With summer approaching fast, and the swimming pools opening soon, I thought I would share some of the products I have come across and recommend for babies to have a safe and enjoyable day out at the pool.
My daughter is super pale with light blue eyes so I know I have to be prepared to keep her from burning and shield her very sensitive eyes from the sun. When researching products I look for ones with one or all of these attributes: beautiful design, innovative, handmade, organic/natural, less or chemical-free, environmentally friendly, & independent/ start-up. I try to find things that are better versions of mainstream products, ones that save me time, or bring me sanity.
I haven’t used everything below personally yet, but these are the products that I think are really useful and worth the money, so I have bought them and shipped them to my parents house in the US.
I love the flamingo it makes me happy but it doesn’t offer any sun protection which is why I really looked into safe and natural baby sunblock so I avoid all the chemicals. I used SafeMama to help me understand what to avoid and what to buy. Even if it is white or more difficult to put on I am happy to still use it because I know it’s the best for her sensitive skin.
I also put time into researching baby sunglasses as the majority of them out there offer no UVA/UVB protection at all which means they are useless. I found ones that offer 100% UVA/UVB and offer more expensive polarized lenses as well, which is what I purchased because her eyes are so light and sensitive. I love the company – they have a good story and great branding but also a fantastic product! It may be a lot pricier but their sunglasses are indestructible and if you lose them they will replace them for free!
Another product I’m excited to use is the wet/dry bag which I am going to use to put her wet swimsuit in and keep her dry clothes in the dry section.
It’s obvious that I have a girl from below 🙂 however all of the products I recommend are gender neutral (i.e. towel , bag, hat, swimsuit) it’s just a matter of finding the equivalent item that is more boyish or your baby’s style. The towel, bag, hat and sunglasses all come in multiple colors and other designs.
I’m in the middle of my two month trip to the US and wanted to let you know my thoughts on the products above.
Badger sunblock- it goes on thick and white but it’s creamy so it’s easy to apply. I prefer that it’s white so I can literally see where it goes as my baby is super pale. I thought the SPF30 wouldn’t be enough for her pale skin but we never got a burn but we also made sure she was only outside for 2-3 hours max. It also still worked after she was in the pool for a while.
Wet/dry bag – super handy to put wet clothes and a change of dry clothes in and it can hang off of the pram.
IPlay hat – we used this everyday it’s great coverage, you can get it wet and wash it the only issue is it’s hard for her to see so we fold the front of it up often.
Inflatable – we didn’t get this one but I definitely recommend an inflatable because it allows you to not hold them constantly in the water and she loved it.
Babiators – I love them but she won’t keep them on even with a strap in the back. So we will try again next year as the are 0-3 years old in size.
Sunsie – I bought one from the same company without the hood and have used it a couple times. It’s great for when they have already been in the sun and you don’t want any more exposure but need to be outside. I bought the 12-18 months even though she’s 9-10 on our trip and it fits fine.