Cloth Swim Diapers
As the weather’s warming up, you’ll soon be thinking about swimming with your baby. And if you plan to swim in public pools, chances are you’ll need to use a swim diaper–many pools require them even for potty trained toddlers. If this is your first summer using cloth, then you may be wondering what your options are for reusable swim diapers.
| Free Shipping on Swim Diapers at Abby’s Lane |
Fortunately, the summer doesn’t mean you need to stock up on disposable swim diapers. Cloth swim diapers are easily to find and perfectly acceptable to use in all pools.
Before you choose a cloth swim diaper, be aware how swim diapers work. For most diapers, one of the primary purposes is to absorb urine, so both disposable and cloth diapers are made to absorb a high volume of liquid. However, in a pool, absorbing liquid is (obviously) not a very helpful characteristic. So swim diapers are designed to not absorb pee. If you’ve ever had your baby pee while out of the pool and wearing a swim diaper, you probably realized pretty quickly that the pee runs straight out of the diaper. This is true of both disposable and washable swim diapers: they are only made to catch poop.
Some cloth swim diapers, like disposable swim diapers, do have a bit of padding on the inside of the diaper. Usually this is a breathable material like netting, but some cloth swim diapers have a thin layer of cotton (much like training pants have). However, any cotton in the diaper will absorb pool water as soon as it is immersed in the pool, so don’t expect it to hold pees after your baby has started his swim. And this padding isn’t really necessary.
In fact, the simplest cloth diaper solution is just to use a cover without an insert or prefold inside. As long as the legs fit snugly around your baby’s thighs and the rise is correct, then a cover will be effective for catching poop. It’s also easy to take on and off, and chances are you have several anyway. The best choice is a PUL cover with leg gussets to contain runny poop. A pocket with the insert taken out will also work (and offer a softer surface against your baby’s skin). Snaps may be better than velcro, especially if your baby is older, since toddlers often learn to undo velcro themselves.
If you want to use a diaper that’s designed for swimming, you’ll need to decide whether you want a pull-up option or one that opens on the sides. Pull-up swim diapers are very secure: they won’t come undone no matter how much your baby wiggles or kicks in the water. However, they are designed to fit snugly, and many tend to leave elastic marks on your baby’s thighs and waist. In addition, if your baby does poop in the pool, then changing a pull-on diaper is messier than changing a diaper that opens. If you choose swim diapers that open at the sides, check that the velcro or snaps are functioning to secure the diaper reliably before use.
Finally, make sure you have enough swim diapers to change your baby if he poops. Since you won’t need to change the swim diaper when your baby pees, and most babies only poop once or twice a day, most families will be fine with just two swim diapers. If you plan to swim a lot or stay at the pool all day, you may want three or four.
Lisa C. Baker is a full-time mom and part-time writer in Atlanta, Georgia. She writes about green parenting topics at Organic Baby Atlanta andteaches workshops on cloth diapers and elimination communication. She’s been a mom since 2008 and has never bought a disposable diaper; she hopes she’ll never need to!
I’m Julie, a former cloth diaper retailer who discovered a passion for the industry. Now, instead of selling cloth diapers, I advocate them and promote small businesses I love who sell and manufacture them.
I’m the wife of a fireman and mother of three. I have a daughter and identical twin sons.
