We took Carter for his first swim at 3 months old (last month)! It was at one of those baby spa places, with an individual tub filled with warm body-temperature water for young babies. Hunter’s actually been before, back in Shanghai – here, here and here.

We thought Carter would really enjoy it because he’s a really energetic baby. He arches his back to ‘help’ you lift him up, he wriggles and moves and kicks and squirms, and he’s just a pretty full-on kid. So we thought he’d be keen to kick out some energy in the water tub, and…. knock out afterwards *fingers crossed*

Hunter was far more excited about the ride-em car there. It’s for hair cutting purposes, so little kids won’t scream and shout whilst getting their hair cut. In theory, I suppose. He wasn’t getting his hair cut, but spent the whole time with his bottom firmly planted in the car and couldn’t be bothered to watch Carter swim.

So anyway, Carter was undressed and popped into the baby spa tub. And…… he loved it. Far more than Hunter did back when he was little, actually! He had a big silly grin plastered all over his face, and kicked around once he realised he could move by doing so. It was cute seeing him get a bit of exercise 🙂

Afterwards, he was dried off with a towel. And here’s where I was surprised. In Shanghai, Hunter was then given a nice warm bath with bath wash. But in Singapore, they simply took him out and dried him off.

But the thing that ticked me off the most was the baby massage. They charge $24 from memory, and it was the most ridiculous, wasteful $24. I must admit it was partly Carter’s fault, who enjoyed it for about 5 seconds, before he decided he’d had enough and wanted to go to sleep. So he started screaming. And so the girl just ran her hands down his body for 2 mins, then declared the baby massage was over.

WHAT??

$24 for 2 minutes worth of baby massage? You have got to be kidding me.

I know back in Shanghai, the baby spa place would waive the fee if the baby was distressed and they couldn’t massage him. So I was shocked that in Singapore, they were still eager to collect the $24 and made zero mention of waiving it. I actually asked “Errr.. so is that it?” and she said “Yes”. Which then makes me wonder if that’s really what they do even if the baby isn’t upset by it…

In fact, all the lady did was repeatedly insist that it would be really good for Carter to swim frequently, and for us to sign up for a package.

Very silly way of running a business. Hard selling by being overly-pushy, and wanting to charge the additional $24 for a baby massage that was non-existent is really NOT the way to try and acquire a new customer!

Needless to say, we didn’t sign up for a package and walked out.

The good thing was, Carter so wiped from all his exercise that he knocked out and napped for 1.5 hours afterwards. He normally (maddeningly) does just 30min naps, so that was bliss – for me!