Pictured here at the Baby Swim Series class in West London, these cute and sometimes hilarious images show you're never too young to learn. Phil Shaw and his partner Ana Torres set up London Baby Swim in 2008, offering classes for parents and babies as young as six weeks old to take to the water and develop their skills
And with enrolment numbers rising from just 85 in the first year to 500 this summer, it appears baby swimming classes are the hot new trend
'The classes are great because the babies develop all sorts of motor and learning skills' explains Phil Shaw. 'In the first few years of a baby's life they experience huge development as their brain grows faster than in later years'
When London Baby Swim was first founded, enrolments for the first term were just 85. Now the school has around 500 babies at any time taking swimming classes with up to eight at a time in a class
These are held with parents also in the water and are led by a team of qualified instructors. Up until the age of around nine months babies have a miraculous gag reflex which blocks off their windpipes as soon as they are underwater, allowing them to instinctively hold their breath
Parents spend up to four weeks teaching their babies to get used to the water, holding them as they splash about. But some take a little longer than others to get used to going underwater
As part of the package, parents even get to keep a photographic memento of their child's first dip. The photographs are quite a challenge, but with 10 years taking underwater shots under his belt, Phil has become an expert
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