8 month old Iz in a Imse Vimse Reusable Swim Diapers

With Spring Break on the horizon, your family might be getting ready to take a vacation to a warm destination where you’ll be spending lots of time pool or ocean side? Or perhaps you take baby swimming on a regular basis at the local recreation center for open swim or to participate in a baby swim class? Or you might be among the lucky few who live near an ocean and visit the beach frequently? Whatever the case maybe, if you are taking your baby swimming, you might consider using a cloth swim diaper.

Cloth swim diapers carry all the same ecological and economical benefits that regular cloth diapers do! Here, let’s actually do the math:

Name brand disposable swim diapers run about .90cents a piece. A brand new Imse Vimse Reusable Swim Diaper in a size large will cost you about $16 and on average will fit baby from 6months old to 15 months old. But remember that cloth diapers can be used with multiple kids. The Imse Vimse pictured here on 8 month old Iz, was actually used by his two older brothers when they were babies. So imagine how many uses this bathing suit has gotten, keeping in mind that we live in a hot, dry climate and have access to a pool and hot tub on a daily basis.  Let’s just pretend we’ve used it 100 times, even though the actual number of uses is probably higher. If we had been using disposable swim diapers we would have spent about $90, so using a cloth swim diaper saved us around $74 (not to mention that is 100 less diapers in the landfill). However it’s likely that the savings are even higher simply due to the convenience of always having a swim diaper available. You know how it is when you have to run to the store for something, you are likely to pick up other random stuff even if there is only one item such as ‘swim diapers’ on your list. Or you stop at a higher-priced convenient store on the way to the beach to pick up swim diapers and pay twice the amount you would at a big box store. The convenience of always having a swim diaper available is definitely an added bonus in my mind. Additionally because I have boys, the cloth swim diaper also functioned as a bathing suit so I never needed to purchase a separate bathing suit.

Bummis Swimmi Swim Diaper

Now you might be wondering if a cloth swim diaper is effective in holding in messes in the water. In my five years experience we have had no issues with blowouts in the pool…thank goodness! The design of cloth swim diapers is not to absorb, but to contain. Therefore you want to be sure to have a snug, but comfortable fit. In addition to the Imse Vimse Reusable Swim Diaper  I have a Bummis Swimmi Swim Diapers. One thing I like about the design of the Bummis Swimmi Swim Diaper is the velcro closure because it allows a custom fit. I also like the interior mesh fabric as it seems very effective in containing messes. The other question you might have is in regards to how well the fabric holds up with the repeated chlorine exposure. And my answer would be it does surprisingly well! As previously mentioned we’ve used the same swim diaper with multiple children over multiple years with no issues of the fabric wearing out prematurely.

Both the Bummis Swimmi Swim Diaper and the Imse Vimse Reusable Swim Diaper are great swim diaper options…and I almost forgot to mention that they both come in super-duper adorable prints including gender-specific and gender-neutral options. 🙂

Do you use a cloth swim diaper with your baby? Any extra thoughts to share? Would love to hear from you!

-Sarah