Swim Diapers for splash area

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Hi everyone,

We will be cruising the Dream in September with our son who will be 9 months old at that time. Obviously he can't go in any of the regular pools, but my understanding is there is a splash area specifically for the diaper crowd. Does anyone have any recommendations for what kind of swim diapers to use? Disposable or reusable? Any certain brand? This is my third cruise but my first with him and I'm definitely feeling like a first timer again!

 

[lanejudy]

I never used reusable swim diapers but did use cloth diapersfor several years. Wouldn’t need to wash the reusable swim ones between uses? I always used disposable diapers for travel. I didn’t want to deal with diaper pails and washing diapers on vacation.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I never used reusable swim diapers but did use cloth diapersfor several years. Wouldn’t need to wash the reusable swim ones between uses? I always used disposable diapers for travel. I didn’t want to deal with diaper pails and washing diapers on vacation.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you! I also use cloth diapers at home but plan to use disposables on the cruise. I guess that's a good point about bringing a reusable swim diaper- I really don't want to deal with that on the ship!

 

[Ravenne]

I never used reusable swim diapers but did use cloth diapers for several years. Wouldn’t need to wash the reusable swim ones between uses? I always used disposable diapers for travel. I didn’t want to deal with diaper pails and washing diapers on vacation.

Enjoy your cruise!

Ditto this. We did use reusable swim diapers and liked them, but not for travel. Even if you didn't wash them after every use, they are thicker than normal cloth diapers and would take a long while for it to dry in your cabin's shower. I would just get a small pack of the disposable ones for the cruise. If you're concerned, maybe use one a few weeks before you embark just to make sure your baby doesn't have any allergic reactions to them.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I bought a 2-pack of reusable diapers - ALVABABY Girl Swim Diapers One Size Reuseable & Adjustable 2pcs SWB09-18 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WD4CYLT?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

They worked out great, probably mostly because DD never pooped in them lol. They didn’t take up a lot of space (unlike disposable swim diapers) and they didn’t take long to dry. Plus I had 2 of them so I could alternate.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I bought a 2-pack of reusable diapers - ALVABABY Girl Swim Diapers One Size Reuseable & Adjustable 2pcs SWB09-18 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WD4CYLT?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

They worked out great, probably mostly because DD never pooped in them lol. They didn’t take up a lot of space (unlike disposable swim diapers) and they didn’t take long to dry. Plus I had 2 of them so I could alternate.

That's what I did on my first trip to WDW, DS was almost potty trained but I wanted to err on the safe side. With reusable swim diapers, if they do get poop in them I just swirl them in the potty and then finish washing them in the sink, baby poop especially that young when they're still breast or bottle fed usually comes out pretty easily. Of course Mousekeeping accidentally threw out one that I had drying on the towel rack. But 2 cloth diapers to alternate should work out, and they take less suitcase space.

 

[Kate_45]

We used reusable as they lasted years and multiple children. They dried out in a similar time scale to their swimsuits which were often wetsuit material.

Only even got poo in them a couple of times but changed the babes into normal nappies when not playing in the water

 

[hnthomps]

We always used reusable swim diapers, but my kids were the type that never had accidents in the water anyway, so we'd just rinse them out and let them dry with the bathing suits. We did this with my then-2-year old on our first cruise. However, she was 90% potty trained, so our risk profile was different.

The thing to remember with disposable swim diapers is that they are designed to NOT hold liquid waste in. So if your baby pees while wearing a disposable swim diaper, you will get wet. This is how they keep from expanding in the water. They basically just contain #2. So you would want to change him in and out of the swim diaper right before going into the splash pad.

That said, I'm not sure you're even going to want to take your 9 month old into Nemo's Reef, and you definitely won't want him in the Aqualab. I've never seen a pre-walker in either of those areas. Too many bigger kids (even if "bigger" is 2!) running around -- you'd have to be holding him the whole time, and I'm not sure logistically how much fun that would be for either of you. It might be great! But I don't think you should plan on this being a big part of your trip (again, the trip when my daughter was 2, we practically lived in Nemo's Reef. Most recently, at age 4, she was only in there a couple times, preferring the pools and slide.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

The thing to remember with disposable swim diapers is that they are designed to NOT hold liquid waste in.

This is really interesting, I never knew this! He's our first so this is all uncharted territory. Good point about Nemo's with the bigger kiddos as well, he'll probably just get bowled over if we try to go in there!

 

[Floridamom11]

This is really interesting, I never knew this! He's our first so this is all uncharted territory. Good point about Nemo's with the bigger kiddos as well, he'll probably just get bowled over if we try to go in there!

Just so you know, reusable diapers don’t hold in liquid waste either.

 

[bumbershoot]

The thing to remember with disposable swim diapers is that they are designed to NOT hold liquid waste in. So if your baby pees while wearing a disposable swim diaper, you will get wet

Yep.

Reminded me of early early days with my son, talking to my stepmom at their hotel pool, and my son kept peeing on her as she held him while he wore a swim diaper. She’s had three kids and is a NICU nurse and didn’t care at all.

But yep, swim dipes are meant to hold in solid poop.

Just so you know, reusable diapers don’t hold in liquid waste either.

Yep. So for tiny babies they aren’t going to do much, since it’s not solid yet.


When we went in a pool with DS we would wait until after he’d, um, used a diaper, cleaned him up and put on the swim diaper (we were about half and half with reusable swim dipes). He always, from the beginning, had very obvious “tells” for bathroom needs, which made swimming easier. We never went to a splash zone when he was tiny so that would be even easier to notice.

If baby uses the swim dipe for #2 at that age it’ll be an end to the water play for that point (if liquidy enough it’ll be the end to everyone using the area for a period of time), and if it’s reusable you’ll need to wash it well.

Otherwise I treated the reusables like swimsuits. Rinse them out and hang to dry. Easy. And just like with swimsuits, if using them day after day I wouldn’t stress about it being bone dry.

 

[bumbershoot]

We did use reusable swim diapers and liked them, but not for travel. Even if you didn't wash them after every use, they are thicker than normal cloth diapers and would take a long while for it to dry in your cabin's shower.

That is very much not our experience with reusable swim diapers. They were a thin terry cloth inside and a PUL outer, with strong elastic at the legs and were meant to be tight.

Nowhere near as thick as the cloth diapers.