Swimm diapers - how do they work?Cloth swimm diapers are the same as diaper covers?

[innerself]

It is ugent, so in advance my big thank you to those who can answer my question today:) We are going to a swimming pool with my 18m.o. tomorrow for the first time. I respect the requirement for swimm diapers, but I am curious if they really work as they're expected to? I mean, what kind of diaper it is that will hold pee in it in the water? Well, I haven't yet seen those diapers up close, I was going to buy a pack on our way to the pool. But I've just looked at cloth swimm diapers online, they look just like regular cloth diaper covers pretty much. And I have some covers like that which still fit my ds. Can I use them as swimm diaper?  

[KJunebug]

I use the cloth swim diapers, and I also can;t see how they would stop pee from getting in the pool, but I can;t see how the disposeable ones would either....  I think they are for poop prevention.  

That said, the cloth ones are different that plain old covers.... they are made of a different out material, and have thick terry linings.  I got one that was "delux" and it holds a ton of liquid, maybe even some pee?  I don't know.... I do know those disposeable ones cost about the same as one cloth swim bottom, but if we are talking tomorrow and you don't have a CD store to go to....

[woodchick]

Store bought, disposable swim diapers do not hold pee in.  They are not absorbent at all.  They are only designed to hold in poo.

I have used a thirstees cover as a swim diaper, but most often we use an old bumgenius pocket diaper (unstuffed).  At 18 mos they are going to be in arms the whole time and those covers will do the trick under a swimsuit.

Have fun! I wish I was going swimming tomorrow :)

[Knitting Mama]

Yep, both types of swim diapers are designed to hold in poop, not pee.

[Addie]

 I've used an old Thirsties cover as a swim diaper without incident. Since the baby will be mostly in arms, you're likely to know if he poops, and the diaper will buy you enough time to get him out of the pool and changed. We've taken DS a bunch of times and he hasn't pooped yet, so I don't have any advice there!

[innerself]

 "Yep, both types of swim diapers are designed to hold in poop, not pee".

that's what I thought. So as I'm taking him to that pool after his poo time, guess- any kind of just 'cover' will work the same.  Seems like the only useful prevention from pee in pools is to make babies pee before entering the pool really. We can certainly can do that one.)

[Knitting Mama]

The way I see it is that urine is sterile, feces most certainly are not. So since it would be near impossible to design something that would hold the urine, be comfortable for the baby, and not break down in the water, I'm fine with just the feces being contained!

[lifeguard]

Disposable swim diapers are imo one of the biggest scams going right now. As long as whatever you put on dc holds in poop nothing else matters.

[Oliver's Mama]

I think disposable swim diapers have a place, though. We're going on a week vacation to a waterpark soon, where we'll likely do two outings a day to the pools. For the price of one cloth swim diaper, I have a whole package of disposable ones, so we'll have a fresh pair each time. I don't want to spend my vacation hand-washing a diaper twice a day, and it'll never have time to dry out, especially if poop is involved.

I do have an I-play swim diaper which is great, and one of their swimsuits that has a built-in swim diaper, since most pools require a suit over even a cloth swim diaper.

[Adaline'sMama]

We swim once a week and we have always used a Bum Genius pocket diaper stuffed with the "extra" liner only. Its thinner than the regular insert. We have never had a blowout and shes pooed in the diaper while we were in the pool twice.

[Yaliina]

Didn't read through all the other posts, but my 2 cents:

We found that "G Diapers" covers were perfect for swimmies, just without liners or that plastic thingy.  It holds in poop, as other posters mentioned, is all you can expect in a pool, and is not bulky or leaky.  They are not my favorite cloth diapers, but they do work great for this purpose, and we used them exclusively at Water Country this summer.  They dry fast, and are compact, too.  :)

[sk8boarder15]

We had a family pool party (lol just accidently wrote poop party) when ds was just 6 weeks old. They don't make swim diapers that small, so we used two thirsties covers (as his legs were very skinny) and it worked great... though I was holding him when he peed and it just ran out everywhere..... 0.0

[MamitaM]

Originally Posted by innerself 

 "Yep, both types of swim diapers are designed to hold in poop, not pee".

that's what I thought. So as I'm taking him to that pool after his poo time, guess- any kind of just 'cover' will work the same.  Seems like the only useful prevention from pee in pools is to make babies pee before entering the pool really. We can certainly can do that one.)

Just make sure the pool will allow just a cover. They may not care how much a swim diaper holds or not or that it only holds poop and not pee. They may only let you in the pool with a proper swim diaper,either cloth or disposable.
 

[time4latte]

I've used the Bummis Swimmi with great success. The key is any cover you use will degrade much faster in a swimming pool where they use chlorine to sanitize the water. That's why it's not recommended to use the same cover for swim as it is for everyday use.

The Bummis Swimmi is sized not to have anything absorbent in it (yes, all swim diapers are meant to contain poop not pee). What the Swimmi has that I havent' seen in other swim diapers are a velcro closure with a wide loop panel so you get a custom fit and it has a mesh lining to help hold the poo in place. Makes it easier to keep kiddo clean. Most of the time my DS doesn't poop in the pool, he just pees, so in terms of say a vacation where you'd be going to the pool twice a day, it is like putting a swimsuit back on. The material in the Swimmi really dries fast too.

There's my two cents.

[boatbaby]

nak

FYI you can re-use disposable swim dipes over & over & over until they get a poo or pee in them. simply turn inside out and hang/ lay in a warm or sunny spot to dry. one pack can last you years if you do this. they stay crisp and fresh too.