SWIMMING SKILLS FOR INFANTS
0-36 MONTHS

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Risks

The risk of taking very young children into water is a matter of concern to the American Academy of Paediatricians (AAP). The AAP warns against infants under six months of age being taken to public pools because of their immature immune system. Though older infants may be better equipped to cope with normal waterborne germs, they are never the less at risk to the spread of communicable diseases. This is especially of concern in countries where standards of hygiene and water purity are generally non existent or poorly enforced.

The swallowing of large quantities of water in a relatively short period of time resulting in a condition know as hyponatremia or water intoxication, is a further matter of concern. Hyponatremia is a potentially fatal condition in which diluted blood passes into the brain cells and can ultimately result in swelling of brain tissue and seizures. Teaching methods that involve excessive submersion should definitely be avoided.

Hypothermia is another matter of concern. Warm water is essential when teaching infants to swim. Infants are more prone to hypothermia than adults. They lose body heat much faster than adults because they have a larger body area in comparison to their body volume. Moreover, the head is a predominantly sensitive heat regulator and as it is always wet while learning to swim, infants may become hypothermic much sooner than expected. The immune system is compromised even when an infant is only mildly hypothermic.