The idea of babies being able to swim independently underwater was first established in the 1960's. One of the best known propenents was a Russian maverick, Igor Tjarkovsky, who claims to have saved his daughter's life by raising her in a warm water tank after she was born more than two months prematurely. In particular it was his groundbreaking underwater photos of babies and infants that really caught the world's attention as nothing like them had ever previously been seen.  

Today the seed of his ideas - combined with further techniques pioneered in Australia, America and Scandinavia - are well established and immensely popular. Across the world, babies little more than a few days old enjoy the enormous social and physical benefits of learning to swim.