Effects of Exposure to Formal Aquatic Activities on Babies Younger Than 36 Months: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review investigated the possible effects of exposing infants to formal activities in aquatic environments. A literature search of eight databases was concluded on 12 December 2022. Studies were eligible if they: (i) focused on 0–36 months of age infants, (ii) addressed the exposure of infants to formal aquatic activities, and (iii) compared the ‘same condition of aquatic exposure with the control’ or ‘before and after exposure’. The PRISMA protocol was used. Articles considered for inclusion (n = 18) were clustered in the health, development, and physiological outcome domains. The results show that research is focused on indoor activities, mainly in baby swimming programs and baby aquatic therapy interventions. Swimming and aquatic therapy practices are generally safe for babies’ health, and there are benefits to preterm and newborns exposed to aquatic therapy once the physiological parameters are maintained in normal and safe patterns. A positive effect is also suggested in general gross and fine motor skills, visual motion perception, cognitive flexibility, and response selection accuracy for infants who participated in aquatic programs. Further investigation with high-quality experimental designs is required to establish the effect of exposure of infants to formal aquatic activities (Systematic Review Registration: CRD42021248054).

Gender-specific effects of exposure to maternal prenatal smoking on gross motor skills and movement behaviors in 3-5 year-old children: findings from the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey

“…For example, lower birth weight associated with MPSE reported in other studies was not detected in this cohort. Another contributing factor to the low amount of variance explained by the potential predicting factors of GMQ is that the development of gross motor skills in children is a complex process that is affected by a variety of factors such as child's sleeping time and position 42,43 , exposure to formal aquatic activities 44 , and maternal moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity during pregnancy 45 . Moreover, MPSEassociated factors such as duration of breastfeeding may also contribute to differential gross motor skills in children with or without MPSE 46 .…”

Baby Swimming: Environment & Equipment

“…More than a promotor of aquatic skill competencies, baby swimming programs have been considered for many years a way of entertaining babies, promoting social interactions and opportunities for parents to bond with their infants. Although it has been shown that infants younger than 2 years of age cannot learn swimming or survival skills in the water (Taylor et al, 2020), recent studies have shown other important benefits of (Camus, 1993)baby swimming participation (Santos et al, 2023). For instance, it has been shown that young children who participate in early-years swimming achieve particular motor milestones earlier than the normal population across motor (Borioni et al, 2022;Dias et al, 2013;Leo et al, 2022;Pereira et al, 2011;Sigmundsson & Hopkins, 2010) and cognitive (Borioni et al, 2022) domains.…”