--- title: Pediatricians approve swimming lessons for babies description: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) loosened its position on swimming lessons for toddlers younger than 4 years old. Until now, the national pediatricians group... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7144651/pediatricians-approve-swimming-lessons-for-babies/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-05-25T16:58:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:40:52.684Z article:section: Health og:title: Pediatricians approve swimming lessons for babies og:description: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) loosened its position on swimming lessons for toddlers younger than 4 years old. Until now, the national pediatricians group... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7144651/pediatricians-approve-swimming-lessons-for-babies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pediatricians approve swimming lessons for babies twitter:description: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) loosened its position on swimming lessons for toddlers younger than 4 years old. Until now, the national pediatricians group... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # Pediatricians approve swimming lessons for babies > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) May 25, 2010 4:58 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) May 25, 2010 4:58 PM UTC  Mars, Curiosity Rover, Feb. 3, 2013\. This rectangular version of a self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines dozens of exposures taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 177th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 3, 2013). The rover is positioned at a patch of flat outcrop called "John Klein," which was selected as the site for the first rock-drilling activities by Curiosity. The self-portrait was acquired to document the drilling site. The rover's robotic arm is not visible in the mosaic. MAHLI, which took the component images for this mosaic, is mounted on a turret at the end of the arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images or portions of images used in the mosaic. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. NASA—JPL-Caltech/MSSS The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) loosened its position on swimming lessons for toddlers younger than 4 years old. Until now, the national pediatricians group has recommended against swimming lessons for very young children on the grounds that there was no evidence that early aquatic lessons reduced the risk of drowning or actually encouraged proficient swimming skills. What’s more, such programs could give parents and young children a false sense of confidence around water, the AAP said.more But the group’s [revised policy statement](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2010-1264v1), published online on Monday, advocates lessons as early as age 1\. The AAP cites two recent studies — one by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and another conducted in rural China — suggesting a benefit of early lessons. The [American study](http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/3/203), which looked at data on drowning deaths between 2003 and 2005, found that among 61 1-to-4-year-olds who had drowned, only 3% had had formal swimming lessons, versus 26% of 134 matched controls. However, the AAP does not recommend swimming or water-survival lessons for _all_ toddlers. Rather, parents should decide when their child is developmentally ready for swimming. “Because children develop at different rates, not all children will be ready to learn to swim at exactly the same age. For example, children with motor or cognitive disabilities may not be ready for swimming lessons until a later age,” the AAP says. Parents should choose swimming classes that emphasize water safety and require a parent or other adult to be in the water with the child, according to an [AP report](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100524/ap%5Fon%5Fhe%5Fme/us%5Fmed%5Fswimming%5Ftoddlers), and classes should have at least one instructor for every 10 students. Drowning was the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among U.S. children between 2000 and 2006\. The risk is highest in toddlers and teen boys, according to the AAP policy statement. But the rate of drowning death has been steadily decreasing in the U.S., from 2.68 per 100,000 people in 1985 to 1.32 per 100,000 people in 2006. The pediatrics group urges parents to reduce drowning risks by installing climb-proof fences around backyard swimming pools and supervising small children at all times while swimming or near water — including pools, bathtubs, toilets and irrigation ditches — and to be aware of pool and spa drains that can trap children’s limbs and hair. “Parents should be reminded that swimming lessons will not provide ‘drown-proofing’ for children of any age,” the AAP says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144651/pediatricians-approve-swimming-lessons-for-babies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144651/pediatricians-approve-swimming-lessons-for-babies/"},"headline":"Pediatricians approve swimming lessons for babies","datePublished":"2010-05-25T16:58:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:40:52.684Z","description":"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) loosened its position on swimming lessons for toddlers younger than 4 years old. 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