From when your child is born up until around six months of age, they have a natural reflex to hold their breath while underwater. This fantastic skill will slowly fade if you are not getting your child to use it as often as possible. This is why you should be submerging your child as soon as they are able to support their own head and are able to roll onto their tummies.
When submerging your child always lead with a familiar saying e.g. “Your child’s name, ready, go!” or, “your child’s name, 1, 2, 3, go!” Making sure you have their attention before completing the phrase. This will set them up and they will learn that phrase, making them aware of what is about to happen.
3 Quick Tips to Help your Child with Submerging
1. When it comes time to take them underwater start with your arms out straight, submerge them leading with their face so they can see what’s coming, and bring them nice and slowly towards your chest in a gradual arc.
2. Do not start submerging your child by just ‘dunking’ them quickly under the water and back up. This will be a shock for them and they are more likely to swallow the water because they will not have any idea what just happened to them.
3. After they are comfortable underwater you can do other variations that you will see in this video link that I am going to share with you below!
