It has long been known that swimming is one of the most effective ways to build and maintain good physical shape. When a person swims, all muscle groups in his body are involved in the work. Thus, swimming develops flexibility, endurance, coordination of movements, increases the vital capacity of the lungs (which means that the supply of oxygen to the body improves), and promotes hardening.
A child is born a good swimmer, since he spends 9 whole months in a liquid environment. Experts believe that you can start swimming in the third or fourth week of life. During this period, the baby quickly masters in the water, soon begins to independently stay on the surface and even dive, instinctively holding his breath. If the training is postponed later than 3, 5 months, it will be much slower.
In many Russian cities, kindergartens and clinics have created special pools for mothers with babies. If this option is not available, you can swim at home in the bath. In this case, it is advisable to consult with a swimming instructor in advance in order to know how best to support the baby and what exercises to perform. It is extremely important to show your child to a doctor before starting classes.
Swimming at home requires some preparation on the part of the parents. The bathtub must be washed with hot water and soap. The temperature of clean water during the first lessons should be 37 ° С (subsequently it is gradually reduced by 0.5 ° С); it is tried with the elbow, since the sensitivity of the skin on it is considered to be approximately the same as the sensitivity of the baby's skin.
The bathroom needs to be ventilated and all unnecessary, especially strong-smelling cosmetics, removed from it. To achieve the result, you need to swim every day at the same time, one hour or one hour after feeding.
It is best to practice before your first nap. The duration of the first voyage is from 10 to 15 minutes, then 10-15 seconds are added to this time daily. At the end of the lesson, cotton swabs are inserted into the child's ears for 3-5 minutes. This is done to remove any water that has accidentally entered your ears.
Finally, it is important that the child is not afraid to swim. To do this, at the first lesson there should be a little water, later its amount gradually increases. If the baby is nervous, crying, the procedure should be postponed for several days.
The main thing is that during classes you need to smile, constantly talk with the child, you can turn on pleasant quiet music - in general, do everything so that the baby has fun!
