Water stimulation exercises for babies

Everyone knows that swimming has always been, and is, a very complete sport. Thanks to the displacement through the aquatic environment almost all the muscles of our body are put into operation, and in the case of babies, it is very important for the development of the motor, cognitive, sensory and

That babies, or older children, are in contact with this medium, involves a development of the musculature, strengthens the respiratory capacity and helps the expulsion of mucus in case of congestion. And of course, and this will please many moms and dads, it improves the appetite, increasing it (and that is that the water is very hungry). And a great multitude of benefits, but the most important thing is that it helps to improve the bond between mom or dad and son strengthening the affection.

Baby stimulation games in the pool

One aspect to keep in mind if we are with babies from 6 to 9 months old is that from the moment we are born and up to this age, babies have the reflex called 'glottal cut'. It consists in that although the baby is immersed in the water, the glottis closes preventing anything from entering the respiratory tract. If it is not stimulated, this reflex is lost more quickly. In this way one way to keep him active longer is by carrying out controlled dives:

- Taking the baby by the armpits in standing position in the water, we count two and three, we blow on the baby's face and submerge. And you can also do an immersion the baby and another you to make it more fun.

- When we have the baby sitting on the curb, to which we introduce them in the water we do a small dive as well.

- Place a toy completely submerged in the water (small shallow pool) and try to catch the object with small dives. This exercise also favors the future psychomotor skills and stimulates their visual and tactile perception.

Another important aspect is to instill in the babies the respect to the environment, that is, when we play with the babies or children near the water, we try to make them enter or throw themselves into the water at the order of the dads by: 1, 2, and 3 !! or prepared, ready now !! ... and never before or without any order.

Exercises to perform in the water with the baby

So sitting on the curb or standing (depending on the child) we will do both exercises:

- 1, 2, and (wait a few minutes) 3 and each time lengthening the wait of the 3. Or prepared, ready ... now! The same as the previous.

- Also jumping some obstacle (hoop, iron, board, churro etc.) Cuando - When they are very small we will put the head of the baby on our shoulder to give security and we will move little by little.

- Mastered the previous exercise we can place some kind of auxiliary material: board, churro ... under the baby's neck and let him float.

- Helping us with auxiliary material or not, putting the baby in a back position and moving from one side of the pool to the other.

And lastly, the work in the prone position, improves the cervical tone as well as strengthens the spine and torso and makes the search for objects easier:

- Place a churro under the baby's tripita and make trips to reach some object.

- Take the baby's hands and encourage him to do a crawl kick. Que - Take objects from one side of the pool to the other. We put a board in front of the child, he will take it with his hands and at the same time we will take the object in question to the other side.