Tag: sunscreen

How to take your baby swimming

On By jocairdwp1 Comment

Taking your baby or toddler swimming is great fun, whether you’re visiting your local pool or taking a dip in a hotel pool on holiday. Your little one might be nervous of the water at first – clinging onto you like a baby monkey and objecting every time her face gets wet – but it won’t be long before she’s merrily splashing and demanding to be thrown up in the air.

Some of the information in this post will be applicable to swimming in the sea but my main focus here is swimming pools (I cover beach visits more fully elsewhere on the blog). I found my first few swimming pool visits with the baby girl quite stressful – while the actual swimming part was lovely, the logistics of getting changed, dealing with the pushchair, showering with a baby, etc, were surprisingly challenging. Now I’ve got the hang of it all, I wanted to share what I’ve learnt in the hope that when you start taking your little one swimming, it all goes smoothly from the very start.

Before I begin, a quick note about when to take your baby swimming for the first time. While lots of pools advertise swimming lessons for babies from a few weeks old, it’s advisable to wait until your baby is around six-months-old before taking her swimming in chlorinated water. Young babies have extremely sensitive skin which is easily irritated by the chlorine and other chemicals in pools, and there is some suggestion that immature lungs can be damaged by breathing the chlorine-rich air in badly ventilated indoor swimming pools.

Choosing a pool

 

A toddler looks into a locker
The baby girl investigating the lockers at Archway Pool in North London

Most large public swimming pools in the UK will have a training or toddler pool with warmer water than the main pool, but it’s worth checking in advance. If you end up in a pool where the water temperature is less than around 26°C your swim will be very short indeed, which hardly seems worth the effort.

Outdoor pools at hotels and resorts are very often unheated, so take a small inflatable paddling pool with you that you can fill from the pool or shower and leave to warm up in the sun.

Essential kit

Whatever the temperature, it makes sense for your little one to wear a wetsuit. You’ll be moving around in the water, but your baby probably won’t be and she’ll get cold soon. A wetsuit will buy you time, though bear in mind that even in a warm pool, wearing a wetsuit, 20 minutes is about the maximum time you can expect to spend in the water. A full body wetsuit is also useful in terms of protecting your baby’s skin from the sun if you’re swimming outside.

Swim nappies are required for public pools. You can choose between disposable and washable. Washables are better for the environment and make sense financially if you plan to take your little one swimming a lot. A washable swim nappy fits tightly around your baby’s legs and is worn with a washable cotton liner and flushable paper liner that catch the poo. Disposable swim nappies are more widely available, including at a lot of public pools. If your baby will be in and out of the water a lot over the course of a day – in the pool at a resort, for example – disposables are easier, though once you get the hang of travelling with a couple of spare cotton and paper liners, washables work well too.

I also usually bring a ball or toy watering can to play with in the water, and a poncho towel for warming the baby girl up as fast as possible after showering. Plentiful snacks work as a good distraction for the few minutes when you’re getting dressed after your swim.

Pre-swim

A woman wearing sunglasses swims with a baby at an outdoor pool
Swimming with the baby girl at Verdugo Recreation Center in Los Angeles © Lani Caird

Scope out the whole changing area when you arrive, before you get your baby out of her pushchair. You’re looking for somewhere spacious and close to the baby change table, lockers and showers. If there’s nowhere close to all three, the changing table should be your priority as you’ll need somewhere safe to put your baby while you get ready.

Get yourself ready first, as you want to leave your baby in her nappy until the very last minute – you don’t want her pooing in her swim nappy before you even get in the water. Be as organised as possible when it comes to putting your clothes in the locker so you can get dressed again quickly after you’ve been swimming; same with your baby’s clothes. Your baby will most likely be knackered, cold and hungry by the time you get out the water and have finished showering, so you want the process of getting out of there to be as quick and efficient as possible.

Poolside

Take a small washbag with whatever you need for the shower with you to the poolside, along with a towel. This saves you having to return to the locker before showering.

Post-swim

A toddler in a swimming pool changing room
The baby girl on an escape mission at Highbury Pool in North London

If you’re by yourself with a small baby, the most you’ll realistically be able to do in the shower is rinse off the chlorine. You can then shower properly and give your baby a bath when you get home. Remember to moisturise as the chlorine will dry her skin.

Some pools have baby-friendly changing areas with changing tables or wall-mounted high chairs that can go in the shower, giving you the opportunity to shower properly. Or if your baby can sit or stand by herself, you can put her on the floor at your feet, assuming she’s okay with getting water on her face. As with most things baby-related, it’s nerve-wracking the first time you do it, but fine thereafter.

Don’t worry about getting dry yourself until your baby is dry and warm (ah, the selflessness of parenthood). Once you’re dry, get your baby dressed, then distract her with a bottle or snack of some kind while you get dressed. If you’re breastfeeding, factor a post-swim feed into your timings.

Sun protection for babies and toddlers

On By jocairdwp

Taking your little one out in hot weather can be nerve-wracking. So here are some tips on how to protect that perfect skin from the sun, whether you’re on holiday somewhere exotic or adventuring close to home.

It’s best to keep babies and children out of direct sunlight entirely, particularly at the hottest time of the day, between 11am and 3pm. Put your little one in lightweight clothing so she’s as covered up as possible and use baby-safe sunscreen on any exposed areas. For visits to the beach, swimming pool or paddling pool, a UV-protection suit and hat provide excellent coverage. A sun tent (I like this pop-up one that doubles as a travel cot) means you’ve always got somewhere shady to lay your baby down.

Sunscreen

La Restinga beach
Hanging out in the late afternoon winter sunshine on El Hierro in the Canary Islands

Choose a sunscreen with an SPF (this tells you how much protection the sunscreen offers from UVB radiation) of at least 30 and a UVA star rating of four or five to get maximum coverage. My paediatric dermatologist friend recommends the Australian brand SunSense – it doesn’t actually include a separate UVA rating because in Australia all sunscreens must screen UVA as well as UVB. An SPF50+ sunscreen will filter out at least 98% of UV radiation.

Remember that sunscreen can go off, particularly if the bottle has been left in the sun for extended periods. Have a look for an expiry date on the packaging; if there isn’t one, use it within a year. If you notice the cream has a strange consistency or smell, that probably means it’s degraded, which means it’ll offer less effective sun protection and might even cause irritation to your child’s skin.

Apply sunscreen when doing your baby’s final nappy change before leaving the house – it’s much easier to get consistent coverage when your little one is naked. Apply it all over just in case – you never know when a toddler might decide to strip off, and you want her to be protected if when she does. The easiest way to apply sunscreen to a baby or toddler is with a roll on; these small bottles are expensive for the quantity you get, so I suggest buying a big bottle and making your own roll on from an empty roll-on deodorant – just pop the ball out with a spoon, wash and refill.

Persuading a wriggling toddler to let you apply sunscreen can be challenging, particularly when you’re already out and about and she wants to be dashing around. For some reason the baby girl loves putting on cream (it might be because I used to do a bit of baby massage at bedtime so it’s got cuddly associations for her, but really, who knows?) so I tend to make a big thing of sunscreen, to make it seem like a treat rather than something tedious to be endured. Reapply every two hours, or more frequently if your little one has been in water.

On the move

A pushchair, covered by a black sun shade, sits in an alleyway. A pair of little feet are poking out from underneath the sun shade.
Napping in the narrow back streets of Victoria, the biggest town on the Maltese island of Gozo, with the help of our SnoozeShade

Most pushchair brands make a sun canopy you can attach to keep your baby in the shade when on the move. Personally I find the canopy easier to use than attaching a parasol. A pushchair sleep shade will give you even fuller coverage for when your baby is sleeping.

Now that the baby girl is a bit bigger she hardly ever lets us put the sun canopy up, so it’s a matter of covering up with clothing, a hat (if she can be persuaded to wear a hat; and it’s a big if – I’d welcome tips on how to talk her into it!) and sunscreen.

For a babies in a front-carrying sling, all you need is a hat and sunscreen for her hands and feet. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat yourself can offer extra coverage. Backpack carriers, where your child is high up on your back, often come with a built-in or attachable sun canopy – make sure yours has one before investing.

Dealing with sunburn

If your baby or toddler gets sunburnt, get her out of the sun as soon as possible. Talk to your GP – they may want to see your child to check that the sunburn isn’t severe. In the meantime, cool the skin by applying a damp muslin square or flannel for 15 minutes a few times a day, give her tepid baths, and get her to drink plenty of fluids to cool her down and prevent dehydration. Apply water-based moisteriser (oil-based products can worsen burns) to relieve any itching and give baby paracetamol or ibuprofen if the sunburn is causing her pain.

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14 handy tips for taking your baby or toddler to the beach

On By jocairdwp

It won’t surprise you to learn that beaches are a hit with babies and toddlers. From smashing sand castles (building them is beyond the baby girl so far) to splashing in rock pools, and from putting pebbles in shoes to picking up random bits and bobs and exclaiming excitedly about them, the fun is pretty much endless.

A woman and a baby play on a black sand beach
Playing on the black sand beach in La Restinga, on El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands

The entertainment taken care of, all that’s left to think about are a few practical concerns. Here are my tips:

1. Stay in the shade in the middle of the day, ideally between 10am and 4pm.

2. If your baby is under six months old, keep her out of direct sunlight entirely. Put her in lightweight clothing so she’s as covered up as possible, and use baby-safe sunscreen (the higher SPF the better, but at least 15+) on any exposed areas.

3. Apply sunscreen when changing your baby or toddler’s nappy at home before leaving for the beach. It’s much easier to get consistent coverage for that first application when she’s naked and not already covered in sand. Apply it all over just in case – you never know when a toddler might decide to strip off, and you want there to be sunscreen on when she does.

4. The easiest way to apply sunscreen to a baby or toddler is with a roll on. You can make your own from an empty roll-on deodorant – just pop the ball out with a spoon, wash and refill.

5. Reapply every two hours, or more frequently if your baby has been in water.

A woman in a sun hat carries a baby in a sling on a beach, its head covered by a cloth
The baby girl naps in the sling under a damp cloth on the beach in Goa

6. Minimise the faff of reapplying sunscreen all the time with a UV-protection suit.

7. Pack a spare hat for your baby in your beach bag (one with a peak and long flap at the back is best).

8. When changing your baby’s nappy at or after a visit to the beach, don’t bother trying to remove sand with wipes. Rinse it off or if that’s not an option let it dry then dust it off.

9. Normally I’d recommend using a reusable neoprene swim nappy and cotton inner rather than disposable swim nappies, but rinsing out multiple poo-filled nappy liners on the beach and then taking them home with you isn’t exactly a relaxing way to spend your holiday. So go for disposable swim nappies (remembering that they offer no absorbency so need to be changed out of for the journey home) or, if your little one will just be playing on the beach and not swimming with you, you can just stick with normal nappies.

10. Empty yoghurt pots make excellent sandcastle-building tools if a bucket and spade aren’t readily available.

11. Pack a mini inflatable paddling pool so your child can have a dip even if the sea is too rough or chilly for her to go in.

12. Another good way of keeping your baby cool is by covering her with a damp cloth (though admittedly less successful after she’s started crawling).

13. If your toddler isn’t enthusiastic about drinking water, keep her hydrated in hot weather by offering snacks like cucumber and watermelon.

14. Leave the pushchair at home, unless it’s an all-terrain model, and take your baby to the beach in a sling instead. Dragging a standard buggy through sand or over pebbles is no fun. If you need a place to put your little one down to nap, consider packing the pop-up tent travel cot I wrote about here. It doesn’t offer full UV protection, so you can’t safely leave her in it in full sunshine, but if you’re in the shade, it’s ideal for a snooze.

Baby on holiday in a pop-up tent travel cot on a beach in Goa, with the sun setting over the sea. A mini fan is keeping the baby cool. There are sun loungers on the beach.
The baby girl in her pop-up tent travel cot on the beach in Goa, her miniature fan keeping her cool

Essential kit: baby paddling pool

On By jocairdwp

For most of the babies and toddlers in my life, bath time is an important part of the bed time routine. But what if you’re away from home, and the hotel or holiday rental property where you’re staying doesn’t have a bath tub? Here’s where an inflatable baby paddling pool comes in.

Hosing her off in the shower will get your little one clean, but if she’s not used to it you risk stressing her out with a new experience just at the time of the evening you want her winding down. It’s also a job that really requires two sets of hands until your little one is able to sit up confidently by herself.

You could forgo the bath altogether, of course, and use baby wipes instead, but that’s only really a solution for a short trip. Especially if you’re somewhere hot, and dealing with additional grubbiness-inducing elements like sweat, sunscreen, insect repellent, sand, chlorinated water, etc, you’ll definitely want to find a way to give your baby a proper wash at the end of the day.

How to use a baby paddling pool for bath time

A toddler has a bath in an inflatable paddling pool in the bottom of a shower stall
An inflatable baby paddling pool is useful instead of a bathtub and can be used on the beach too © Steve Pretty

The trick is to travel with an inflatable baby paddling pool, which you position on the floor of the shower, or just on the bathroom floor if the cubicle is too small or awkwardly located. If you don’t have hot running water, as was the case at the place we stayed in Goa when the baby girl was four months old, you can ask the management for a jug of hot water and blend until the temperature of the water in the baby paddling pool is what it should be.

A baby paddling pool is also handy for camping, allowing you to do bath time in the warmth and comfort of your tent or camper van, rather than interrupt the bedtime routine with a chilly walk back from the shower block.

Even if there is a bath tub where you’re staying, a baby paddling pool is a very handy piece of kit for hot climates, and beach destinations in particular. Unless you’re somewhere tropical, the sea will probably be too cold and rough for more than a quick splash. Hotel swimming pools, meanwhile, are often unheated and too chilly for all but the hardiest of babies and toddlers. A baby paddling pool, however, left in the sunshine to warm up a bit, is the perfect option for cooling off and splashing about in.