Swimming Pool Questions

[mamajinks]

We are taking ds (15 months) to the Perigord region of France at the end of June. It will be our first family holiday since ds was born and as you can imagine we are hanging and can't wait to get there and unwind. DS has never been in a swimming pool and the place we are staying in has a rather a large outdoor one that I would love to get him into. Does anybody have any tips on what the best thing for him to wear in the water might be? I've heard that you can buy packs of swimming nappies and I have also heard of little trunks called Floaties but would appreciate some pointers from anybody with experience of either. DH says we should just let him go commando but there's no way I'm spending my first holiday in 15 months scooping little poopies out the of the pool LOL.

Huggies do nappies called Swimmers. They come in 3 sizes and are like little pull up pants that you rip off down the sides. Everyone with young kids in my Aqua Tots class uses them so they certainly seem the popular choice. You could let me go commando now and agian and in the sea if you know he's just been and won't go agan for a while. Have a fab holiday.

I'd also recommend the Little Swimmers. If your ds is at all loose during the holiday the Floaties trunks, while looking cute, will not do the biz.

You can buy washable swim nappies too, from places like the nappy lady. The disposable ones have always worked fine though.

My DD is 6yo and when she was little there was no such thing as swimming nappies (well, there were in the US but no-one used them here). Some people used plastic lined bikinis and trunks but most of us just put cossies on our children.

She was 20mo when we went to Spain and she just used to be around the pool naked as far as I remember. We used to insist on her wearing armbands though, in case she fell in. She loved it so much - she would jump in, doggy paddle to the steps, climb out, walk back to jumping space and start the whole thing again.

Does your son often poop in the bath? If not, why do you think he would do so in the pool?

Have a great holiday.

Went on holiday with 14 month old who just wore trunks when swimming. He never, ever did a poo in the water. Didn't even think anout a nappy to be honest. I would have thought it would feel horrible when swimming.

I would forget the swim nappies, they are so expensive (about £5 for 12) and get a pair of floaties swim nappies. These are about £10 and look like normal slightly padded swim trunks. I have never seen a baby poo in the pool, but this would catch it if necessary. Is it a private pool or shared? I wouldn't go commando if you had to share the pool, the other people may not like it. Once you get home you may want to continue taking him swimming, so a washable swim nappy is the best.

agree with crunchie. my ds (20 months) has been swimming from early age and we use washable koshies nappy. I have seen other babies poo when swimming but these nappies catch it and then you can just get out. for some reason our swimming teacher doesn't allow the disposable ones - you have to have the washable type, I think she doesn't think they are as reliable.

Do not risk going commando! DS1 had a leaky swim nappy in Florida and they had to shut the pool to clean and re-chlorine it. It's not fair on other people and it's certainly very very embarrassing on a busy US bank holiday weekend!

This was a Huggies disposable and he was slightly "loose" at the time.

Boots had some lovely trunks which were a swim nappy too. The just had a waterproof lining and elasticated legs. I'd never go for the velcro fastening ones as, having wwatched lots of children in them at swimming lessons, they always seem to hang loose when filled with pool water.

Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I use the disposable swim nappy and the floaties washable over it. DS1 only ever had one accident and that was on holiday, and so far ds2 has had one as well, also on holiday.

It's true SueW, DS has never pooped in the bath and so I guess there's no reason for him to do so in a pool. It is a private pool but even so we will be sharing it with all the other people we are going with so I am in agreement that going commando in the water is not an option.

Thanks to all for the advice!

It ocurs to me that my kids never poo in the bath because it's the end of the day and they've already performed.
When you go swimming you go during the day and this may well co-incide with when your child feels the urge to go.
I think that timing is more important then where your child happens to be.

I used one of those pull up washable swim nappies - think it was an 'Aquanappy'....but had a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE experience that I never ever want to repeat - poo everywhere, impossible to get nappy off baby, poo all over the towel. So now I use the Huggies Little Swimmers, and put a Kooshies one over the top - because it is a tie top you can fasten it more tightly round the waist, which was where the Aquanappy let us down.

iota, that only applies if you a) always bath your child at the same time and b) your child has a reliable time of going!

SueW, my eldest got poo potty trained early because a and b overlapped. We would just pick him up and plop him on the potty when he started to squat. Dumb luck, but very effective.

I've always used Little Swimmers with my boys, but never had a poo, so it's not much of a recommendation. They are easy to get off, though.

Well, DS1 has pooed both in the bath and in his swim nappy in the pool I had to run and get the cat litter scoop to sort out the first...

We've used both the Swimmers and the Kooshies washable ones. DD has only ever pooed once in the pool - in her Kooshie washable nappy - it didn't leak, I noticed it straight away, scooped her out, changed her and it was fine. If you are going on hols, take more than one washable one so that if there is an accident you can change him into a clean one.

DD (13 months) wears Floaties Aqua Nappies for swimming. We get on well with them. She has only ever had a dirty nappy once and we had been at the leisure pool for 3 hours so we were asking for it really! It wasn't to bad to deal with though - just pulled them off carefully, emptied contents into nappy bin, wiped them and DD with wipes, and rinsed nappy in sink, put them back on again ready for more swimming.