Please Explain "Swimmers"

[sas80]

Hi fellow moms!

 

I just bought my first package of string cheese for my baby yesterday. Nothing says "mom" like buying string cheese, eh?

 

Question - we bought "swimmers" at Sams club this weekend. What is the difference between swimmers and regular diapers?

 

We are bringing a blow up pool with us on our cruise, so I wanted to know what to expect. Swimmers do keep solids in, dont they? What about liquids?

 

I figured that we would also put a swimmer on him when we were at the beach.

 

Do I pack as many as I would regular diapers? If we swim does he need to be changed out of it after we get out?

 

What's the scoop?

[crusinmama06]

Before my kids potty trained, we did keep swimmies on them at the beach cause the swimmies don't blow up and bloat up like regular diapers (I sound like a TV commercial don't I? lol)

 

Swimmies hold solid TO A POINT. It's kind of icky to explain but if your baby has some not so solid poop and it mixes with water it will run down his leg. Oh the joys of parenting. :eek: :o

 

And no, they don't hold liquids at all. Not at all.

[Kerry's Girls]

The swimmers don't absorb liquid and fall apart the way regular diapers do when they go in the water - but that means that you want to change them out of the swimmers back into regular diapers when they come out of the water to avoid leaks (and don't do what I did the first time, put them down for a nap still wearing a swimmer and end up with a huge mess). I'm really not sure how much they hold in, but my girls wear them when they go into the pools at resorts on shore. I pack three for each trip to the water (but don't end up using that many) - though for a blow up pool on my own deck, I wouldn't bother with one at all.

 

Best,

Mia

[sas80]

The swimmers don't absorb liquid and fall apart the way regular diapers do when they go in the water - but that means that you want to change them out of the swimmers back into regular diapers when they come out of the water to avoid leaks (and don't do what I did the first time' date=' put them down for a nap still wearing a swimmer and end up with a huge mess). I'm really not sure how much they hold in, but my girls wear them when they go into the pools at resorts on shore. I pack three for each trip to the water (but don't end up using that many) - though for a blow up pool on my own deck, I wouldn't bother with one at all.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

Well, I am assuming that we will be emptying the pool at least twice while on the cruise...so I dont think having him go commando would be a good idea (sepcially cuz we are on deck 8! :eek:)

 

I wanted to be sure that the solids were "contained" well.

[dnj1]

I am glad someone brought this up. I am also bringing "swimmers" for a pool that we are bringing. If they don't hold liquid what are they good for? NO solids, No liquids. I don't get it. Other than they don't hold water and sag. Is that it?

[Kerry's Girls]

Both the OP and the last poster seem aware of the rules and are wonderful rule-abiding cruise citizens, since they mentioned that their using the swimmers for their own blow up pools (and for the beach).

 

In response to "what good are swimmers" - the only benefit is that regular diapers balloon up with water and then begin falling apart in a million gloopy pieces, creating a huge mess that's not easy to clean. Swimmers will contain poop somewhat. Until there's diaper technology that can tell the difference between pool or ocean water and bodily functions, swimmers are all we have :) Which is why for little splashing pools, I don't even bother - but that's when I'm dumping the water after each use.

 

Have a great time!

Mia

[dnj1]

Mia,

 

Gotcha!!! Well, I will still bring them. I doubt if she is in the blow up pool very long. But....at the beach....I will be sure to change them frequently.

 

Thanks

[Robin & Dan]

I have found that "swimmers" will hold the solid only for the first moment(s), but an already soaked "swimmer" will quickly make the solid not so solid and runny. Thankfully it only happened once for me at a public place and it was a splash ground, not a pool. I tried to work around the "schedule" before we went swimming, easy at home, harder on a cruise/vacation.

[Luxuriate]

When my son was 1 year old we went to Maui for vacation. I bought a bunch of the swim pants. I guess I never really thought about how they worked. One day I put the swim pant on him thinking it was just a cute "diaper" (cute fish, etc...on them). Well, imagine my surprise when pee started running down his leg about a 1/2 hour later. I had a "Mommy light-bulb moment!" I realized that the swim pants were only for holding in very solid poop. You know, in the 1 1/2 years since then my son has NEVER had a solid poop in his swim diaper? Makes me wonder how much of his pee made it into the pool?

 

Cheryl

[dosi]

And why haven't all of our babies been able to just play there?????:D :D

[mcfam5]

When my oldest child was just over two and a half we went to Florida to visit some friends. I believe, it was around that time that swim diapers came out. Well, my daughter fell asleep on our friends suede sofa with a swim diaper on. Not being very familiar with them, I just assumed they functioned like a regular diaper ~ big mistake! The next morning when my daughter got up she had completely saturated the sofa. What can I say, I was alot younger then! It was quite embarrassing!

[sas80]

This is all really good to know!

 

Since we can always tell when our baby is doin the numbah two, we will just make sure that we change him immediatley upon "completion" :D

[lostie]

If your baby is "regular" and goes at the same time every day, just put a regular diaper on him when it's time to go. That way you don't need the swimmers at all, unless you want them for emergencies.

[dnj1]

Call me a bad mom, becuase I have no idea when my 19 mo. is going. She is in Daycare during the day and at night I change her when she is dirty/wet. No set time. I guess I will just put the swimmer on at the last minute. She will be in a blowup pool by herself so that should be okay. NOW... when we go to the beach umm.... There is no telling when she will have a "solid" or "wet".:eek:

[OnTheBrink]

If your baby is "regular" and goes at the same time every day, just put a regular diaper on him when it's time to go. That way you don't need the swimmers at all, unless you want them for emergencies.

 

This didn't work well for us because both kids changed their routines while on vacation.

 

I've never been super impressed with the disposable swimmers. I don't think they hold poop very well. I much prefer these:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=210763

For double protection, put on the disposable first, then the reusable.

[Kerry's Girls]

NOW... when we go to the beach umm.... There is no telling when she will have a "solid" or "wet".:eek:

 

I took my 2 year olds to the beach for the first time since they could walk, and they didn't end up getting their diapers wet. We held hands to stand in the water, then they spent the rest of the time playing in the sand and chasing birds - so you may want to just leave your child in a regular diaper unless they seem to want to sit in the water for extended periods. For pools at resorts though, definitely use the swimmies since the regular diapers will create a gloopy mess in the water.

 

Have a great time.

 

Best,

Mia

[GAPaige]

I always use a reusable swim diaper (the ones from Target fit really well-nice snug elastic) and a PUL diaper cover over that. Nothing solid leaks out of this combination (so far anyway-LOL).

[lexxity]

From personal experience swim nappies (diapers) work well for solids.:rolleyes: I'm having a problem deciding what to do with DS. I know now when he is going to go, both types, but he is not quite co-ordinated enough for the potty :rolleyes: yet. We cruise in 39 days and it will not be warm enough for outdoor pools! We swim twice a week and he never goes in the pool anymore but I don't think this would be good enough for the cruiseline yet!

 

Sorry for the hijack!

[ginacc]

I can attest that they really truly do not hold liquids, AT ALL. I was boating with a friend of mine who brought her 1 yr old (mine was at home with dad.) The toddler was wearing a Swimmer, and as we were hopping into the boat all the sudden we saw pee squirting all over the mom. We stood there, sort of dumbstruck, trying to figure out how the pee shot through the diaper. It was honestly like the little girl wasn't wearing a diaper at all. So weird!

 

Speaking of blowup pools... checkout the one we got for the trip! It blocks sun too!

 

[dnj1]

I can attest that they really truly do not hold liquids, AT ALL. I was boating with a friend of mine who brought her 1 yr old (mine was at home with dad.) The toddler was wearing a Swimmer, and as we were hopping into the boat all the sudden we saw pee squirting all over the mom. We stood there, sort of dumbstruck, trying to figure out how the pee shot through the diaper. It was honestly like the little girl wasn't wearing a diaper at all. So weird!

 

Speaking of blowup pools... checkout the one we got for the trip! It blocks sun too!

 

 

CUTE!!! We got the same pool for our cruise. Baby is 19 mo.

[ginacc]

CUTE!!! We got the same pool for our cruise. Baby is 19 mo.

 

Oh cool! Please let me know how it works out for you.

[CLARE7678]

:eek: I dont always use disposable swimmers on my little one (dont shoot me let me explain). I have a pair of waterproof trunks for him. They look like regular trunks with a terry towelling lining and do seem to absorb liquid mess. My ds has never had a poo while wearing swimmiers so i cant comment on their sucessfullness for that but they are a good alternative if you have limited luggage allowance.

 

Have a great time in the paddling pool, just dont forget the unwritten rule of emptying it into the main pool in the middle of the night - everyone does it!:p

[ElsieToo]

I take 8 mo DS to Parent-n-Tot "swimming" classes at the local YMCA 2x/week, and this is already our third month doing it. At the Y they require a swim diaper PLUS some sort of cover that goes over the diaper that has elastic at the leg holes and the top. Pee isn't really an issue since it's sterile, so you only have the poop to worry about. The swimmer prevents the more solid poop from going anywhere, and the cover prevents less solid poop from going anywhere.

 

Regular diapers are muuuuuuch more absorbent than swim diapers, primarily because they contain liquid absorbing gel crystals. If you stick one in a pool it becomes a royal pain in the butt to clean because they get absolutely everywhere, and I don't really like thinking of all those little chemically created crystals all over DS's baby skin...

 

We bought a "Wee Waves" swim diaper at Target (they're on end of season clearance right now, go!) as the cover. I believe these are the ones that the PPs have been talking about using - they're reusable, washable, and theoretically you don't need a swim diaper on underneath since it's supposed to be an all-in-one swim diaper/cover combo, but I still prefer to have a barrier in between so as to not stain the cover. However, after almost 2.5 months of classes 2x/week plus swimming at my IL's house, we have still never had DS go poop in his swim diaper, so it sort of makes you wonder what all the fuss is about. :confused: :rolleyes:

[Kerry's Girls]

Do you use the pool on the main pool deck, or on your balcony? Where do you dump the water?

 

I don't bother with a pool anymore because we have plenty to do on sea days, but here's how I used to handle it:

 

If on the main pool deck, placed between two deck chairs. Dump into one of the drains near the pool.

 

If on my balcony, into my shower.

 

Obviously, I'm using a very small blow up pool and very little water - it's all my girls needed to enjoy themselves.

 

Best,

Mia

[sas80]

Do you use the pool on the main pool deck, or on your balcony? Where do you dump the water?

 

I have read posts on here before where the BLOW UP pool was used and dumped on the pool deck, but I think we are going to stick with the balcony of our room.

 

Dumping the water was actually why I started this thread. I dont plan on filling our pool up very much and I will use the gutters on the ship to dump the water.

 

I wanted to know exactly what "capacity" the swimmers had and what their integrity was. I wanted to know how long I had before a solid becomes a liquid. I dont want to dump a liquified solids into the gutters.

 

To everyone who is reading this thread, I do apologize. I really tried my best to word the original post to make it ultra clear that I was not talking about swimming in the ships pools. Unfortunately I was not successful.