One thing husband and I love to do, especially in the winter, is swim. When we moved into our newly renovated house in Hamilton after living in Waterdown for a year, we quickly researched the nearest pool to our home. It turns out we are super lucky and live within a ten minute drive of the City of Hamilton’s Westmount Recreation Centre.
We moved into our house when I was 8 months pregnant, so I was able to use the Westmount pool up until a few days before my due date when I got too nervous about going into labour or having my water break in the pool! If you’re currently pregnant, I’d highly recommend going to the pool. Your whole body feels lighter, and the Westmount pool has a shallow, warmer pool that has benches where you can just sit and relax and do some light exercise that is super low impact.
When baby was born, I took a break from swimming, but since baby was born in February, I actually really enjoyed taking him to the pool as a newborn and sitting in the gallery as husband did his laps. Obviously I’m not a healthcare practitioner, but I felt like the humidity of the pool was good for my little infant considering how dry the winter air was at home. I also felt like the summer-like vibe of a pool was good for me mentally, helping me feel less “stuck at home.” I’d literally just sit there, enjoy the music and warmth while baby napped away in my arms.
I knew we wanted to get baby into the water as soon as possible, but found and heard different recommendations on when baby would be ready. The advice we received during his monthly check-ups was not particularly science based, but rather our nurse’s opinion on when she first took her baby into public places, and I couldn’t find anything on the internet that particularly warned against taking baby into a warm, public pool.
So, we set our own parameters based on our own judgement– we decided to wait at least 6 weeks until my c-section was declared “healed,” so that I could go into the water and feel like I’d be safe from infection. And, we decided to wait until baby had his first round of vaccinations. There wasn’t really anything to back this up other than him perhaps having a little bit of extra protection in the areas where he might be in close contact with other young and germy kids.
With those two criteria in mind, we ended up taking baby swimming for the first time at Westmount pool at a little over two months old! And he’s been a water baby ever since!! The first time we went, both husband and I went so that we could perfect the whole changing baby, changing mama, tote the swim bag, etc. down pat before we tried it with just baby and me.
Soon after, I began to take baby to Westmount’s Parent & Tot Leisure Swim, which is from 9:30 to 10:30am on weekdays, a couple of times a week. In addition to the water being nice and warm, the warm pool is pretty big with several different areas, benches to sit on, slides, a big fountain, bubbles, steps and ramps to play on, lots of toys, and baby floaties. Everything you need for an hour or more of peace and quiet with your baby or tot! I realized more recently that there’s also an all-ages leisure swim between 11:30am-1pm daily, which is usually pretty quiet as well. What’s perfect about this is that if baby happens to be napping during Parent & Tot (I love swimming, but not enough to wake a sleeping baby!), you’ve got another chance to swim when baby wakes up!
I’ve been taking our now-toddler swimming at Westmount pool for almost two years now, and it’s been really heartwarming to have connected with a few other moms and guardians (i.e. lots of grandparents take their grandkids too!) which has resulted in some lasting acquaintances and friendships. It’s been really fun to watch our tiny babies grow into little toddlers and to see how their interaction with the water has evolved.
Something that I LOVE about Hamilton is how inexpensive it is to enjoy the City’s amenities. We buy an annual family pass that allows us to access all of Hamilton’s pools and recreation centres, including lots of public recreation activities, for $164.10. The same pass in Edmonton, where we used to live would cost $1,665. Are you kidding me? But back to Hamilton– the swim pass is so worth it. I’ve taken baby swimming at least twice a week, often more, for a year. Husband has often joined to do laps while baby and I swim in the warm pool. Without the pass we’d have spent well over $500 for the year. If you can afford it, get the pass! If you and your family are living with a low income, the City of Hamilton offers a Recreation Assistance Program as well, providing an opportunity for participation in the City’s sports and recreation programs.
Mom Tip!! There are several free public swims weekly. These are great, but you need to get there early to get yourself and baby changed so that you can be ready exactly when the swim starts. Miss the beginning of the swim and you could find yourself waiting up to 1/2 an hour to get into the warm pool. I speak from experience– and that’s a long time to hold a baby who can’t yet stand on their own!
I think it’s pretty obvious, but I’m a big fan of Westmount Recreation Centre’s pool. I’ll post reviews of the other pools we’ve visited, but Westmount is by far my favourite because it’s warm, it’s new, it’s clean, and it’s bright with lots of natural light.
We also just hosted our little guy’s birthday party at Westmount and I’ll do a quick post soon on the pros and cons of taking his party out of our own home this year!
Splish, splash, baby (are there any other Karen Katz fans out there?)! Which Hamilton pool is your wee one’s favourite?
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