Infant life jackets? (And I’m gonna need two!! ?)

[biglar155]

@dg freeze ......with kids, grandkids and friends' kids we have found the motion of the boat soothes them and even puts them to sleep. Your biggest challenge will come (trust me) when they figure out how to use your boat stereo/amp and want to play their music which will start out as the Muppets then graduate to Katy Perry, Taylor Swift.......you'll know you've lost it when you start humming along to "their" tunes when you are alone in your own car.....it's coming - rest-up!!!!!

This is true unless you plan far enough ahead. I raised mine on 80's rock from the time they were young. (With a good deal of diving for the volume knob when 'certain' songs came on.) This means I can get away with an 80's Pandora station - even when they bring friends - and everyone is happy. Not 'their' music per se but it doesn't elicit groans and "Awww Dad C'mon" either.

Picture this: Dancing with my 4 little kids around the living room to the Blue Angels music video version of Van Halen's "Dreams" or cruising down the road with Warrant's "Down Boys" playing in the car and 4 little heads banging away. (Be smart with the volume. Let them damage their OWN hearing.)

10 years later I can at least listen to my own stuff on my own boat.

Your mileage WILL vary.

 

[PEARCE]

This is true unless you plan far enough ahead. I raised mine on 80's rock from the time they were young. (With a good deal of diving for the volume knob when 'certain' songs came on.) This means I can get away with an 80's Pandora station - even when they bring friends - and everyone is happy. Not 'their' music per se but it doesn't elicit groans and "Awww Dad C'mon" either.

Picture this: Dancing with my 4 little kids around the living room to the Blue Angels music video version of Van Halen's "Dreams" or cruising down the road with Warrant's "Down Boys" playing in the car and 4 little heads banging away. (Be smart with the volume. Let them damage their OWN hearing.)

10 years later I can at least listen to my own stuff on my own boat.

Your mileage WILL vary.

I love 80's music! As a result our teen and almost ten love it as well! For the longest time we had a satellite radio subscription in our truck and you can guess which station I had it on the most. I listen to a lot of classic rock now and guess which decade a lot of it is from. That's right, the 80's! Our preteen son was singing along to a Don Henley or Eagles song this weekend and it put a smile on my face.

 

[PEARCE]

@dgfreeze congrats on the big news! That's awesome and scary at the same time! Our kids have literally grown up on our Yamaha. Our daughter was 2 when we bought it and our son went for his first boat ride at about 5 months. Absolutely loved it! The motion and the hum of the engines soothes and will put them right to sleep. Just keep them in the shade the best you can and they will be fine.

 

[dgfreeze]

@dgfreeze congrats on the big news! That's awesome and scary at the same time! Our kids have literally grown up on our Yamaha. Our daughter was 2 when we bought it and our son went for his first boat ride at about 5 months. Absolutely loved it! The motion and the hum of the engines soothes and will put them right to sleep. Just keep them in the shade the best you can and they will be fine.

Thanks! I plan to spend a lot of time with them on the water. I put a tower and bimini on the boat, so the goal is to make a contraption to hang the carseats from the tower so they're under the bimini.

I'm also a fan of older music, but more down the lines of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and all the other outlaws. A lot of 80's rock is good too, but even country music took a dive this millennium. New music is almost all trash. A few good ones here and there, but I can't take much of it. I'm already old and crotchety. I'm gonna yell at my own kids to get off the lawn...lol

 

[PEARCE]

You don't need to get too fancy! We used a bouncer for our son to lay in while anchored so air could flow around him to help him stay cool. My wife would hold him most of the time while we'd be running. I know you'll have 2 so your situation is x2 so you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

I'm with you with the current country music, mainly out of Nashville. I like red dirt Texas country like Randy Roger's Band, Josh Abbott Band, Stoney LaRue, Aaron Watson, Wade Bowen, etc. I like a few of the Nashville singers like Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, and last but not least George Strait. I do occasionally get the eye roll from the kids because I know what I like and I don't variate too much. I kinda rely on the them to spice up the playlist every now and then.

 

[Julian]

Congratulations....(I'm no help on the baby lifejacket front)

 

[dgfreeze]

You don't need to get too fancy! We used a bouncer for our son to lay in while anchored so air could flow around him to help him stay cool. My wife would hold him most of the time while we'd be running. I know you'll have 2 so your situation is x2 so you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

I'm with you with the current country music, mainly out of Nashville. I like red dirt Texas country like Randy Roger's Band, Josh Abbott Band, Stoney LaRue, Aaron Watson, Wade Bowen, etc. I like a few of the Nashville singers like Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, and last but not least George Strait. I do occasionally get the eye roll from the kids because I know what I like and I don't variate too much. I kinda rely on the them to spice up the playlist every now and then.

Honestly, I hadn't thought of the potential for overheating... this parenting thing is hard...lol Back to the drawing board. Problem is, they're due in February, so I'm afraid they won't be able to hold their heads up on their own for the first half of the season... And maybe I should just plan on them using the swing once they can hold their heads up. I think that's probably the way to go...

 

[dgfreeze]

For the record, when I started this thread, I had infant life jackets narrowed down to like, 2 maybe 3. Now I'm at like 6... You were supposed to all agree that one certain life jacket is the perfect one.

 

[tabbibus]

My last one was onboard after only a couple of months! We use the infant vest from Costco. At 16 months now she still uses it.

Here she is at maybe 2 month old.


I highly recommend this little bed thing as well. Got is a a gift so not sure what it’s called.


This is her now grown into the vest


And now that she’s bigger we use this to get her into the lake.

 

[agannole93]

My last one was onboard after only a couple of months! We use the infant vest from Costco. At 16 months now she still uses it.

Here she is at maybe 2 month old.
View attachment 134458

I highly recommend this little bed thing as well. Got is a a gift so not sure what it’s called.
View attachment 134459

This is her now grown into the vest
View attachment 134461

And now that she’s bigger we use this to get her into the lake.
View attachment 134460

@dgfreeze that's the Hyperlite Life Vest, I think it showed up in some of my searches as well.

 

[2kwik4u]

Our youngest has been on the boat since he was a wee lad. I think he was on around 2mo or so. Maybe sooner. Born in April '18, and I know we were on the water with him for Memorial Day Weekend, so maybe sooner.

used this thing a LOT when he was little. Can't see it, but he wore it like a pair of overalls. Not really a vest, but he enjoyed the water early. This was August, so he was just over 4mo old in this pic.


This was September 3, so he 5mo and a day here. It's a basic Bass Pro infant vest. It was a little big for him at the time, but a water test showed it did well to float and roll him onto his belly, so we were confident in it.


This one is may 2019. He clearly has grown a little. This swing from the tower was amazing. He would sit in the shade for an hour or more and drink on his sippy cup and just take it all in.


This one is the same day in May. You can see we let him start using the "water wings" jackets. This things actually work pretty good, and are USCG approved. I don't trust them while underway, but for swimming they work really well.


This one is June of this year. 26mo old. He's a BIG kid, so he grew into larger jackets pretty fast. He's good with this one pretty much all the time at this point. Only really hot days does he ask for the other "water wings" style one.


@dgfreeze congrats on the new additions to the family. For us, the hardest part about the toddler has been keeping him cool and comfortable while on the boat. We've added shade in to the bow, and let him sleep up there often. We've also gotten in the habit of an "afternoon ride" to get him to nap and not be a holy freaking terror. Once he gets sleepy/tired or hungry he's a dang handful. Strong willed doesn't even scratch the surface of this childs resolve to make sure you know he's not happy. HOWEVER, a nice boat ride will rock/drone him to sleep pretty quickly, and then we can drape a towel or something over him to get him out of the sun, and idle around the lake for an hour to get him a nap. Usually works pretty well, and honestly on more occasions than one, the wife and 9yr old have taken a nap as well. Leaving me to listen to some music, enjoy the breeze and sip a beverage.

I will say 110% without a doubt, getting them used to the water early is worthwhile. Both of my boys are part fish, and they both beg to go on the boat all the time. They've both been on the water since, quite literally months old, and IMO are better off for it. Fresh air, little imagination, some play time, and all the rest of the stuff that comes with being on the water. You'll know it's been a really good day, when the kids are asleep in the truck before you get away from the ramp!

 

[dgfreeze]

My last one was onboard after only a couple of months! We use the infant vest from Costco. At 16 months now she still uses it.

Here she is at maybe 2 month old.
View attachment 134458

I highly recommend this little bed thing as well. Got is a a gift so not sure what it’s called.
View attachment 134459

This is her now grown into the vest
View attachment 134461

And now that she’s bigger we use this to get her into the lake.
View attachment 134460

I like the baby bed... might try to find a couple of them. Maybe there's some with a detachable roof of some sort.

@dgfreeze that's the Hyperlite Life Vest, I think it showed up in some of my searches as well.

Yes, thanks, I was able to open the link on my desktop, but for whatever reason, it wouldn't open on my phone.

Our youngest has been on the boat since he was a wee lad. I think he was on around 2mo or so. Maybe sooner. Born in April '18, and I know we were on the water with him for Memorial Day Weekend, so maybe sooner.

used this thing a LOT when he was little. Can't see it, but he wore it like a pair of overalls. Not really a vest, but he enjoyed the water early. This was August, so he was just over 4mo old in this pic.
View attachment 134474

This was September 3, so he 5mo and a day here. It's a basic Bass Pro infant vest. It was a little big for him at the time, but a water test showed it did well to float and roll him onto his belly, so we were confident in it.
View attachment 134475

This one is may 2019. He clearly has grown a little. This swing from the tower was amazing. He would sit in the shade for an hour or more and drink on his sippy cup and just take it all in.
View attachment 134476

This one is the same day in May. You can see we let him start using the "water wings" jackets. This things actually work pretty good, and are USCG approved. I don't trust them while underway, but for swimming they work really well.
View attachment 134477

This one is June of this year. 26mo old. He's a BIG kid, so he grew into larger jackets pretty fast. He's good with this one pretty much all the time at this point. Only really hot days does he ask for the other "water wings" style one.
View attachment 134478

@dgfreeze congrats on the new additions to the family. For us, the hardest part about the toddler has been keeping him cool and comfortable while on the boat. We've added shade in to the bow, and let him sleep up there often. We've also gotten in the habit of an "afternoon ride" to get him to nap and not be a holy freaking terror. Once he gets sleepy/tired or hungry he's a dang handful. Strong willed doesn't even scratch the surface of this childs resolve to make sure you know he's not happy. HOWEVER, a nice boat ride will rock/drone him to sleep pretty quickly, and then we can drape a towel or something over him to get him out of the sun, and idle around the lake for an hour to get him a nap. Usually works pretty well, and honestly on more occasions than one, the wife and 9yr old have taken a nap as well. Leaving me to listen to some music, enjoy the breeze and sip a beverage.

I will say 110% without a doubt, getting them used to the water early is worthwhile. Both of my boys are part fish, and they both beg to go on the boat all the time. They've both been on the water since, quite literally months old, and IMO are better off for it. Fresh air, little imagination, some play time, and all the rest of the stuff that comes with being on the water. You'll know it's been a really good day, when the kids are asleep in the truck before you get away from the ramp!

You are where I first saw the whole "swing" idea. It'll be fun to figure out how to effectively hang two side by side, or make a double wide... That's gonna happen in some way, shape, or form... The wife did find a small inflatable water seat, or whatever you call it. Should probably get another one, I don't know...lol But, we will absolutely be getting them accustomed to the water.