What to do for travel/swimming?

[Shanny2032]

My dd and I are leaving next week (assuming she is ear infection free) for 9 days in Hawaii (my reward for bfing!), including 8 hour flights. She is 16 months and about 90% potty trained I would say on most days. She wears gdiapers with disposable inserts at night and cloth inserts for nap panties or naked all other times. Most days she does so awesome I am in awe of her (she has even started to ask to go in the middle of the night and while I want to be thrilled I just can't say that I am ) Anyway, if I asked anyone IRL or even other forums for suggestions they would think I was crazy and to just put her in a diaper on the plane and call it a day. I'm not sure I want to do this, but I am also not sure I want to drag 3 changes of clothes on the plane either, just in case. My sister and 3 year old niece will be with us and I know my sis (whose dd potty trained at 3) will put a diaper on her for the flights and never think twice about it. Works for her, not sure it will for us since dd isn't used to sitting in wetness at all. I even considered buying pull ups or even disposables since gdiapers are pretty tricky to get on a standing baby in an airplane bath etc. I don't really want to take any cloth. I planned to take a few covers and enough disposable inserts for overnights. Would you try with panties? I only have 2 pairs from ECWEAR and one doesn't hold much urine. WWYD? Also swim diapers? I am thinking for the sake of the other travelers at the Marriott these are still a necessary evil at this stage of the game? TIA

[zoebird]

until he's graduated, i will use swim diapers in public pools.

imo, it's rude not to. while it is unlikely that i will have a miss with him, the truth is, a miss is catastrophic for the pool folks. they have to drain it, scrub it out, and then refill. pool might be closed for days or a week.

seriously, i worked at a Y where if there was any poop in the pool --from diapers or from stupid-entitled adults-- the pools shut down for a week to be drained, scrubbed, and so on.

so, swim diapers are just nice for the community, even if the kid is good at potty.

[lisavark]

We use cloth swim diapers. I get them at Whole Foods. A bit expensive, sure, but I just buy one for the whole summer. I suppose if you thought there was a chance she might use one you could get two! I've also used covers with nothing in them as swim diapers. That wouldn't work so well with a gDiaper cover, but if you have any PUL-only covers--like the Simply covers from the EC store or Thirsties or whatever--those will work great. All they need to do is contain a poop.

But I love the cloth swim diapers because they look like swim bottoms. I just buy a swimsuit top to match and that's all she wears in the pool. That way DD doesn't know she's wearing diapers.

[blackbird2]

I would use diapers for the plane because you don't have continual and easy access to the restroom, ie if the line is long, if the seatbelt light is on, landing, food cart, etc. I would also be prepared for more misses than usual when you're staying in a new place - that's my experience. Have a great trip!

[sapphire_chan]

Sposie pull-ups are great for traveling, except you still have to change the stupid things every 4 hours or so because all the paper in them gets bunchy.

Swimming, if your LO is a poop graduate, meaning tells you in enough time to get to the toilet every time, then I wouldn't bother with a swim diaper. I personally feel more comfortable going into the pool AFTER dd's pooped at least once that day, but that's not a big deal in places with convenient bathrooms.

[seraf]

My experience with travel is that my kids were always better about telling when they needed to go out and about. And they had frequent potty requests on planes because it's boring to sit in one place for hours. My son wore a diaper on the plane, he didn't use it, but it made me more comfortable. DD was out of diapers consistantly before her first plane trip.

I don't see anything wrong with swim diapers, especially since salt water has a laxative effect on a lot of people.

Seraf

[theboysmama]

I always put dd in a swim diaper. I use a washable one that came with her swimsuit and it is sooooo cute. I have an extra just in case but don't ever have to use it. It doesn't feel like a diaper, just like a swim suit so I doesn't cause any confusion for dd.
My dd is almost 16 months and we have gone on flights with her in undies and will go on several flights this summer, one of them to hawaii. I would pack more than 4 changes for dd (always do but have never used any of them) and a change for me. dd has a tiny bum so I have used the ec potty bowl for times when we couldn't get out of our seat. I think this summer I will probably use the pottette bcs she is bigger and it has the handy disposable liners so there won't be any possibility of spills. It slips nicely into my diaper bag. If you are still using back-up at night then you can just purchase pull ups. We use the whole foods brand or 7th gen (size 2t-3t) they fit fine and my dd is small (19 lbs). Also on the plane we bring several pre-folds just to put on my lap, or the seat, or wherever to soak up something just in case, worked awesome for my 5yr olds sprite .
This is what we have done and what works well for us but the most important thing is to do what you feel comfortable with. Have fun in hawaii.

[srs]

Another vote for cloth swim diaper. My DD calls it her "pool underpants." We've found them at Target.

Will she be in her own seat for the trip, or a carseat? My first thought is to waterproof the seat/your lap just in case, if you don't want to use a diaper. It may also depend on if she is a poop grad or not - just something to consider. Then again, a poopy diaper on a plane is a mess too (probably a bigger mess, really).

[Shanny2032]

Thanks everyone - after 3 days of "pee everywhere but the toilet, including Mom's lap at the ENT's office" last week I have the disposable g diapers packed for the plane rides. I am hoping they stay dry but as some of you mentioned, I will be much more comfortable and relaxed with out worrying about the issue if we can't make it in time. My sister gave me all of her leftover disposable swim diapers too so we'll use them up and see how she is doing. I actually think her swim suits might need the extrs cushion to fit right anyway! 4 more days - yay, and thanks again!

[sapphire_chan]

Y'know, I hadn't even thought about a swimsuit going over a diaper. That means that the suit I'm going to return for being too small would've actually fit even worse without ECing.

[rissierae]

Our first plane traveling experience was when ds was 9 months. I had been thinking about going diaper free fulltime, but hadn't really made the transition until this trip . I think it was more of an un-decision, I just wasn't thinking 'diapers' when I got him dressed that morning. So he never wore them that day. We made it from Michigan all the way down to Florida, and I never gave diapers another thought. He did fine, no misses on the way there or back . And I found it easier to take him to the airplane bathroom knowing that I wouldn't have to undo a diaper, and put it back on.

We also swam in the pool down there... no swim diaper... just bathing suit

[Shanny2032]

rissierae - you are braver than I am! She did very well and stayed dry for most of the 2 8 hour flights but did eventually ending up deciding that the airplane bathroom was feeakishly scary and she went in her diaper (the difference between an infant and a toddler!). All in all I was pretty proud of her. She did have several times when she would pee at restaurants - luckily it was Hawaii, we were outside and no one seemed to notice much! The whole thing threw her off for a few days (not just potty but EVERYTHING) but she is back to herself and doing great with the potty and we have some great memories and pictures!

All in all I am glad I put the diapers on and would do it again for such a long flight. Having a 17 monthd old on a plane for that long is hard enough and I am glad I didn't add to it.