Can My Baby Really Swim?

by Guest Blogger WaterBabies.

Babies are amazing. They’re born completely helpless, and yet they have strong reflexes to learn all the skills they need for life. Water Babies classes are founded on our studies into child development. Here we explain the fascinating reflexes behind your baby’s instinct to learn to swim.

We Came from Water

Evolutionary theory says that as a species, we came from water, and perhaps some of our primordial instincts remain. For your baby, living and growing in water was a much more recent! As they developed in-utero, they swam around and opened their eyes. So it’s little wonder small babies are so at home in warm water.

Babies’ reflexes mean they develop at a similar rate and achieve milestones in the same (ish!) order. For example, the righting reflex kicks in and they learn to sit – in fact, they become loathed to lie down, and nappy changes become a total struggle!

Many of these involuntary reflexes are there at birth and fade with time. In your Water Babies class, you begin with the special reflexes that apply to being in water, and turn them into deliberate actions by using word association and progressively repeating certain skills.


The Water Reflexes

• Breath hold Your amazing baby has a strong reflex to hold their breath. Their voice box is higher than an adult’s, and gradually drops during the first four years of life. This makes it hard for water to pass into the lungs. It’s also covered with taste buds that detect water and make the epiglottis, which covers the windpipe, automatically close, so your baby swallows rather than inhales. 

• Swimming Reflex Your baby will also automatically kick and move their arms under water – a feeling you’ll remember from when you were pregnant! 

• Eyes open! If you’ve seen pictures of babies underwater, you’ll see they open their eyes wide. Babies have a film over their eyes that means they’re not bothered by getting water in their eyes. 

The Mammalian Dive Reflex

While lots of baby swim schools mention it, it is NOT a reflex that’s relevant to baby swimming! The dive reflex is an incredible response in infants to being plunged into cold water. Oxygen goes the vital organs allowing a baby to survive much longer than an older child or adult. There have been reports of small children recovering fully after up to half an hour in ice-cold water! However, as all our pools are lovely and warm, and we only swim for a couple of seconds, it’s not relevant!


Learning to Swim

We use word association, songs and games to help your baby learn to kick and hold their breath. After only a few weeks, you will see them hold their breath in preparation for venturing under water.

Your baby can’t really swim, but they have strong reflexes and no fear which means you can teach them vital, life-saving skills for a lifetime of healthy, happy splashing. The earlier you start, the better – you don’t have to wait for immunisations.


Water Babies classes take place across Bristol, Bath and WSM. To find out more, please call 0117 946 6919 or to find a WaterBabies class in your area, look at our website www.waterbabies.co.uk.