MyBump2Baby Interviews Water Babies
We are very lucky to work with hundreds of swimming companies throughout the UK. As you can imagine there are so many benefits of taking your little one swimming.
Today MyBump2Baby has the pleasure of interviewing the fabulous Water Babies for our readers.
For people that don’t know about Water Babies, can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Water Babies offers, fun, structured lessons from birth to 4 years of age in warm water pools around the Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire area. Our classes are designed around the stages of baby’s development and focus on you and your baby – development skills, songs and safety are all part of our core programme. We are exceptional proud of our teachers; all are trained to the highest possible level and hold a unique Diploma in baby swimming designed by Swim England, the main swimming body in the UK. We work in sets of 10 lessons, each lesson being 30 mins long.
We provide lessons in the Buckingham, Bedford and Milton Keynes and Aylesbury area. We swim all the way through to 4 years old and our lessons focus on teaching water safety in a fun and friendly environment. We swim structured lessons over a journey of 17 “chapters” and by the end of this we aim to have your Little One water savvy and loving splashing around confidently and safely.
How did Water Babies come about?
Water Babies as a company was formed in 2002 and has grown massively over the years. Our local Franchise was formed by Tamsin Brewis in 2004 and we have grown to facilitate lessons for over 1700 babies a week! We swim in 24 pools across the Bucks & Beds area and are keen to spread the importance of getting your baby in early to teach such important life skills, as well as helping new babies bond with their Mums & Dads (or Granny,Grandad, or Carer!).
What are the benefits of swimming lessons with Water babies?
There are so many benefits to bringing your baby to our swimming lessons, not only physical but cognitive and psychological as well! Our Water Babies tend to walk earlier than anticipated and have better coordination at a much earlier age. Research has also shown that babies can be 11 months ahead in oral expression and 20 months ahead for understanding direction… amazing! Not only are these attributes so beneficial to Baby’s development but seeing their progress is also great for our Carers in the water; it is an ideal opportunity to bond with their babies and to make new grown up friends too
Do parents swim with their babies?
Yes, all the way through the 17 chaptered programme– we do not rely on any artificial floating aids, such as arm bands, so a parent’s support is crucial to help our little ones thrive in the water. It is also such a great bonding experience and one where parents/carers are spending time specifically on their babies – no mobile phones or other routine worries! Plus, you can make friends with other parents under similar circumstances, too!
We require one parent/carer always to be in the water with Little One, but parents are not required to be able to swim themselves. Lots of our venues have pool side viewing so you can have someone, whether it be your partner, friend or family member come along with you and watch the lesson if you would like.
How old does a child need to be to have lessons with you?
We swim from birth in hydrotherapy pools and in our other warm pools we swim from as early as 12 weeks old or 12lbs in weight. Little Ones can swim with us to up to 4 years old!
Do water babies have different lessons available depending on skills?
We believe very much in teaching “what is in front of us” so whilst we do not have lessons for specific skills, we do ensure all classes are age appropriate for the skills that we are teaching; having said that we do also have a “safety” lesson for the older children where we incorporate some life saving skills too!
Our baby programme is tailored around new arrivals, but as our Little Ones get older we trial them in age appropriate classes to see which of our 17 “Chapters” is most appropriate for them.
Where does Water babies cover, is it just UK based?
Currently we teach all over the UK and Ireland, but we also have classes internationally, in China, New Zealand, Canada, Netherlands and shortly Germany!
How many franchises are there in the UK?
There are over 50 franchises in the UK, we keep getting bigger and bigger!
I loved swimming during pregnancy – do you offer any classes for pregnant mums to be?
This is something which Water Babies is currently rolling out under the WaterBumps banner and we have classes in a selected number of areas in the UK. Our plan is to have classes locally too. However, we can certainly help pregnant mums with advice on how they can exercise before baby arrives and before they join us with their baby.
How do I get started?
It’s easy! Just give our office a call on 01295 709221 or drop us an email to [email protected] so that we can find the best class for you in your area! Do something great for your baby and yourself and get signed up for lessons today!
To find your nearest swimming provider search on our website directory or app.
Carla is the founder of MyBump2Baby. Carla has a huge passion for linking together small businesses and growing families. Carla’s humorous, non-filtered honesty has won the hearts of thousands of parents throughout the UK.
She has previously written for the Metro and made appearances on BBC News, BBC 5 live, LBC etc. Carla is a finalist for Blogger of the Year award with Simply Ladies inc. Carla is also the host of the popular Fifty Shades of Motherhood podcast and The MyBump2Baby Expert podcast.
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