Swim classes and swim diapers ?'s

DH (the swimmer) and I would like to take our girls to
swim classes. Today we did a "trial run" at a local pool. The good
news: Sam and Syd had fun. The bad news: It exhausted us. Not
the swimming part... But the before and especially the AFTER part
(showering, drying, dressing, etc in locker room and bathroom). For
example: I dressed Sydney and then picked her up to put her in the
stroller. I was still wet in my bathing suit and got her all wet.
Oops.

Any advice to make this work? Are they too young (11 months)?
Should we wait until they are walking? Would that make it harder or
easier?

Another question: The pool says no Huggies swim diapers. Must use reusable swim diaper. Okay, I bought 2, but these are just plastic pants. Am I supposed to put a cloth diaper or something else on them too? Suggestions please.

Mod, Can you link this to 1-5 please?

 

DH (the swimmer) and I would like to take our girls to
swim classes. Today we did a "trial run" at a local pool. The good
news: Sam and Syd had fun. The bad news: It exhausted us. Not
the swimming part... But the before and especially the AFTER part
(showering, drying, dressing, etc in locker room and bathroom). For
example: I dressed Sydney and then picked her up to put her in the
stroller. I was still wet in my bathing suit and got her all wet.
Oops.

Any advice to make this work? Are they too young (11 months)?
Should we wait until they are walking? Would that make it harder or
easier?

Another question: The pool says no Huggies swim diapers. Must use reusable swim diaper. Okay, I bought 2, but these are just plastic pants. Am I supposed to put a cloth diaper or something else on them too? Suggestions please.

Mod, Can you link this to 1-5 please?

 

Basically swim diapers are meant to keep in poop and not pee. They should fit securely around the baby's legs with no gaps so poop doesn't get out. We just used one of our Happy Heiny cloth diapers without an insert as a swim diaper.

I understand what you mean about it being difficult to get dressed afterwards. Did you all divide up the babies and each take one to the dressing room with you? Maybe you can wrap your towel back around yourself before putting the baby in the stroller. Both of my girls were almost 3 when we took them to swimming lessons so I let them stay in the shower where I could see them while I got dressed then I got them both out, put on their robes, and dressed them one at a time.

 

We just went swimming last week, and afterwards was a joke! But then, we had 3 women and 3 babies in a tiny, tiny dressing room.

I think next time we'll just go with DH and the 2 babies & do like we do at home for shower time. I usually go in the shower with 1 baby, wash them & hand to DH while he hands me the next baby. Then, while I'm washing 2nd baby he's getting 1st baby dried & dressed. And we'll probably take one carseat with us for one of them to sit in while the other's getting dressed. We'll see how it works!

 

Here is what I do.......I have to take the younger twin to swim therapy once a week.....it is at the YMCA.......there is a family locker room there, with rooms in it so that only your group is in the room (there is a shower, a toliet (with a door) a sink, a pull down changing station and a bench......I wrap my 15 month old (he has been doing therapy for almost a year) in a towel and start getting him out of his wet items (I than leave him covered in a towel, with a towel under him) and take my suit off (and stay that way until I have him totally dressed and in the stroller....then I get myself dressed.

We find it easier to shower at home.

 

The younger you start swimming the better! We just started our swim class 2 weeks ago and the younger babies in the class take to the water much better than the older ones and the toddlers.

We're still struggling with the logistics of how to get everyone dressed/undressed, too. The easiest way we found to do it is to bring extra help (last week we had a whole entourage -- me, my husband who cannot swim b/c of an achilles injury, my MIL who swims with one of the babies, my MIL's friend, and my husband's grandma). Of course, I can imagine that this may not be an option. Most people don't have lots of people who are thrilled just to watch them squat around in the shallow water with their babies.

The first week when we didn't have all those people it was very awkward. My MIL and I had to lay the babies on the bench by the wall and stand in front of them to try to keep them from rolling off while we tried to change them and ourselves. It was helpful that we went there wearing our suits under our clothes, but, of course, we had to change into dry clothes for the trip home. We also had the problem of getting the dry babies wet with our wet swimming suits. A stroller would have useful for putting the babies into while we got ourselves changed. Just like pp, we didn't even try to shower at the pool.

In terms of diapers, our pool lets us wear the huggies disposables.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I'm hoping to find some helpful hints through this thread, too.

Happy swimming!

 

We are in swim classes now and the boys ar 5.5 mos. The kids do great but we found away around the issues....
We are booked into back to back swim classes. DH stays outside the poo while I am in the pool. I get in the pool with nate and towards the end of that lesson, dh gets drew ready for his lesson. I get out with nate and stand under the shower realy quickly to rinse off, then I switch out with him, he gets nate dressed. I start the lesson with Drew while he gets nate dressed then after Drews lesson, I take him into the dressing room with me with the double stroller. dh takes Nate outside and plays with him in the waiting area until Drew and I are dressed. Sorry I cant help you with the diapers...we are allowed to wear swim diapers. actually, unless you can get classes back to back, I wouldnt be doing it until they can walk. I wanted to do it as soon as possible though because they take to water much better at this age.

 

We started classes 2 weeks ago. Here is how we handle everything.

We dress the girls in one piece outfits before we go and I pack 2 bags with the following items in each: swim diapers, t-shirt, clean diaper, wipes, ziplock bag, 1 towel for baby, 1 for grown-up and little robes for the girls. When we get to the Rec. Center my husband takes one and I take the other and we get them into their swim diapers and a t-shirt then we meet by the pool.

After class we put their robes on them and we each take one baby. Once in the dressing room I (I am not sure how my DH does it) grab the babies towel out of the locker and hit the shower. After the shower I wrap the baby in the towel and lay her on the floor (still wrapped) while I quickly grab my towel from the locker and dry off and get dressed. I try not to get my hair wet in the pool or the shower to make things a little easier. Once I am done, I dress her on the bench (which is pretty tricky since it is so narrow).

There is a family changing room at our Rec. Center but it is alway occupied since there are so many lessons going on. Since the girls are only 6 months we don't mind bringing them into the regular dressing rooms.