Teddy’s First Swimming Lesson with Huggies Little Swimmers

If you follow me on Instagram then you’ll know that Teddy had his first swimming lesson a couple of weeks ago courtesy of Huggies which gave Teddy an opportunity to try out their Little Swimmers which are waterproof nappies that work as both a nappy and a swimming costume for babies.  I was really surprised that such a thing excited as I was under the impression you had to put babies in a nappy then layer up with some sort of specialist, airtight, swimming costume for little people, but I can say with confidence and experience that the Little Swimmers work brilliantly at keeping everything unpleasant contained within the nappy.  Obviously this means Teddy didn’t need to wear his fetching 1940’s style high waisted trunks, but there you go…

The event was held in a private house in Wimbledon that was absolutely amazing – talk about seeing how the other half lives! The house has it’s own indoor heated pool (with attached steam, shower and changing rooms) making it the perfect venue for Teddy’s first venture into the water.  Huggies are currently promoting the importance and benefit of swimming from a young age, with emphasis on the fact that the younger you start the more likely you are to continue to maintain the habit.  Have a look at the video here – link.

After a light breakfast we got ourselves ready for the swim.  There were four children in total with their mums and I brought my parents along too as I was a bit nervous about handling Teddy on my own.  Therefore my Dad was the designated snapper whilst we were getting our swim on.  The amazingly clear and beautiful pictures are courtesy of Issy Croker and the blurry ones are courtesy of Dad (sorry Dad!).

The swimming lesson was run by Katie from Swimming Nature team who are really experienced with teaching babies the basics of swimming.  I was a bit nervous about swimming with Teddy, mainly because, even though I’m a confident swimmer, I wasn’t sure how steady I’d be having to hold my baby the whole time, but thankfully it didn’t prove to be a problem!

We tried all sorts of different swimming techniques with Teddy, most of which were designed to gently introduce Teddy to the water without overwhelming him.  We started with songs and gentle dips and jumps in the water, then we eventually built-up to submersion which was quite scary but Teddy was absolutely fine with it.  It was amazing how confident Teddy was with the water; he took it all in his stride and thoroughly enjoyed being splashed and doing the splashing.

After the swim, we showered off and got ready for lunch.  Lunch was a fantastic spread of cakes and sandwiches plus yoghurts and purees for my Little Man.  We thoroughly indulged with amazing food and lots of coffee before Teddy signalled it was nap time, so we headed home.  For me it was such a positive experience as I got to see how Teddy handled the water in a very supportive environment with lots of people around me in case things went a bit wrong!

The Little Swimmers were fab and stayed on the whole time until we were ready to remove, then it was as easy as any kind of nappy removal; just un-stick and throw away so I recommend if you have a swimming baby as they really are fab, as are the teachers at Swimming Nature who have lessons all over the place, head here – link – to find out more and here – link – for more info on the Huggies Little Swimmers.  Teddy and I had a wonderful day and I can’t wait for our next swimming session!

*Teddy and I were guests of Huggies