Toddler swimming armbands or floats

[spanners45]

Hi there,

We are going on a beach holiday with our kid and I wanted to get some recommendations on arm bands vs floats/suit thingy w floats in it. He is just over 2 and loves water so I have no doubt he will want to spend most of his time in it. Are arm bands better/safer? I.e. put them on and forget about it? If so, any particular brands? Is the little vest w floats a bit uncomfortable for them?

Thanks for your thoughts!

[esme]

Yep vest / ring cumbersome and take a while to blow up - go for arm bands, you will need to be with them anyway so wdnt worry too much but arm bands should keep him afloat :) I too have a 2 yr old!

[Norfolkvillas]

We've just been on hols with our 2.5 year old. About a year ago I bought some of the polystyrene swim rings from someone on this forum, and they've been brilliant. Easy to get on, no blowing up, and my son who started with 4 per arm has this holiday been kicking about with just one per arm - almost proper swimming!

[njc97]

My son has the best with polystyrene inserts. Less restricting than arm bands and "safer" in that when he's got it on you don't need to worry about him going underwater, while with armbands he still needed to swim to stay afloat (and so when he stopped, he sank....)

[prickle]

Both my daughters learned to swim using Polly Otter swimsuits with polystyrene inserts. Brilliant and much better than arm bands.

[Nikkikf]

Check out the swim fin on Amazon - we got one for my 4yr old this year and it's brilliant. Keep kids horizontal replicating swim position better than arm bands and gave my son loads of freedom on holiday!