We live in a condo complex with a swimming pool right now, but we'll be moving away at the end of the month. I'd love to get our baby in the pool a few times before we leave. My only issue is... she's only 3 months old. Is this too early to bring a baby in a chlorinated pool? How about a lake? We're going to be spending next weekend at a lake house. Also, what do you do about covering baby up. Technically she's not supposed to wear sunscreen until 6 months, but she'll be pretty exposed in a swimsuit, even if I put a wide-brimmed sun hat on her...
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I don't know if you have a Costco near you, but I bought DS an SPF 50 sunsuit (long sleeves/long pants) for the beach from Costco a few weeks ago. The smallest size I could find was 6 months, but he fits it really well!
One of the issues of swimming with young infants is that they can't control their body temperature. Because of that, we probably won't let DS go in the lake until next summer. However, he has sat on entrance of the local toddler pool which they keep at a balmy 80 degrees. I just make sure he doesn't put his hands in his mouth until I am able to give him a good washing in the locker room, since it is chlorinated.
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We didn't take Lo until she was 13-14 months old! Probably would have taken her earlier if we had a pool though
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Our ped said the pool was fine for our 3 mo-old. We put her in a hat and wrapped her in a muslin swaddling blanket. I think tomorrow I will just have her wear a long sleeve/pant sleeper and hat so she is totally covered and can move a bit easier.
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We took our little one in at 3 or 4 months. It was evening time though and for a short time. They also have little blow up rafts that have sun shades that might help keep sun off.
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My doctor said no public pools or lakes until 6 months, so we started in my mom's pool. He also said yes for sunscreen at 3 months as long as you wash it off at night.
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@artbee: What brand of sunscreen do you use? I would feel better putting sunscreen on baby as long as I can find something all natural and very gentle.
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@skibobrown: we use aveeno baby. She's used it since 3 months, no bad reactions and it works great!
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My ped said no pools til 6 months, but he oked sunscreen after 2 months, crazy the different opinions. Oh well we were going to jus let LO hang out in a little plastic baby pool that my mom has for this summer
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The first time our son went in a pool was at 12 months. Unfortunately his eczema started acting him so we only did it that one time. But we plan on taking him to the pool next weekend!
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I started LO in swimming lessons (parent & child) when she was 8 months old.
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We started swim lessons at 8 weeks old, they are indoors though. We spend a lot of time in the sun, those spf shirts are great (but most are really small! so a 6 month from Target will probably fit fine), along with a big floppy fisherman's hat and baby sunglasses. I also take a white A&A blanket with me since they are so light, wet it and the baby stays nice and cool.
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We took LO swimming around 3 months and then again at 4 months. We used a rash guard with uv protection. My doctor said it was okay to use sun block but not sunscreen. I picked up a bottle of babyganics...havent tried it though. The 2nd time wewent swimming, the pool was completely shaded.
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We started swim classes when LO was 5 months old, she learned to like the water and now LOVES it! The chlorine didn't bother her too much - just gave her a good rinse, then washed at home, and slathered with baby lotion.
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Our Pedi says no pools or lakes till 6 months of age. DS was 1 yr when he first went swimming in a pool and it was a heated indoor pool for swimming lessons.
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@skibobrown: I haven't taken my LO swimming yet (she is 7 weeks) but I have put sunscreen on her. The reason they say to wait until 6 months is because they haven't tested it on babies under that age. I used it at 5 weeks and she was totally fine...I got the baby free and clear sunscreen by Neutrogena.
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I might add we tested it on her arm the night before, and also made sure to wash it off the evening she wore it.
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