In regards to the swimming I did 1 term with Ella when she was 6 mths old- but at that age she just wanted to do her own thing and I didn't feel we really got a lot out of it. We have always just taken her to the pool ourselves and we she started lessons at 3.5 she took a month or so to get her confidence up (in regards to putting her head fulling under the water) and then she was away swimming.