How old should your baby be when it first goes swimming and what should your baby wear?

I'm writing this article after our 3rd swimming lesson, Amélie is now 8 weeks old and started swimming in a real pool at 6 weeks old.

Amélie recovered from her post immunisation cold just in time for her 5th swimming lesson. I've also included a video from our first and second swimming lesson.

Our baby is now 3 months old, and this is the 7th article in our teach your baby to swim series. She had her first lesson at just 6 weeks old, and now only has 3 more lessons left of the first term.

Last week we had a disastrous swimming session, so this week we were keen to get back to normal. I'd thought a lot about last week and had a plan.

Our baby is now 4 months old and we have finished our first term of formal baby swimming lessons. We thought it was time we took her back to the local swimming pool for some fun before the next term begins in the new year.

When we packed the car up today we were upbeat about taking our baby swimming for lesson number 12. All was well again (apart from my singing), and the memory of Amélie not enjoying the lessons is firmly in the past.

Our baby has now grown out of some of the techniques we used when we first started swimming, so today we had to make some adjustments.

Our baby is exactly 6 months old today, and after a week off for half term we took her to her 16th swimming lesson. There are half a dozen new routines and techniques in today's article. Some variations on existing techniques, some brand new. One was a lot of fun, and one is safety related.

Today was a different swimming lesson as it was the first time that I had been in the swimming pool with Amélie during her lesson. I have watched Alex and Amélie over the past 16 lessons and today we decided it would be nice for me to experience the lesson with her. Also to get a mothers point of view of the lesson.

There are now quite a lot of articles about teaching your baby to swim on the Website. I've put together some diagrams, which you may find useful to reference as you read the articles.

Today we took our 7 month old baby to her 21st swimming lesson. One of the new techniques introduced today was the glide swim. Having seen that it looks like we are really going to be stepping up a level.

Today we took our 8 month old baby to her 22nd swimming lesson. We have had a 2 week Easter break so were unsure if she would still be comfortable spending time underwater.

Still suffering from overindulgence during last nights Christening after party, we took our 8 month old baby on her 24th swimming lesson this morning. I was hoping for a gentle session but it didn't turn out that way.

Lots of new baby swimming techniques and routines today. We had a 2 week break so it's catch up time.

Back from 2 weeks break for half term, we took our baby on her 27th swimming lesson this morning. Some new techniques were introduced again, so as usual I'll try and break them down so you can try too.

The last lesson of the intermediate course was today. Next week we start the advanced course.

Some good new routines today, one of which was the first time we had seen our baby swimming above the water (with the use of a woggle) without being held. If you have been following along with these articles you won't want to miss this one.

Our baby is almost 11 months old, and today's lesson was the last before the Summer break, so we took her Great Grandparents along to watch.

Today was our 35th swimming lesson. As soon as I stepped into the water with my baby daughter a bad day turned into a good day.

We had our final baby swimming lesson this morning. From now on we are moving to the next phase, toddler swimming lessons. There were some new routines and techniques introduced in this final lesson which I assume will be carried through into the toddler lessons.

A run-through of our second toddler swimming lesson. For me the most interesting part was swimming up to the surface to hold onto the side of the pool. It was a busy lesson, quite a contrast to last week when we thought we may be the only ones attending.

After a short break for half term, the swimming lessons have started again. So this morning we took our 14 months old daughter for her 4th toddler swimming lesson.

There hasn't been much new material in the last few articles, but today there was some progression. The most obvious of which was jumping in from the side.

Last weeks lesson was canceled at the last minute because the pool temperature was too low. This is why out lesson 8 article is a week later than it should have been. Still no Clare today, so I took my Dad along to take the pictures. He's not as proficient with the steamy low light conditions as Clare so only a couple came out.

Amélie will be 17 months old next week, and this morning she had her 12th toddler swimming lesson. This article covers her latest 2 lessons, and I've tried to include more pictures than usual as the last few articles have been low on them. There is only one new technique but I would recommend reading this article as there is a lot more in it than usual.