How the hell do I manage this?

[MillshakePickle]

About to go on holiday with a 10m old. Planning on swimming and doing our first baby swim classes while there.

Slightly freaking out about how the fuck do I manage to get him changed and me changed before and after? He is fully mobile. Not walking yet but not far off either and doesn't sit still.

Getting changed first shouldn't be a problem will wear swim suit underneath our clothes. Might be tricky but manageable.

Are you allowed to bring strollers into the change rooms?

H won't be there for the first day. It's UK based so leaving swim stuff on after isn't an option as I'm sure it will be fucking cold!

Any advice appreciated. And, yes feel free to state the bloody obvious because I haven't worked it out. Happy to be called a moron. Especially, when this is a second baby but huge age gap!

You get cold and get them dry first.
Packet of crisps to sit and eat while they wait for you, in a pushchair if allowed.
A towelling bathrobe is cosier than a towel.

If it's centre parcs OP you'll be fine. The floors are heated so highly unlikely to be wet, there's an infra red heated drying thingy that you can stand in which was fab when my girls were small. And it's really warm in the changing rooms so little ones won't get cold at all so you can get yourself sorted first.

We only go to the one in Cumbria, but the buggy park there is right outside the entrance, and the mirrors/hairdryers are just inside. I used to pop our little ones in the double pram once dressed then go back in with them and do hair/make up then.

Have a great time!

My worst swimming experience was the last time we went when dd was 4, before that it was a doddle. That time she was unimpressed at having to leave (especially as some of the next session had gone in early, so weren't leaving too) and would not let me put her down. As she quite happily told me, if I let go of her to have a shower she'd run back in to the pool! Luckily, it was the only time DP was with us (though he hadn't, actually, gone swimming) so I could throw her at him in the lobby, return with her clothes, and then get dressed myself. Not sure what I would have don't otherwise as she's more than capable of unlocking the cubicles.

There are sometimes little seats with straps or a playpen like others have said. You can sometimes bring the stroller in too.

if not, what I used to do is take my cossie off first (can be done with great difficulty holding baby) then wrap myself in a towel. I’d put a towel on my hair too. Then sort baby out. By the time you’ve sorted baby you’ll have dried and it will be much quicker to get dressed.

Our local gym has a playpen in the family changing room which is very useful, and also family sized shower rooms (so you can lock the door and there's room for a couple of kids to sit while you shower). But imagine this is unusual. I'm trying to think how I did it with two kids. I think a quick rinse off shower together and then dress them and quickly dress yourself while he plays with a favourite toy or has a little snack to keep him still? I doubt they'd keep strollers in - never seen that.

When we go to Center Parcs in December, we wrap our towels in hot water bottles before we go swimming. This way, when we get out our towels are warm and cosy ready to be wrapped in.

Id also recommend taking your time to load your locker - ensure towels are at the top ready to grab and go first.

We also leave coats and shoes in the lockers while we get dressed, then nip back to get them when we’re ready to leave.

Thank you, everyone!

I know it's going to be challenging, to say the least.

Going to wear a dress definitely. Haven't decided yet if I dry and dress him first or not. Seems 50/50 on whether I do or not.

I think I just have to go with no expectations of it being easy and hope to fuck that it is.

H and dc1 will be with us the rest of the time but they have booked an extreme outdoor activity out of the park for day one.

And, because naturally I am super mum and think I have an older child - I've booked a full day of activities, most include water.

When you leave pool wrap babe in hooded towel, quick shower together to get chlorine off, sit babe on floor/in playpen with banana/snack and toy. Get yourself dressed then do child. Blow dry hair together, bit of moisturiser and lip balm then hot choc after to relax.

Just don’t make the same mistake I did with my first…swim costume AND nappy on before we got to pool. Swim nappies aren’t absorbent (who’d have thought!) so anything they do just leaks right out through their clothes! 😆 Cost me a new pair of trousers that day! Would recommend you wear your own stuff under your clothes, but get LO dressed for swimming there, as you’d have to take it back off to put swim nappy on anyway x

I don’t know how some people get through life

I was just thinking this! You’re overthinking OP.

Hooded towel poncho for you, I use to quickly put this one and take my costume off took about 30 seconds then get the little one dry and dressed then by the time you have done all of that you are virtually dry and then need to bribe entertain for a short amount of time whilst you put your clothes on!!

Try and get a family change cubicle where there is usually a changing table or a little seat to strap baby in. Take a dressing gown for him so he can go from a towel to dressing gown quickly and be wrapped up warm while you get dressed and sort yourself out, then dress baby after. That's what I used to do. Take a couple of rattles or chewy toys to entertain him while he's on the changing table/seat and you get dry. Xx

I've been taking my now 17 month old swimming weekly since the age of 4 months and it's actually not that bad. The hardest bit is that you have to stay freezing and dripping wet until you finish changing your little one after!

Getting in and out of the pool was a little awkward until she could stand on her own.

Perfectly well, thank you. And, better than most!

Not sure if you missed the bit about this being a parenting forum. It's a genuine question. Not like I'm asking which end to out the nappy on!

I always strip them off and put them in a towelling dress (or hooded towel) and then start dishing out the snacks on changing table. Shove a microfibre poncho on myself. Get myself changed while guarding edge of changing table and replenishing snacks. Then pack pretty much everything. Get them changed and then you can leave immediately! Remember an extra towel for the changing table or a splash about mat. Extra towel to dry your feet on. I take the micro fibre ones as they take less space.
My first swimming lessons were during Covid, we had to get changed pool side, I have fond memories of having a top 1/2 over my head and having to leap to stop my daughter crawling at speed into the pool…fun times 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

I did baby swim classes with my children, all from the age of 4 or 5 weeks old. By 10 months, they were walking or almost, much like your LO, and with the eldest I could just wrap him in a towel and hand him snacks and he would sit sensibly on the bench in the changing room while I got changed. I was so smug. With my youngest however, he was a runner and so I used to just get him changed asap and then let him hide in lockers etc while I threw my clothes on. It was a nightmare. Nowadays dry robes have been invented so personally if I owned a baby now, I would take a dry robe to wear after swimming and deal with the getting changed at home instead 😂

Swimming with little ones can be tricky but I’ve always found speed to be the answer!
Ive taken all of mine from about 8 weeks old and gets tricker as they get older!
my current 10mo - I get her changed into swim nappy & costume then leave her on the changing bed while I get dressed. Afterwards I quickly strip off her stuff and wrap her in a big towel then strip off my cossie and wrap a towel around me then set about getting her dressed. I then strap her back into the pram while I get dressed. I’ve always had the pram with me which make post-swim changing so much easier so fingers crossed you can! :-)
Good luck 😊 x

I used to sit DD in a long locker!

Don't travel to the pool with the baby in a swim nappy. They are only designed to catch solids. Wee goes straight through.

Check with the pool what their nappy requirements are - some require two layers eg: a disposable swim nappy and a neoprene "happy nappy" type of thing on top.

I have this down pat!
With twins and a singleton over the years from about 3 m old!
step one take the pram into the change room and go with your costume under clothes
step two change baby and go swimming
step 3 bring a lovely warm hooded towel for them and bundle them up after swim (bonus points for whipping their costume off in the warm shower! )
step 4 give them a snack whilst in the towel they'll be starving and it'll keep them in one place! Or with a younger baby offer boobies or bottle!
whilst they eat their snack you get dry and dressed
then you tackle them and once dressed bung strait into pram (even if they cry!)

key points: keep clothes simple i used to just do a vest and a onesie for babies and a dress for me

It’s a juggle! I took my 16m old twins swimming in France- hubby bought one into the changing room for me then I showered them both and ended up chasing them round the changing room til I locked the 3 of us in aCubical. He carried on swimming with my 7 year old. What I’d say is wrap them up in a towel. And give him some food to much on whilst your wrapped in a towel. They will dry and get them changed. It was rather amusing doing the 2 of mine but lots of snacks to keep them still and drying 👍🏼

I’ve got a 5 year old who has been swimming 4-5 times a week since a few months old (bar the pandemic lockdowns of course) . And I’m a single parent, so I feel I’ve now got it down to a fine art

1. have towels out of bag- near pool or showers depending on set up. Make sure your little one has a wearable towel- they are worth the investment, believe me . I also made myself one out of 2 towels and it makes a massive difference
2. get out and completely undress little one
3. get in shower with little one
4. Leave little one in shower and start drying yourself (in close proximity of course). Take off swimming stuff under towel . I used to take a toy for mine to play with in shower. I find that the longer shower time warms up tiny, and therefore sitting in the towel after isn’t such a chore.
5. Get little one out of shower and into wearable towel. Put them in playpen/ sit on bench with a video on your phone. Most apps have a screen lock for little ones and allow you to download beforehand, in case there isn’t signal.
6. distribute snack
7. Get yourself dressed, because you’re dry by now. If wearing wearable towel, you can dress under. If you don’t have one, make sure you are wearing a dress (Dress on, over towel, whip towel off, then bra and pants under)
8. if you’ve done the last step quickly and baby is still watching tv and munching, do makeup
9. get baby dressed

I tried for a while getting LO dressed first, but it just didn’t work out as I’d end up getting him damp.

hope this helps

Poncho towels are your friend. Take swim stuff off little one. Chuck on warm poncho towel and give snack. It’s much easier for you to get dressed under one without flashing especially if you have to give chase.

I SO remember the stress around changing with baby DD… now, she is 8 and seems to be better at it than I am - towel never seems to dry me properly and all my clothes stick to my semi-dry skin when we are both squashed into one of those tiny changing rooms and she calmly dries herself, gets dressed… and laughs at how wet I still am! I leave feeling frazzled, wet and exhausted - the changing after swimming is so much more tiring than the actual swim! X