Child Wellness: Swimming

The beneficial effect of swimming on the health of newborns and infants became known at the end of 1971, when at one of the conferences of the Medical Committee of FINA - the International Amateur Swimming Federation - a group of researchers from the FRG reported on the results of three years of swimming training for infants. These results were so impressive that over the next two decades, swimming training for infants became widespread throughout the world. It was also established that swimming is especially useful for premature and immature children, since it allows these babies to catch up and even surpass their full-term peers in development faster than usual.

The impact of swimming on the body of newborns and infants is not limited to hardening - in a home bath you can easily regulate the water temperature and, gradually reducing it from lesson to lesson, achieve an increase in the baby's resistance to colds. Although the absence of diseases in itself means a lot, because any pathology at an early age inevitably leads to a delay in the child's development, the benefits of swimming are associated primarily with the special properties of the aquatic environment.

While developing in the mother's body, the child is in amniotic fluid. The influence of gravity on it is significantly weakened. The birth of a child is comparable only to the return to Earth of astronauts who have lived in zero gravity for a long time. Like them, the newborn is subject to the force of gravity - it literally chains him to the bed. He moves awkwardly and with difficulty relative to his heavy head, which, like an anchor, is the center of his movement. In water, a child is 7-8 times lighter than in the air, he feels free again, the load on his skeletal muscles disappears; the baby gets the opportunity to freely move his arms and legs, which means that he will sooner learn to control them, which is necessary for an active acquaintance with the surrounding world. First of all, this is why "floating" newborns are ahead of "non-floating" ones in their development.

But the beneficial effect of the aquatic environment on the child is not limited to this. In water, the baby experiences quite strong but uniform pressure on the surface of the body. This stimulates peripheral circulation and, accordingly, facilitates the work of the heart. In addition, the increased pressure on the chest compared to the air environment promotes a deeper exhalation, and, consequently, a deeper inhalation. This ensures good ventilation of the entire surface of the lung tissue. There is not a single corner in the lungs that is not filled with air. While in bed, the child breathes superficially, while only an insignificant part of the lungs actively works, and only this part is cleaned by air. In the passive sections, the air stagnates, their tissue is seeded with microorganisms suspended in the air, among which there are pathogenic ones. In the unventilated sections of the lungs, conditions are created for the development of such microbes, and therefore for the occurrence of respiratory diseases. When swimming, thanks to deep breathing, pathogenic microorganisms are removed from the lungs. In addition, since the entire surface of the lung tissue works, the blood, all organs and tissues of the child receive more oxygen, metabolic processes in his body proceed more intensively. We must not forget about the massaging effect of water on the child's body - this has a beneficial effect on his peripheral nervous system. Repeated exercises in water have the same importance as hygienic gymnastics: they train and strengthen the cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive systems, the motor apparatus of the child. And, of course, early swimming training teaches the baby not to be afraid of water, which in the future will help protect him from accidents on the river, sea, lake.

You can start swimming with your child from the age of two or three weeks after consulting a pediatrician. Children who swim get sick less often. When swimming, it is necessary to observe two mandatory conditions: the sequence of the child's performance of various exercises and changes in the conditions of their implementation; a gradual increase in physical activity (increasing the number of exercises per lesson, quickly alternating them) and complicating the environment of the lessons (depth, water temperature). Some parents, when teaching their baby to swim, try to force things - they want to see their baby as a real swimmer as soon as possible. Most often, parental vanity is hidden behind such haste, and the only "achievement" with this method of teaching is a fear of water and an aversion to swimming, which can remain with the child for life.

The goal of swimming lessons with a newborn and infant is not to raise a record-breaking swimmer, but to strengthen the child's health, his harmonious and rapid development. During the first year of life, your baby should learn to independently stay afloat for half an hour, dive to a shallow depth and get various objects from the bottom of the pool, swim underwater for 7-8 seconds, jump into the water in light clothing (shorts, a T-shirt, socks, sandals) and stay afloat for 2-3 minutes.

In order to achieve these goals, it is necessary to conduct classes in such a way that the child experiences joy and pleasure from being in the water, and interest in the adult's tasks. Swimming should evoke positive emotions in the child. When teaching a child, you need to be careful: avoid sudden movements, actions that are unexpected for him. You need to speak to the child affectionately, encourage and reward him. And never show discontent, irritation or disappointment because he does not immediately master this or that exercise. Carefully monitor the condition and behavior of the child - hypothermia, overheating, overfatigue can cause him to mistrust water. A strong irritation of the mucous membrane of the eyes and pain if the water is overchlorinated or soap gets into it can be a reason for fear. The adult conducting the classes should always have a water thermometer at hand. Usually, the water temperature is measured at least twice during the class. At the first signs of fatigue (lethargy, capriciousness) or hypothermia (chills, goose bumps, bluish tint of the lips), the exercise should be stopped immediately.

If these symptoms appear the next day, it is better to take a break for two or three days.

Before each swimming lesson, an adult, if he or she will be in the bath with the child (this may be necessary during the first period of training), thoroughly washes with soap, washes and disinfects the bath and toys that will be used during the lesson, and ventilates the bathroom.

Lessons are best conducted at the same time, preferably in the afternoon, 1.5-2 hours before the evening feeding and not earlier than 1.5 hours after the previous meal. It is necessary that the entire course of study is conducted by one person.

After swimming, a child is usually somewhat excited, so he needs to be provided with conditions for proper rest.

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