what you need to take your baby swimming

it’s definitely not as easy as it sounds to take your baby swimming.  after several trips out shopping, i finally gathered all of the necessary items to take brandon swimming, and we took him into the pool for the first time today!  it was all worth it, and brandon had a great time.  i had to drag him kicking and screaming out of the pool!  haha.

here’s the gear i picked up:

• swim diapers – yes, they are disposable, and yes, they are different than regular diapers.   for normal diapers, i prefer pampers, but i found the huggies little swimmers at costco.  they come in small, medium, large – i wish they would map the diaper sizes to the swim sizes, but i got a large and they fit great (brandon wears size 6 normally).  they are pull-up style and have very stretchy sides, so i can see why they fit a wide range of sizes.
• kids/baby sunblock - i prefer the continuous spray kind for the body, and the wipes for the face.
• flotation device – preferably with a canopy.  don’t neglect the sunblock even if you have a canopy, because the rays bounce off the water.
• swim shorts – optional, surprisingly.  i thought this would be the most fun to shop for, but i had a really hard time finding shorts that were wide enough at the waist and short enough that they didn’t look like pants.  anyway, these are optional until your child is potty-trained (well, specifically poo-trained i guess).
• sunglasses - i have yet to find a pair that brandon will wear for more than 1 second
• hat - brandon also refuses to wear hats
• beach blanket – i like the waterproof, extra-large, foldable kind

Huggies Little Swimmers

Shady Day Daily Sun Protection Wipes

Coppertone Kids Continuous Spray

Baby Spring Float Sun Canopy by Swimways

Old Navy Swim Shorts

Baby Sunglasses

Baby Sun Hat

JJ Cole Essentials Blanket