Is it true, because it sounds ridiculous!!!

Question

OK, my mom and dad say that since it's "in humans' instincts", and "we UN-learn it", that you can swim from birth. They say even a newborn baby, were someone to throw one in a lake, that it would and could swim. I mean, are they right??? No one does throw a newborn into water anyway, but could a day old baby really swim if you threw it in a lake??? I know someone with a five month old baby who swims, because the whole family swims, and they throw her in a lake at their summer home in Lithuania sometimes and she loves it, but it just seems absurd to say a newborn could do it! Could they???

Answer 1

its not true

Answer 2

A newborn will hold his or her breath, and make swimming motions with his arms and legs.

This isn't the same as swimming.  The newborn won't be able to hold his head up above the surface and take a breath, and so will drown.

Answer 3

Newborns can definitely swim. In fact all animals can swim, the difference is that some like to do it (like dogs) and some don't (like cats). But they all can swim.

Babies can swim, too. They may not be able to swim for a long time and they definitely don't know chest strokes or back strokes, but they can move their limbs in fashion that will keep them afloat and move them forward. The reasons why we lose this ability are:

1- We don't use it right away and we sort of forget about it.

2- When as 3-4 year old kid or an adult we first start to swim, we feel scared of going under water. and if we are not prepared, we will inhale some water which will makes us feel like drowning and therefore we panic.  

Answer 4

it's true that they can swim.  my nieces and nephews were swimming since they were 1 month old.     way cool about your mom's friend.

Answer 5

Babys can also "walk" just as soon as they are born. Hold them by the armpits, dangle them over the table, and let their tis touch the table, and they will make movements with their legs like they are walking.

But they are NOT walking.

The "instinct" to move in that way (swimming or walking) are built in, but the baby can do neither efffectively, and a baby thrown in a pool would more likely drown.

Any animal trainer knows that the trick to training an animal is to get it to do the things it does naturally..  Some animals are good at balancing, orhters at jumping through hoops, and so on.  If you watch an animal act, the trainer has many animals, but each one does only one or two things.

Same way with swimming babies.  The ones you see ae "naturals", who made those swimming movements automatically,  On the TV shows, they don't show you the ones they had to send home because they couldn't do it.