Toddler life vest

[seumask]

We have had ours on board since they were weeks old. At 18 months they are pretty mobile and I would suggest a harness for when there is less chance of swimming action, and a bouyancy aid with a harness built into it for when there is more chance. We used a mixture of both. We were more impressed with the Baltic ones than the crew saver ones, and had both, wih harness point on the rear. Had to add crotch straps to the harness's again always worn with the attachment point at the back.
My 2 year old daughter was pleased to have a life jacket on when I slipped getting into the inflatable tender with her one day at anchorage in Alum bay and although she cant remember the incident the family often laugh about it as I was desperate to keep her above the water while I was very definably under the water from the moment she fell in despite being all of 2 ft away from the rubber dub, she was floating very nicely.
She has subsequently had many planned exits from he boat in her buoyancy aids and loved swimming in it before she became a confident swimmer

 

[bobhunt]

Lol,Thanks for that seumask,I can just see you now! Did a similar thing in Bermuda but my cargo was just bread?

 

[mattbaker]

Well, it's quite an old thread and the information here is very old. Now, there are plenty of modern toddler life vests that can do plenty of work at once like giving their neck foam support, some even protect them from the sun, and keeping them safe within so they don't get out while wriggling. Also, it has some mechanism by which even if the toddler fell on the mouth then he/she will rotate and the face will come on the top.

Which actually gives a sense of relieve to the parent. Well, to my opinion Full Throttle Baby life jacket will be a great option, and also, the Stearns Infant is also good.

Source - https://lifejacketexpert.com/best-life-jacket-for-toddlers/

 

[LadyInBed]

My granddaughter is 20 months. She hasn't been on the boat yet but at that age I would have her in a toddler LJ for any transfers but when onboard she would never be unsupervised so a harness and maybe a retractable style dog lead to give her some freedom of movement would do a job.
When my daughters were about 7-9 they were on the pontoon in St PP playing with a couple of kids from another boat. These other two has LJ's on but mine didn't, guess which two fell in the water!

 

[mattbaker]

Oh yes, Stohlquist is the best I ever got with Stears Infant being the second. If you want comfort and buoyancy, Stohlquist is the best, otherwise, if you want head support go for Stearns.

 

[steveej]

Have had both mine on boats from 6 months whereby we used a Baltic foam + harness life jacket. They spent most of the time down below until the age of three or so, we have been through numerous life jackets, crewsave supersafe offshore with the extra inflation bladder, standard crewsaver foam, and we are now finally onto automatic gas aged 5 and 6 (which I am not totally happy about but at least they will wear them).

The most important thing is that they are tied onto the boat at all times when in the cockpit and never allowed up on deck by themselves ever. Some old climbing gear achieved this better than anything from the chandlers.

It is a struggle because they hate the foam. They can be distracted for a few moments with food (biscuit etc), but our rule is that if they don't want to wear the life jacket they're not allowed on deck. Me and the wife also wear ours to demonstrate it is the same rule for everybody.