I'm a beach idiot

[Rachels]

The idea of taking my baby to the beach has me all muddled. I can't figure out many things, among them how the diapers work. We're going to the beach -- there's no pool. Given that, and the fact that I'm not going to be throwing her into the ocean, should I put her in swim diapers or regular diapers? I imagine that she WILL get wet here and there, but not constantly. If I put her in a regular dipe, do I switch her before I let her get wet? If I put her in a swim dipe, how often do I need to change it to avoid getting peed on?

I have no idea why I can't intuit these things.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[blnony]

Well, a swim diaper won't hold anything but poop. So, you might just want to keep her in regular diapers until you are going out into the water to swim around. If she is just playing on the beach and only wading into the water, you'll probably just want to keep a regular on her then. Believe me, a friend of mine learned the hard way, a swim diaper holds no pee...:) I only put Audrey in her swim diaper when we are in the water, otherwise, its just a mess.

[gravymommy3]

This is too funny. We had friends over yesterday and we went to the pool. When we came back to the house, the dad forgot to changed his DS out of the swim diaper. Well, two hours later, he could not figure out why Jake's shorts were soaking wet... DOH!!

[celfsh]

LOL! Last weekend when we went to the pool, we changed DD into her swim diaper in the parking lot--between there and the pool, she peed all over DH! Timing is everything!

celeste
mom to olivia 9/25/02
http://homepage.mac.com/the_big_fish

[parkersmama]

Okay, I'm going to be in the minority on this one but I think you should go ahead and have her in the swim dipe. Chances are good that she'll be playing near the water's edge a lot and getting wet going back and forth. Disposables that are full of water are really, really gross. If she happens to pee, what's it going to get on? The sand? The toys? Really all not a big deal. Just take her into the water for a "rinse" or put a new swim diaper on her. If you have to travel by car to and from the beach, I'd be sure to have a regular dipe on then so she doesn't wet the carseat but otherwise, I think it's swim diaper all the way!

[egoldber]

I agree. When we were in Jamaica, it was so much easier just keeping her in a swim diaper, since we were in and out of the water all the time. I kept her in a regular diaper until we hit the beach and then put her in a swim diaper. If she peed in the swim diaper, I didn't really care. And water logged disposables are just disgusting and liable to split open and spill gel beads everywhere.

When we went back inside (for meals and naps), I would change her into a regular diaper. But other than that, she was in a swim diaper and a Tshirt all day.

HTH,

[blnony]

Beth-
What if I were using cloth? Do you think if I put a fitted with a tight cover that would work on the beach? Then into a swim diaper when were getting in the water with her? We are planning a trip this summer with some friends and I'm afraid Audrey would pee all over their babies and their toys...:( I know its a silly fear, but the friend we're going with would have a heart attack if that happened. (Everyone knows the type I'm talking about...:))
I'm sorry I always ask you these kinds of questions, but it seems like you have the most travel baby experience. Thanks.

[Melanie]

You didn't ask me, BUT, for Cloth, how about a fuzzy bunz/pcoket-style. Then when you get to the point of putting her in the water, just pull the stuffing out leaving the outer part of the diaper on.

Also, the water is probably not going to hurt a fitted or reg. cloth diaper, it will just really weigh her down if she's in it a lot. If she's just up to her knees and getting splashed, that would be good (say s the woman who's toddler has never been in the ocean).

Another thing is I think the disposable type of swim diapers have a tiny bit of absorbancy don't they?


>Beth-
>What if I were using cloth? Do you think if I put a fitted
>with a tight cover that would work on the beach? Then into a
>swim diaper when were getting in the water with her? We are
>planning a trip this summer with some friends and I'm afraid
>Audrey would pee all over their babies and their toys...:( I
>know its a silly fear, but the friend we're going with would
>have a heart attack if that happened. (Everyone knows the
>type I'm talking about...:))
>I'm sorry I always ask you these kinds of questions, but it
>seems like you have the most travel baby experience. Thanks.

Mommy to Jonah

[egoldber]

Melanie is right, the Lil Swimmer type diapers do have a bit of absorbancy. I would imagine that cloth would be fine in the water. But can I just say that I don't like to get my cloth diapers sandy? LOL!! When I take Sarah to the sandbox, I usually put her in a disposable.

When we went to Jamaica, I used disposables since we were there for a week with no laundry facilities.

HTH.

[Rachels]

Okay. All of this brings me to another question. How MANY swim diapers should I take for a week at the beach with a 13 month old? Presumably we won't be in the sun all day every day. They come in packs of 12. Two packs? Three?

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[parkersmama]

Hmmm. Good question!! I would say maybe two packs. If you go out morning and afternoon you'll be using at least two per day, which would work out to 14. Figure in that you'll probably have to do some changing for poops, etc. and you'll probably be safer with 24 dipes. Will you be near shopping facilities? From my experience, the swim diapers cost about the same at the grocery stores near the beach as they do at home. Maybe $1 more.

[egoldber]

I took two packs and brought most of the second pack home. If you wanted to save room, you could bring one pack and also have one of the cloth swim diapers (from Target or BRU) as a back-up.

HTH,

[daisymommy]

The swim diaper sthat everyone is talking about here: Do youmean like Little Swimmers? (and in that case, I thought they were supposed to be very absorbant like regular diapers?) If you mean a different kind of swim diapers, where are you finding these in packages?
I bought some swim trunks that look like a regular guys swim trunks with the mesh liner inside. I thought I would put Josh in Little Swimmers, and put the trunks on over top to look cute. Will this work? Or is there a better way? I love the look of the bubble-but swim diapers with plastic liner insider, but after reading this thread, realize they don't hold pee (glad I realized that before trying them out!).

[blnony]

Even disposable swim diapers don't have much absorbency at all. They are pretty much poop catchers.

Rachel-
When you get back from your trip give us a report on how the beach diapering went. I'm really curious now. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. It might be different if Audrey wasn't a pee machine, but she is a really heavy wetter. Good luck on your trip- I hope you have a fun time.

[Melanie]

If ou have laundry facilities, I have heard Little Swimmers wash well for a few washes. They don't have that gel in them.

[egoldber]

That may be, but the only way I have found to get those wet suckers off is to tear the sides!!

[parkersmama]

Yes, that will work. Ever since the Little Swimmers came out we've been doing that...putting the swim trunks with mesh liners over the disposable swim diaper. It works great and does look a lot cuter than the diaper alone. Some of the swim trunks for younger baby boys have a cloth swim diaper built in but they don't hold pee for sure! Of course, the disposables ones don't either so it doesn't make a lot of difference except that poop in a cloth one is a lot grosser to clean up than just ripping off that disposable! Sun, sand, water, and poop...not a great combo!! LOL!

[new_mommy25]

I just stumbled onto this post and since my son isn't born yet I don't have much of an opinion. But anyway, I was born and raised in Hawaii and when I went to the beach I seem to remember naked babies running everywhere.

[laklay]

I like the naked baby idea, but maybe poop gets a little
gross, especially to other people. Sometimes I wish my little guy could be naked all the time when it's warm. Knowing me, I will try for some beach-naked-buns this summer. I love naked beach babies.

As for this swim diaper convo, I am still a little confused. The swim diapers that I see in for instance,the OneStepAhead catalogue, what are those for. Do they need a Little Swimmers under them? And who makes the Little Swimmers? I gather that they're disposable. Are these the best ones for boys or girls?

I definitely feel a little dumb here, especially since I haven't walked down the disposable aisle much...

Lauren
mommy to Albert (2/27/03)