swimsuit with floats around the tummy, has anyone tried these.

[Carameli]

my sister want to buy dd(15mnths) some new swim things for Chrismtas. As part of the pressie she was thinking of getting one of those swimsuits with the floats around the tummy in the suit.
Has anyone used htese and what do you think of them. They seem like a good idea, just wondered?

Carameli - I'm a big fan and thanks to the wondrous kindness of a mumsnetter I inherited one of these. My dd was 2 and a bit when we started using it a couple of months ago and last week for the first time she 'swam' on her own, paddling her arms and legs and moving a couple of metres without my assistance. It was so exciting!

And you can start using them much earlier than I did. They give them some buoyancy and independence without totally removing the need to paddle their arms and legs to swim. Also they don't impede arm movement like armbands do, and they're supposed to naturally get the kid in a good position for swimming.

Oh and once they start swimming you can gradually remove the floats one by one to reduce the buoyancy.

thanks. I thought they were good just wanted to check it wasn't me just being attracted to something different.

I think they're brilliant and we started using one when dd was 10 months old. Both my two absolutely love water and can both swim without armbands now at 4 and 6.

We don't have the swimsuit but have used the zip up swim jackets with removable floats to great success. My ds has just graduated from his to armbands at age 4 and my dd has been using hers since 18 months. They are both very confident in the water and love going swimming - my dd found it really frustrating till she could fit her jacket as she hated being held the whole time.