Can Your Baby Swim? Infant Swim Lessons Are Shown To Result In Some Advanced Physical Abilities

Not only can Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) lessons teach your baby to survive in an aquatic accident, but studies show that after lessons, baby swimmers also have better balance and are better at grasping at things than non-swimmers. Research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows that this difference persists even when children are five years old, babies who have been taught to swim still outperform their peers. Now Hermundur Sigmundsson, a professor of psychology at NTNU and Brian Hopkins, a professor of psychology from Lancaster University, have shown that infant swimming is good for developing balance and movement in babies and young children.

The swimmers had participated in baby swimming classes for two hours a week from the age of 2-3 months until they were about 7 months old. At approximately age 5, both baby swimmers and the control group were tested with similar exercises. The exercises included walking on tiptoes, balancing on one foot, skipping rope, rolling a ball into a goal and catching a beanbag. The researchers say the results are evident. "We saw very clearly that baby swimmers were the best in exercises that related to balance and the ability to reach for things," says Sigmundsson.

"It's incredibly exciting that specific training for young babies has an effect later in life. Development is a dynamic interplay between maturation, growth, experience and learning. Our study shows that we must never underestimate the learning aspect," Sigmundsson concludes. Infant swim lessons can give your baby swimmer not only the gift of being safe in the water, but can give him a leg up over other children in some physical abilities. For more information on baby swim lessons, go to isrwaterkids.com.