Splashabout Floatsuit review: toddler travel essentials
Minnie has been swimming since she was a few weeks old. Well, she’s been going to swimming lessons, which isn’t exactly the same thing… At first, she was a water baby, happy to splash, dive and a natural in the water.
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Then as she got older, it got harder. She didn’t want to do anything she didn’t want to do, and that included practically every aspect of her toddler swimming lessons. Despite patient teachers, it became 30 minutes I would dread – I practically ended up bribing her with soft play afterwards.
So I’ve tried all kinds of things to help her – a shark’s fin float which people raved about. She loved it as a toy and barely used in the water. A noodle, which helped… briefly.
Then I saw a few floatsuits reviews and started looking into them for our Florida trip… and I am gobsmacked at the Splashabout floatsuit.
The design is pretty straighforward – a standard swimming costume with pockets around the waist for floats.
The Splashabout float suit has 16 small floats, two for each of the eight pockets so it’s easy to make small adjustments, plus UPF 50+ sun protection which is good in the US sun.
But the result? Within moments of getting in the pool, Minnie had already got the idea of swimming unaided. And jumping in (though we have to practise doing that with mouth closed). And chasing a ball around the pool.
All while shrieking with glee and announcing ‘swimming is fun’.
It’s like being in the pool with a different girl. She has been begging to go in every day, asking for a couple of floats to be taken out (briefly at least) and is getting more and more daring about swimming further out into the pool.
We’ve even progressed to taking three floats out and her confidence is just transformed, even as she has to work a bit harder to stay afloat.
Obviously we’re a long way from actual solo swimming, and her technique could use some improvement but another great thing about these is that they help kids learn the correct position to be in – unlike the classic armbands, for example.
So she’s already paddling and kicking well a lot of the time after about five days’ use, I can only imagine how fast she might progress if we start going regularly again at home. And that’s much more tempting now there are fewer tears and more giggles.
While she’s still never unsupervised by the pool, it’s reassuring to think that this would help if she did fall in too.
Prices start from around £25, which seems a significantly better investment than the cost of recent swimming lessons and similar to most UV swimsuits.
And while we were sent the new Candy Stripe version to review, I love the fact there’s some cute non-pink versions.
Any downsides in this rave floatsuit review? About the only one is getting her in and out – they’re designed to be snug! The 2-4yr version is a good fit for my relatively petite three-year and two-month-old, but it’s a bit of a mission to get it on and off.
It’s easier without all the floats in – but once kids are potty trained, make sure you go *before* wriggling into the suit. I cannot stress this enough…
So do I recommend this? Are you kidding? I’m not going anywhere without it.
Disclosure: Product provided free for this floatsuit review but all opinions remain my own (and my daughter’s). This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission
Product image courtesy of Splashabout, all other images copyright MummyTravels
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This looks like a really great float suit. My son used a similar one on holiday and it really helped him to become comfortable in the pool.
It’s incredible the difference it’s made – I love that there’s 16 floats, so you can remove them little by little too.
I bought Baby one, but she hasn’t worn it yet. Your little one looks very happy in it x
She adores it – doesn’t want to wear any other swimming costumes now!
I love float suits for babies and kids! They’re so much safer and makes me feel a bit better about letting my children near water. Although mine are a bit older now, they don’t need them anymore. I also really love the pinky/peachy colours of this one! So cute.
It is a really pretty design I think, and definitely helps to set your mind at rest a bit.
This looks great and perfect for toddler’s. Something like this would be idea for my two year old as she adores swimming but hates wearing a ring and / or armbands xx
Definitely worth a try – seems very comfortable and because it’s built in, you don’t need to worry about extra bits like armbands etc (or in my case, her getting bored and letting go of them…)
This looks fab! Our daughter has something similar and it gives her such confidence in the water! xx
They really are great, aren’t they – I couldn’t believe what a difference it made. By the last day of our trip, we’d taken six floats out, and she was angling to remove another!
A float suit is such a great idea – I’m pretty sure they didn’t exist when my two were small 🙂 It would have made life and swim lessons a lot easier!
It’s not something I’d come across much until I saw one on another blog. I think I’d seen the little float jackets but the built-in floats are so much easier.
I brought something similar for my daughter, although she would love it in pink as hers is lime green! It really helps to boost confidence whilst in the water x 🙂
My daughter would actually love the green! Her favourite colour – although this is very cute too.
Ahh these are fantastic! My son has a similar one and I just love it, it gives him such confidence and puts me at ease too! xx
I’ve seen some lovely swimsuit versions for boys too – so glad I came across it.
I tried a float suit for my son but I felt he couldn’t really balance right with it if you know what I mean. He doesn’t like going to swimming lessons so it’s hard trying to find something to help him swim and keep him safe. We went for a SwimFin in the end. He’s happy with it so I’m happy 🙂
Great review #TriedTested
I know what you mean – especially with all the floats in. I think it was easier for my daughter once we took a few out. It’s funny, I had so many people recommend Swim Fin and it obviously works really well for a lot, but she just didn’t take to it. As you say, something which keeps them safe and gives them confidence is the most important thing.
Really interesting, I’ve been looking at a variety of swimming aids lately for Monkey as we go on holiday soon. I’ve gone for the shark fin and hope gets on better with it than your little lady. We shall see! Glad you’ve found something that works for her though! Xx
I know a few people love the shark fin so hopefully it works for Monkey – have a lovely holiday!
This looks great. Tin Box Tot got in the pool with me this summer but clung to me the whole time. Last year she wasn’t going near the water however much we tried to persuade her in, so we are making progress. I think something like this would give her a lot more confidence #triedtested
That sounds a lot of our swimming lessons – like being strangled by a distraught octopus. I’d definitely recommend trying this, it made such an incredible difference.
We had a similar sort of thing for our two although ours were jackets that they wore over the top of their swimsuits. This looks like it would be much more comfortable though. #TriedTested
I did see the jackets and wonder whether they might ride up a bit so it was lovely having the floats in the suit.
You certainly had a great place to test it out! #triedtested
It’s definitely more fun popping into your private pool in the sun than the local leisure centre in the rain!