In a few days Luna will turn 1 year old, which means it’s time for her first swim lessons. I wouldn’t have come up with that idea on my own, but while surfing a few days ago we met a really cool lady named Joany Arpy who specializes in teaching infants to swim. She generously offered to give Luna a few lessons and we jumped at the opportunity.

The lessons are short (only 5 min long) and very intense. The babies are essentially just thrown into the water (with Joany’s knowledgable hands on them of course) and encouraged to explore their natural float reflex. She guides the head and body so that just the face is above water and eventually they relax and control their breath in order to float. It’s a nerve-wracking, incredible, and very proud moment to watch as a parent. Luna got into the pool happily, but as soon as the lesson began she went into panic mode, calling for “MAMA! MAMA!” This, Joany says, is totally normal. On the first lesson she floated on her back for a few seconds and we called that success. On the second lesson, they worked on simulating falling into the pool and turning towards the wall to safety, and even a little underwater swimming.

Unfortunately, Joany had to head back to Florida so we only got 2 lessons, but we’re thinking about heading to Florida for a week or so to continue the program. It was that good.

She recommends getting babies into the water between 6 months and 2 years old. If you have a little one, I definitely recommend finding an instructor from InfantSwim.com near you!