How long does it take for a newborn to be able to swim?

Nowadays, newborns go out as soon as they are born. Some hospitals or confinement centers will have activities for babies to swim. The fetus lives in the amniotic fluid in the abdomen, so they also have certain talents for swimming from the mother's womb. However, many parents have many concerns about the swimming of newborns. For example, how long can a newborn be able to swim, and what matters do parents need to pay attention to?

Under safety protection measures, specially trained personnel operate and care for infants under 12 months old. It is a specific, phased early health care activity in water that can be carried out after birth. It is divided into two parts: active swimming and passive swimming. Precautions for infant swimming:

⑴ The baby must be supervised by a dedicated person throughout the entire swimming process.

⑵ Before using the baby swimming ring, the safety latch must be checked to see if the model matches, whether the safety buckle is secure, and whether the swimming ring is leaking.

⑶ The swimming ring must be a double-layer, double-airway, inflatable, double-safety product specially designed for baby swimming.

⑷ Before a newborn baby swims, a waterproof umbilical cord patch must be applied to the umbilical cord. After swimming, you should quickly dry the water stains, keep warm, remove the umbilical cord protector, disinfect the umbilical cord twice with iodine, and then bandage it with a disposable umbilical cord protector.

⑸ The temperature in the swimming pool should be kept at around 28 degrees and the water temperature should be kept at around 38 degrees.

⑹ Pay attention to the time just after feeding when swimming. It is best to swim 1 hour after feeding, 1-2 times a day, 5-10 minutes each time.

⑺ To prevent cross infection during hospitalization, disposable plastic bags are placed in the swimming pool, with one bag of pool water per person.

⑻Babies can continue swimming after returning home. You can choose to take the child back to the hospital after discharge, or you can buy a swimming ring and a swimming pool yourself (you can also choose a bathtub or other container with a depth greater than 60cm for the swimming pool). The caregiver must remain within arm’s length of the infant.

Considering the situation you mentioned, it is not advisable for babies to swim for more than 10 minutes. After all, babies have limited exercise capacity. Swimming for too long or exercising too much in the water will cause fatigue or even collapse in babies. It is recommended that you allow your baby to sit in a shallow swimming pool with the water just submerged up to his hips, and it is best to wait until after one year old to use an underarm swimming aid to swim.