My husband played water polo for his high school. He loves swimming and his mom is proud of the fact that he swam before he walked. Before Collin was born Dan and I agreed that we wouldn't have any expectations of him (this had nothing to do with his syndrome because we didn't find out until after he was born). We just wanted to support him in whatever he decided was right for him. So keeping that in mind I didn't ever really think about putting him in a pool at an early age.
After was born and diagnosed I decided that being in the pool would probably help with his low muscle tone so I went out and bought a baby life vest and swim trunks for him. When he was around 5 weeks we started him out in a nice warm bath to get him used to the vest and suit. He sucked on the vest and kicked the walls of the tub and moved himself around the tiny bath.
I waited a few weeks and then we got him into the pool at our apartment complex. When we first put his little feet into the cooler water he let out a little squawk so we took him out and were worried that he wasn't going to like it. The last thing that we wanted to do is make him hate the water. We waited a few minutes and tried again.
This time he just looked up at us and then started kicking. He really does enjoy water. Now he will kick around the pool and has started to use the walls of the pool to propel himself. I found a swim class for infants but I've decided to wait and take him to the one for 6 month olds. I can't wait to see him swimming without the vest. I hope this is something that he continues to enjoy.
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