For over 50 years, the mission has been clear: help children build the skills they need to survive and THRIVE in the water.
Infant Aquatics was founded in 2000 by Judy Heumann after decades of teaching, learning, and seeing firsthand that young children were capable of more in the water than many programs expected of them.
She knew survival swim instruction needed to go further than comfort in the pool. It needed to be structured, developmentally appropriate, and focused on teaching real skills children could rely on if they reached the water alone.
That meant giving infants and young children a way to keep building on their life-saving skills by pairing self-rescue and recreational swimming through the Swim-Float-Swim method.
The goal was never just to help children survive the water.
It was to help them become safer, stronger, more capable swimmers who could learn to THRIVE in it!
That belief became Infant Aquatics.
Over the years, her work has helped shape a method that teaches children how to find the surface, float, breathe, and progress into Swim-Float-Swim skills as they are ready.
What began with one instructor's commitment to doing this work well has grown into a worldwide network of instructors who share the same mission: helping children become safer, more capable swimmers.
Our Mission
Infant Aquatics exists to teach children the skills they need to respond safely and confidently in the water, while training instructors who can bring these life-saving lessons to families in their own communities.
Instructor Perspectives
Our work is rooted in the belief that children deserve more than water comfort. They deserve real skills, taught with care, consistency, and respect for how young children learn.
A Growing Global Network
Since its founding, Infant Aquatics has continued to grow through dedicated instructors, certifying instructors, and training locations across the country and around the world.
Infant Aquatics instructors have given millions of lessons worldwide, and the network continues to expand as new instructors are trained to bring these skills to their communities.
This is much bigger than one swim school. It's a movement built around safer children, stronger instructors, and families who know their kids have real skills in the water.
Connected Through Continuing Education
What makes the Infant Aquatics Network so strong is its commitment to ongoing learning. As part of a global community dedicated to growth, instructors gather at bi-annual retreats to share ideas, build relationships, and continue developing the skills that save lives.
Team / Leadership
Since founding the Infant Aquatics Network of Instructors, Judy has continued training and mentoring instructors throughout the United States and around the world. But as more families began searching for survival swim lessons, the demand quickly outpaced what one person could train alone.
To continue the mission while protecting the integrity of the method, Judy identified an elite group of highly experienced instructors to become Infant Aquatics Certifying Instructors.
These certifying instructors have decades of experience teaching children, training instructors, and carrying forward the standards that make Infant Aquatics different. Together, they help maintain the rigor, consistency, and heart of the Infant Aquatics method while expanding access to life-saving swim instruction around the world.