Any suggestions on what to get? My daughter will likely be hitting the water sometime in May at the latest. She we be about 3 months by then What have you guys used?
Not really concerned about cost, more concerned about safety and something that could potentially be used for swimming with us this summer.
Something like this: infant lifejacket
Let me look in the garage as I might have one for you, free of charge. 
Nic the one in the post above is very similar to the one I used for my daughters 15 years ago. I was very fortunate and never had to find out how well they work. Hope you don’t either.
For toddler size, I have a bunch of PFDs collecting dust. I think we might even still have the girl’s baby swim suits with the built in inner tube floating thing
The neoprene ones seem to be more comfortable for the kid. We didn’t have one of those, just the cheap model at cabela’s and it was not very comfortable, made the switch and it made a difference
I would definatly get neoprene. I got my son the a neoprene jacket and he didn’t mind it at all. He was 3 months for his first boat ride.
The neoprene are a lot cooler. If you get the standard vinyl or nylon or whatever they make them out of, the kid will be sweating bullets before you ever leave the dock. My step daughter will wear her neoprene one for hours even when its 90 degrees outside.
I just gave mine away 2 months ago to another family. Both of my girls seemed to be more comfortable in a Neopreme jacket because I owned both. If you go to Samsclub you will get the best deal on them. I think I paid less then $20 for a Neopreme one at Sams. All infant jackets should have the head float on them, if not, do not buy it. This will keep your child safe and floating upright incase you are knocked out. I am going to tell you that as the kids get older make sure you buy a jacket with a grab handle because one of my kids was knocked off the dock by the dog one time and even though they would have been safe the handle made for a quick recovery as to prevent any panic!
Avoid the high collar that goes up around the neck….kids HATE that feeling and don’t want to wear the life jacket, which of course is not an option. It’s usually not an issue when they are standing up, but when you put them in a seated position the jacket pushes up around their ears and makes em moody. 
With my kids both hated the life jacket when they were under 1 year of age. We bought a lot of different ones and could not find one that they liked. We did stick to the neoprene, it seems to be the best. The problem is that they are snug around the neck and when in a seated position they just cant get comfortable. Good luck!
If in the Chippewa Valley, Zacho Sports has both nylon and neoprene infant and small child lifejackets on display. Phone there is 715-723-0264.
Here is the neoprene one we used last summer on our daughter. This was from Walmart. She didn’t mind it, and actually ended up falling asleep quit often in it. She did not like it when we were first putting it on though.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
