR program. He is being tested in his winter clothes because most of the time children fall in the pool they are wearing clothes -not bathing suits and definitely not goggles. She wasn’t kidding around. Hard to tell here, but he is in a normal diaper (which is super heavy when filled with water), his swim diaper over his regular diaper and then his long pants. On top he is wearing a t-shirt, a long-sleeve shirt and his fleece jacket. Gulp.

In this videos she flips him backwards to simulate landing in the water face down, a highly plausible scenario when child falls in the water.

Here, he is placed in a vertical position (to simulate another real life scenario) to ensure he can get horizontal to his back float.

In this one he is floating against a wall with no grabbing point to ensure he sticks with it until he gets to a place of safety.

This type of training is NOT a "‘one and done’ thing. AT ALL. It needs to be practiced and practiced some more. We did a really great job in our pool in the months following his initial program. Then winter came, the pool got cold and we lost our momentum, big time. I called Misty to make sure we got him in a refresher course right away. He had lost some of his instincts and I was guilt ridden for having not kept up my side of the bargain. But, with Misty’s instruction, his self-rescue skills came back very quickly (in just a couple days). She spent the rest of the time on repetition and advancing him to the next stages of self rescue. These two videos are taken 9 months after his original program. Grif is now 2 years and 4 months old. Griffin happily swims to and from Misty and now loves showing off for an audience.

This is part of his “refresher test” in his pajamas utilizing his ‘swim-float-swim’ self rescue skills.

One of the best “side” benefits of this program was Grif’s new found respect for the water. Before the program he would play recklessly near the water’s edge and even try to get in on his own. This had me in a constant state of terror. After the course, he knew very well what would happen if he fell in the water. He was not scared of the water by any means, but he seemed to understand it.

We will continue with refresher courses once or twice a year as needed. In fact, I’d probably move in if I could. Kidding aside, I can’t tell you how much better I feel knowing that I have dramatically increased my child’s chances of survival should one of our safety measures break down. As a mom, this means everything.

ISR is available nationwide. PLEASE click here to find an ISR certified instructor near you. If you happen to live in the San Diego area, I highly recommend Misty Douglas. She was SO amazing!!

Another I.S.R Grad!

This blog post is in NO way prompted, sponsored or affiliated with the ISR program. I’m just happy customer who wants to spread the good word to other moms! If you have any questions, please comment below and I’d be happy to answer.