The Benefits of Infant Swimming
By the age of three, a child’s brain has reached almost 90% of its adult size
A baby’s brain is a fragile sponge. Babies are completely dependent on their parents as a means to build resilience and strength for their years to come.
It’s up to us to give babies the loving trust needed for their brain to create 100 billion brain cell connections.
Safer.
Reduces the risk of drowning
Participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88% among children aged 1 to 4 years
Swimming lessons should be considered for inclusion as part of a complete prevention program
The founders:
Dr. Ruth Brenner and her colleagues of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md
In China…
In a case-controlled study in rural China, Dr. L. Yang and his associates reported a 40% reduction in drowning risk in open bodies of water for children participating in formal swimming lessons
Stronger.
Improves motor development
Baby swimmers develop better balance, movement, and grasping techniques than non-swimmers
This difference persisted even when the children were 5-years-old; baby swimmers still outperformed their peers in these skills
The founders:
Dr. Hermundur Sigmundsson and his colleagues at Norwegian University of Science and Technology
In North America…
Baby swimmers, ages 16 to 20-months-old, made considerable gains in movement required for turning 180° and reaching for a wall while underwater
The researchers concluded that buoyancy most likely boosted the infant's motor development
The founders:
Philip R. Zelazo from McGill University and Michael J. Weiss
In Germany…
Early year round swimming lessons for young children accelerated their development physically, intellectually, and emotionally
Compared with a control group which did not take year-round lessons, the children who swam consistently from infancy were significantly stronger and more coordinated
The founders:
Scientific studies at the German Sports College Cologne
In Australia…
Moving in high water resistance strengthened the children's muscles more rapidly than playing on the floor because swimming activates more large muscle groups
The founders:
Griffith University
Smarter.
Accelerates cognitive development
Children under the age of 5 involved in swimming lessons are more advanced in their cognitive and physical development than their non-swimming peers
Minor benefits to social and language development
Children who were taught to swim by the age of 5 had statistically higher IQs
The founders:
Griffith University
In 2009, the study was funded by swim schools across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. It was a 4 year study called Early Years Swimming Research Project with 45 swim schools.
Increases memory capacity
The amount of a person's movement and exercise affects the size and memory capacity of their hippocampus
The hippocampus is an area of the human brain primarily associated with memory and learning
The number of neurons in the hippocampus of humans increased in a controlled exercise program
The founders:
Bogdan Draganski and Christian Gaser with the Journal of Neuroscience
Their study was focused on observing an increased number of neurons in the hippocampus of humans in a controlled exercise program
In North America…
Higher fit people have a bigger hippocampus
More tissue in the hippocampus equates with increased ability in certain types of memory
The founders:
Art Kramer and his colleagues at the University of Illinois and the University of Pittsburgh
Expands cerebral communication
The founder:
Paul E. Dennison, creator of Brain Gym
A baby's brain develops through bilateral cross patterning movements like swimming, crawling, and walking
The more cross patterning movements, the more nerve fibres develop in the corpus callosum in the brain
The corpus callosum facilitates communication, feedback, and modulation from one side of the brain to the other
Cross patterning movements, like swimming, activate both cerebral hemispheres and all 4 lobes of the brain simultaneously, which can result in heightened cognition and increase ease of learning
Good communication in the cerebral hemispheres leads to overall efficiency in brain processes, while poor interaction slows down language development and academic learning
Enhances neurological development
Children experience a great deal of tactile stimulation from water’s resistance over the entire body while swimming, encouraging neurological development
Water has over 600 times the resistance of air
Tactile experiences and interactions in the water are important for overall neural organization
Infants make significant gains in neurological development, weight gain, and mental development from the tactile stimulation of the nerve pathways of the skin and vestibular nerve cells
The founder:
Dr. Ruth Rice
And…
Swimming children scored higher for intelligence and problem solving, which carried over into excellence in academic achievement
Emotionally, they were found to have more self-discipline, greater self-control, and an increased desire to succeed
They rated higher in self-esteem, were more independent and comfortable in social situations than the control groups
The founders:
Scientific studies at the German Sports College Cologne
Prepared.
Strengthens social confidence
Children who had taken part in baby swimming lessons from the age of 2 months to 4 years were better adapted to new situations and had more self confidence and independence than non-swimmers
Swim class has abundant opportunities to share space with other children and to explore movement together
The child cooperates within a social structure to learn by observing and mimicking those around them
Being part of a group also contributes to the child's social development
The founders:
Dr. Liselott Diem and her colleagues
Nurtured.
Early bonding and resilient children
The most important stage for brain development is the beginning of life, starting in the womb and then the first year of life
The experiences a baby has with her caregivers are crucial to this early wiring and pruning and enable millions and millions of new connections in the brain to be made
Repeated interactions and communication lead to pathways being laid down that help memories and relationships form
The founders:
Rima Shore - Families and Work Inst., New York, NY
Skin-to-skin…
Skin-to-skin provides the emotional nourishment a baby needs to feel attachment, connection, and commitment
The founders:
The Academy of Pediatrics
Positively benefit full-term infants and their mothers during the postpartum period
Infants’ left frontal area of the brain is stimulated
Implicating a higher cognitive and emotional regulatory skills
Both mother and infant showed increased oxytocin, along with decreases in stress reactivity
The ability to regulate the feelings of stress are prompted by experiences with positive caregiving in infancy
The founders:
Florida Atlantic University
Building trust…
Relationships that a child experiences daily and the environments in which those relationships are made make up the building blocks of the brain
By parents/caregivers participating in learning experiences with their baby shapes the child’s brains to function in the physical, social, and linguistic environments of those who care for them
Babies learn, largely by attending to their caregivers’ modelling, how to feel, think, and act.
Babies are dependent on relationships with their caregiver for physical survival, emotional security, a safe base for learning, help with self-regulation, modelling and mentoring social behavior, and information and exchanges about the workings of the world and rules for living
The founders:
J.R. Lally, P.L. Mangione, & D. Greenwald