Around 2.5 months, when life with Lexi started getting easier and she could tolerate being out for a short periods of time, we started taking the time out of our day to go to the pool. These trips were mostly for me, to be honest. I needed to get out of the house and the closest thing, without getting Lexi into a car seat, was our community clubhouse and pool. Alexis has never been the kind of baby that would just tag along wherever I go. So at first I kept it short. We’d leave right after she woke up and spend no more than an hour, at most. I wouldn’t be able to even get in the water. It was just to go somewhere, to get out of the house. One of these outings, my mom stayed with Alexis in the shade and Andrew and I went swimming, just the two of us. It was AMAZING! It was the first time we did something as a couple again, and we had so much fun for that half an hour we played around in water. We laughed till our bellies hurt, and splashed and jumped and just hugged and talked. We won’t get another chance to do that until my mom comes back in January.

 

Alexis LOVED looking at the water. We didn’t have her get in the pool, since it’s not recommended till 6 months of age, but we would sit on the edge of the pool for a few minutes when the sun goes behind the clouds and look at the water in awe. I cannot wait for my water baby to be old enough to splash around.

{FYI: There are two reasons that I know of why little babies shouldn’t swim in public pools, chlorinated pools or natural bodies of water (like ocean or lake). One is that their skin is VERY absorbent for the first 6 months of life. Much more absorbent than an adult’s skin. Which means any chemicals (chlorine) will be readily absorbed into their bloodstream ( that is the only the reason for why we went with organic clothing for the first 6 months of her life). The second reason applies to public pools and oceans/lakes- there’re a ton of e.coli bacteria found each season in oceans, and lakes can be even worse with all kind of flesh eating bacteria and Naegleria Fowleri ( that sci-fi sounding bug that lives in lakes and enters through your nose and eats your brain- I KNOW RIGHT?)
Now, granted, the flesh eating bacteria and the brain bug can harm an adult just as easily, but infants are more susceptible to e.coli and other more benign every day bacteria that an adult might fight off. In addition to that, there’s always the issue of overheating and sun exposure. Most sunblocks also state that they should be used starting at 6 months of age ( most likely for the first reason I outlined above). So it just makes sense to keep the little ones out of the water and in the shade for half a year, before they get stronger.

Additional Info from Megan from The Memoirs of Megan: Babies before 6 months of age have a harder time regulating their body temperature. To place them even in “warm pools” of 88-90 degrees (which most public pools are kept between 82-86 unless states that it is a warm water “therapy pool”) is lowering their core body temperature by over 8 degrees. That’s huge for an infant! Around 6 months of age is when scientifically, infants can control their own body temperature better.
Also, they have proper head control. Yes, my daughter was able to hold her head up unassisted at 2 months, however, some babies cannot, so 6 months is the typical age that the ARC and YMCA wait until.
But like E said, the biggest reason is that public pools are DIRTY (wanna know what’s worse? Hot tubs) Public pools use chlorine (bleach) to “Clean” the water, and muriatic acid to keep the pH (acidity level) in check. Even salt water pools must use muriatic acid. With your infant’s skin being so absorbent, it’s just not recommended. e coli and cripto can kill an adult, why risk it with a newborn? }

Now that Alexis is nearing her 6 months birthday, I am getting more and more excited about introducing her to the cool water of the pool and warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She grew out of all of her swimsuits pretty much before I was able to try them on her, so I am shopping for new ones, but I cannot find anything as cute as these adorable Lourdes one pieces. There are some cute bikinis, but I think at this age, I might as well just have her wear a swim diaper. Once she can walk, we’ll see if we can find some cute bikinis.

Now mama (that’s me) herself is completely out of bikinis that fit her chest unless she wants to look like a pornstar ( which she doesn’t). I just ordered 4 new bikinis (FINALLY!) and cannot wait for the them to come some time next week. I am excited and scared at the same time, because in the past I could rely on everything fitting me exactly like the model on the pictures, now it’s a bit different (hopefully not for long) with me having to try and picture what it’s going to look like on me. We’ll see, we’ll see….

I have more pool photos coming up from our recent pool playdate and Father’s Day.