Three Stories of Amazing Water Babies Swimmers

These three toddlers each had a transformed outlook after joining Water Babies.

Water Babies is a parent-and-baby swimming session. Not only does it help babies to learn how to swim and become acquainted with water, it gives parents some chance to get some exercise, meet other parents and bond with their child.

Knowing the benefits of the sessions, Water Babies Ireland wanted to prove just how the classes could make a difference to little ones. It found the following three Water Babies students, who have used their love of water to overcome challenges at this early stage in life.

Beibhinn Maher was diagnosed with developmental displacement of the hip and suffered with extreme reflux and vomiting every day. Her hip joint would dislocate because it hadn’t formed properly, which meant she had to wear a full body harness. She found it uncomfortable, and her mother reports that even changing her nappy was painful.

When Beibhinn was just over six months old, she was allowed to take off the brace as her hips were better. Unfortunately, the recovery process had meant that her core and leg muscles hadn’t had chance to strengthen properly. That was until she joined Water Babies. While swimming, she was perfectly competent for her age and confident, and the lessons helped her muscles to strengthen. Before expected, Beibhinn was crawling and pulling herself up, proving just how transforming the lessons were for her.

Born prematurely, Holly Lynch was less than five and a half pounds when she was born, and it took time for her parents to get her to the 10-pound weight she needed to be to join Water Babies. Her parents were hoping the lessons would give her a beneficial skill from a young age, but it gave her so much more. Once she was in the water, she blossomed. The sessions gave her confidence and she has gained a huge amount of upper body strength.

Born tongue-tied, Michael Mann found it nearly impossible to communicate with his mother. At first she thought he was having learning difficulties, but after repeating a song in the bath that they had heard at Water Babies, she knew there was something different going on. When she discovered that he was tongue tied, she had to convince doctors that he needed the surgery. Before the operation, he was only making noises or singing the odd Water Babies song, but within a week of having the surgery, he was talking. His mother puts much of his success down to his time spent at Water Babies.