Most puddle jumpers are for 30+ pounds... What do you use for smaller babies, almost a year, that are less than 20lbs? I want to go to pools this summer and can't figure out what to buy
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I recommend a life vest. I recommend Sterns or whatever Costco or Sam's Club has if you're a member. For that weight, there is a flotation piece for their head and a grab handle.
I am actually anti-puddle jumper (not a popular opinion, I know) because their arms are so constricted I'm not sure how they are supposed to learn how to swim.
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We have this guy.
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Not quite that young, but I definitely put my kids in the puddle jumper before they were 30 lbs (my tiny 3 year old is still barely 30). I was always in arms reach of her anyway. But I agree that at under a year you’d need something else. The rare times we went swimming before they were a year and a half or so, I just held the baby in my arms. But we didn’t belong to a pool or anything so very rare.
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@LaughLines: I just held the baby. All the time. We have a community pool and we swim all the time but that was the only way i felt comfortable swimming until they are old enough for swimming lessons.
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We had something like this......always had one hand on the float and I "drove" the littles around the pool.
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We have used one like @meadow: shared. As far as life jackets you'll need "infant" size, they're for up to 30 lbs, but if it fits it floats (used to sell life jackets). The infant size has the head support, leg strap, and all the floatation is in the front so baby can never go face down. In pools and my parents giant jacuzzi tub I used an Otteroo (which looks crazy but worked great for the baby water introduction)
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We have both a regular life vest similar to what @SweetCaroline shared, and we also have a little floatation device like @meadow shared. Usually I just held our littles, but it was helpful to have the life vest as well. Neither of my girls really loved the floatie with a sun canopy, so we didn’t get a lot of use out of that.
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My son was about 23-24lbs at age 16 months and we put him in a puddle jumper and he loved it. We have a pool and a long summer and there's no way I'm holding him EVERY day while swimming. Also he's super independent.
He "graduated" to arm floaties last summer, age 2.5, about 27lbs. I'm hoping to slowly blow them up less and less and have him build up the muscle strength he needs, while also practicing swimming skills (blowing bubbles in the water, kicking, swimming to a ledge, floating, etc).
My friends' 3 kids all used puddle jumpers ages 1.5-3.5 and learned how to swim by age 4 without swim lessons. Her son learned how to swim by age 2y8m
They have a pool and swim daily in the summer. My LO will be 15 months this summer and about 19 pounds? They make these swimsuits with lifevests built in so I'm thinking of buying that due to her small size.
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@LaughLines: Before buying one of those sun-canopy floats others have recommended, make sure they are allowed at the pools you plan to frequent. Our pool only allows coast-guard approved devices (so basically puddle jumpers & life vests) - no floats, swimmies, float-suits, etc.
I agree that I preferred to hold my youngest, particularly if the pool has zero-barrier entry where she could walk. Now that she's 2.5 and "swims" on her own, I use a puddle jumper because she doesn't want my hands immediately on her all the time. She's more the size of a 1 year old, though - not quite 25 lbs and maybe 30 inches, and I feel like as long as I'm nearby and it's just being used as a swim aide, not a flotation device, she's fine in the puddle jumper. Life vests are tricky because the appropriate size for her is an infant vest with a neck support, but that's too constricting for her unless we're actually on a boat.
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Agree with others, my oldest was def in a puddle jumper before hitting 30 lbs. I think she went into one by 2.5 years old and she probably wasn't quite 30 lbs but it fit well and she loved using it. Prior to that we always put them in the baby float as well or just held them.
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We just came back from spring break and my 3 year old whose 29 lbs used the puddle jumper the whole time (even in ocean) and it was fine! He started using his older sisters last year when he was 2ish. For little sister who just turned one, we held her in water. She wasn’t in the water nearly as long and mostly hung out with me on the chairs.
They have a pool and swim daily in the summer. Reply
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