Swimming: Teaching Babies to Swim Reaps Benefits Later in Life

Teaching your children to swim while they are babies could improve their balance and co-ordination in later years, according to a recent study.

The study observed 38 five-year-olds; half of the children had taken swimming lessons as babies, while the other half had not. Other socio-economic factors were equal for all of the children, including parents' education, standard of housing and economic status.

Scientists observed the children as they performed simple exercises such as walking on tip-toes, balancing on one foot, using a skipping rope, rolling a ball into a goal, and catching a bean bag. The findings of this experiment were that the children who had swam as babies generally performed better during these exercises than the children who had not.

Hermundur Sigmundsson, a professor of psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said: "We saw very clearly that baby swimmers were the best in exercises that related to balance and the ability to reach for things."

The study took place in Sigmundsson's homeland of Iceland, where swimming is. "A typical Icelander swims on average once or twice a week, and there is a great deal of interest in baby swimming," he said.

"I know an instructor who has been teaching baby swimming for 20 years. He had a great deal of information about children who have participated in swimming courses. The instructor was able to bring three-month-old babies right up to a balanced position, standing on his palm.

"The babies locked joints - it was amazing to watch."

The full study has been published in the May 2010 issue of Child: Care Health and Development journal.

Ref: HSLP0101AA330