Lifejackets for babies

[Guest]

Has anyboady out there taken babies (3-6 months) sailing ? What sort of lifejackets did you use? Or is there an alternative to a lifejacket? And where can I buy it?

Thanks in advance,
Jim McWhinnie

 

[ccscott49]

There are floating cot affairs, which stay upright. But for the life of me I can't remember who make them, I have one onboard, for when I was chartering, bought it especially for a charter. Just remembered, Crewsaver I do believe. They also make a baby sized jacket, rather cute actually!

 

[andy_wilson]

When I researched this last season, Ocean Safety could happily supply a floating cot.

However as these were only produced and therefore certificated for use on aircraft, the cost was around £900.

COSALT in Liverpool supplied mail order an arrangement that could best be described as a small buoyancy aid combined with a sleeping bag.

Zip the little darling in and they will be gripped by the neck (honest) and tied to mum or dad with a tether.

Not sure whether I feel it was worth the £70 or so, but then it was never worn as baby would get a stiff neck if not supported by water.

So that's OK then.

Purely to be donned in an emergency I'd say.

 

[homa]

We took our 3 month old baby sailing last year.
Forget the floating cot.
Go for the smallest baby lifejacket. I do not know the brand ouf ours, but it should last a couple of seasons before you need to upgrade to the next size.
Most important thing to look for is a crotch strap (stops your baby slipping out of the bottom), and a big collar, supposed to turn baby's face up if dropped into water.
It has worked really well. This year he's 15 mths old & the lifejacket fits well. I recon he should get another seasons use out of it, before we need to look for the next size up.
When you go shopping the lifejackets are sold by babies weight.
Enjoy your sailing, it's easy the first year, 2nd year he can move about & wants to climb everything !!
NOTE, other thing we found usefull was a second hand car seat, useful at feeding time and particularly when sailing or mooring up. lash seat in cockpit, baby is happy watching what's going on. A parasol or sunshade is also a must.


Homa

 

[ninnes]

We've sailed with our children from 4 months onwards. Baby lifejackets have done us well but try to get one that has the top part of the "lapels" cut away as much as possible. Our little men had no necks and jackets without the cut-out would ride up under their chin when they sat down. This led them to dislike the jackets when they became more independant (around 1 yr) until we got the cut-away versions.
Now aged 3 and 5 they want to nothing else but go in the boat. Get 'em young!
Nick

 

[yachtcharisma]

We've used Crewsaver's smallest lifejacket for Emily since the age of about 5 months (she's now 10 months). It was certainly a bit on the large size at first, so I don't think you could use it much below 5 months. It fits her very well now, and the attached whistle provides hours (well, minutes at least) of fun - though she hasn't yet worked how to blow it!

We never managed a very satisfactory solution when she was younger, to be honest. We had a chat with a very helpful chap from Crewsaver at the London Boat Show, who basically confirmed what has been suggested above - the "floating cot" type things are very expensive and really produced for commercial use only. He reckoned there isn't really a product for babies below 6 months. The best we came up with was Em in a strap on "carrier" - the sort from Mothercare that lets you carry them strapped to your front - she went everywhere in that at that time anyway. We either "wore" her in that and made sure we were clipped on ourselves, or clipped the carrier onto the boat and let her sit in a corner of the cockpit. But we were fairly conservative in our cruising area - across Plymouth sound was about as ambitious as we got until she was 6 months or so!

Hope you manage a satisfactory solution, and enjoy cruising with a baby. They certainly provide a talking point at marinas!

Cheers
Patrick

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Sailing a Corribee
vzone.virgin.net/patrick.fox
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[Romeo]

Have you thought about leaving the kids at home with your wife and taking your brother in law for a sail instead?

 

[Romeo]

Or for that matter you could leave the weans behind with your brother in law and take your wife for a sail.

 

[Guest]

The advice already proffered to ensure that the jacket is comfortable is very important. I won't bore you with the horror story but if when baby becomes a toddler they have already learnt to dislike life jackets then a toddler will take it off. When the toddler stage arrives make absolutely sure that you buy a jacket that is really difficult for little fingers to take off. If necessary put a tie wrap round the buckle.

 

[shamrock]

We regularly take our daughter sailing, she is now six months old, started sailing at 3 weeks and has been out about 10 times since then. We don't use a life jacket at all, working on prevention being better than cure. We are fortunate that we can always leave and arrive at a pontoon berth, so we have rigged a strong point in the ceiling of the cabin, about 4 feet in front of the companion way. We take the car seat from the car (it's one of these travel systems) and suspend it from the ceiling. We then hook bungee cord to the hand holds either side of the cabin, and a fore and aft bungee round the mast. She loves it, she swings gently as the boat moves and can see us working in the cockpit. This has worked very well during cruising and a couple of races. The most we have been out with her like this is in about force 6-7, and she enjoyed it a lot more than her mum.

In the event of emergency, our plan would be to take her in the baby bjorn sling with mum (the strongest swimmer and lightest adult) and rely on the adult lifejacket which is rated well above their combined weight. Our cruising is well and truly coastal, mostly around the creeks and backwaters of the Ipswich area.

This is all going to work well for another couple of months, but once she is more mobile, we will have to start thinking some more.

It's great having her with us, good for her and very good for us to still do some of the things that make us want to be a family in the first place.

 

[Mirelle]

Carry a spare

child, I mean, not lifejacket. We have a 7 year old who is genuinely useful round the boat and genuinely keen, and a seven month old, whom we will buy a lifejacket for when he is crawling and toddling. Until then he takes his chances, which realistically means depending on mother's 150 newton lifejacket. We looked at but dismissed the cot idea.