Customer Reviews

Swimways Baby Spring Float by Swimways

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this item before my son was born. My son is now 10 months old and he used it for the very first time last week. I can not understand what the previous reviewers are talking about; water over the head? Children climbing out? For children 6 yrs and older? Some reviewers thought they didnt have to blow it up?? Wha..? ???

Water over the head: You are in the pool, hello? My 10 mths old head didn't go below the water line. The only way his head got wet was when i scooped water onto it. At his last dr. appt he was 29" long so maybe thats why he can't really put his face in the water unless he wants to.
Children climbing out: your child is basically suspended inside a cloth/mesh seat. Simple physics wouldn't allow the child to CLIMB out unless he had something to stand on and when floating in the water, what is there but water??? OR unless of course the baby tries to take it off like a pair of pants. I wonder.......OR DIVES out of it? Now would that be the manufacturers fault?
6 yrs and older: I don't know which item that reviewer was talking about but i have the Baby Spring Float package (which is directly from the manufacturer, correct?) in front of me and it clearly says on the back, upper right hand corner "Step 1-Introduction. Ages 9 mos-2 years". I would LOVE to see a 6 yr old fit into this thing.......
And to the reviewers who thought they didnt have to blow this up: Yes, this is a floatation device that uses AIR. It needs to be BLOWN up.

So ANYHOO.........my son used it, he LOVED it. I felt safe with him in it. He splashed around and looked like he could be in there all day long. It allowed him to safely enjoy the water and i could enjoy it with him simply from watching him have a great time in it. The inner tube he sits in can tilt a bit towards the front but the ingenious outer ring keeps the ENTIRE float very stable and keeps the inner ring from tipping too much into the water. I saw some others babies in the pool using other type floats that tipped fully forward and that would certainly make me nervous. And because of the inner and outer tube being so narrow, blowing it up and setting it up takes less than 2 minutes. You don't need to completely make it absolutley flat for it to fit into the mesh bag. I love the travel bag, too!!

Or girls....My son got this when he was just 4 months old, it held him gave him the feel of security, while allowing him to get used to the water and allowing myself and his dad to have our arms! It was great the year we used it. He's gotten a little older now, and this past summer, he wouldn't use it, he couldn't get where he wanted in it! I found it great for him while still a baby under the age of 1, but by the age of 15 months, he wanted his independence and to go where he wanted to. His head wouldn't go in the water with this one though and i helped him learn to slowly put his head in the water. He still does that now! It was a great buy and one that I would buy again over and over!

After reading the reviews, I couldn't possibly understand how a baby would, or could, climb out of this contraption while in the water...but folks, it's TRUE! Mind you, I didn't allow that to happen but if they get enough weight on the front end, it'll hike up the back and they think they are getting out when they are only putting themselves in a bad situation and a face FULL of water. Not good.
All things considered though, I do like this float but would recommend it's use with a few suggestions...
1. Put baby into seat BEFORE getting into the water and especially if they wear swim shoes as they make it impossible to get the feet in the right holes.
2. After you get them in the float and in the water, you'll need to "adjust" the straps that go through and around the legs...I found that if I didn't make sure the straps were riding ON the swim diaper, his legs were exposed to the straps being tight on his skin.
3. Blow this sucker up as much as possible...do NOT under inflate or it will put a lot of water where it's not wanted.

We just went to the beach with our son and bought this at Wal-greens for the same price. I had read the reviews on here and decided that I wanted to try it. Our son is almost 7 months old so I can not say how it would do for a younger baby. The age range listed does not recommend it for a younger baby either. Our son enjoyed this float and it was nice to be able to hold onto it and float with him. It does put the baby more into the water than the typical inflatable baby float so you want to pay close attention to your baby of course. Keep in mind what other reviewers have said about the baby's ability to lean forward in this float. My son was able to get his face into the water at times but this float is recommended for an older baby and would give you the ability to get several months of use out of it.

This year my baby girl was old enough (16mths) to have some fun in the pool, so I spent considerable time doing research on a good pool float for her. After reading many positive reviews, I decided to order this one, and was very pleased with it. My daughter was able to splash in the water, and while she did try to crawl out of it a few times, that usually happend when she was tired of being in the water anyway. It was easy to inflate, and only took a few minutes of effort to deflate for storage. Tip, practice a few times twisting it up to put away, it can be kinda tricky. Overall, I would definitely recommend this product

I purchased this for my 20 month old son. He is about 24 lbs. and this is perfect. He sits low enough that he can't climb out (not that we're out of reach) but it's much safer than those that sit higher up on the water(...i.e the car float). It's completly compact, folding in on itself and has a mesh carrying case. It weighs maybe 1 lb. wet and I just cant say enough good stuff....oh yeah...it's cheap!

We bought two - one for a 1 year old (15lbs) and another for a 20 month old (35 lb). We also tried to use it with a 4 month old (13 lb). The only baby that actually could use it was the 1 year old. The 20 month old kept on throwing himself out of it (he's a monkey anyhow) and ended up not wanting anything to do with the float. The 4 month old was just a little too short and could put her face in water in the seat area. The 1 year old had an absolute blast !

My daughter loved that she could have the water right in front of her. In the plastic toy floaties that we used before, she could easily flip over. She also used the larger ring to hold her toys, otherwise they float away. I used it for sunglasses and so on. It comes with a convenient storage bag with straps and can easily fit in a beach bag or diaper bag. I personally felt that this was more secure than anything else that we have used.

She started using it when she was not yet 1 and she quickly learned that you cannot dip your head in the water. She is a fast learner and she started learning to hold her breath and placing her face under water. She enjoyed it very much and now, she is 3, she is an excellent swimmer that is able to hold her breath for a long time. Due to the part about children dipping their heads in the water, I think it is more for the independent child and thrill-seeker, that my girl turned out to be. I think all mom's know what type of child they have so, you may want to keep that in mind you are looking at purchasing this item.

I tried a blow up plastic boat type float for my baby, but he was always having to reach way over the side to splash into the water, causing him to tip. This float is nice because of the mesh around the seat, which allows the baby to splash without having to reach. Because it is wide, it is very stable.

We bought this product for our 10 month old. Our older son was a bit testy in the water, so we were nervous about trying ANOTHER floatation device. We bought this float at Wal-Mart for a bit less and our younger son LOVED it. He could splash a little in the water that pools between the inner and outer inflated rings, but so far, has not done anything like climb out. He can dip his face in the water that collects between the inner and outer ring and there's just enough for him to blow bubbles in. Thankfully, he hasn't sucked any water in, but I suppose a baby could. But then, that's why you stay with your baby in the water!

After seeing how much our younger son liked it, we decided to give it a whirl with our older son. He is 2 and a half, but small for his age and fit easily into the float. We have tried life jackets of all kinds and other floats, but he also got scared and wouldn't let go of myself or his dad. With this float, he felt safe and confident enough to kick his way around the pool and play "Bumper Floats" with his younger brother. Now they float along, splashing, kicking, and giggling together and we love it! It was worth buying 2 to see the 2 kids be able to play together and feel safe in the water!

It took a few times to figure out how to fold it, but after I got it, it was pretty quick and easy. I loved that I didn't dread deflating it to store it or put it in the car. It really is that quick and easy! Even though you have to inflate and deflate it every time, it's not terribly time-consuming and it doesn't require so much air that you get light-headed blowing it up. I will say that the valves on both of ours were a bit testy - they don't seem to come out very much, so your mouth is on the "fabric" part a lot, as opposed to being on all plastic, as with most inflation valves.

Just a side note - I wouldn't say it's an educational toy because it doesn't teach your child to swim, but I didn't want to hurt the overall star rating, so I gave it a 5 anyway. In the long run, it may help our older son swim because it gave him more confidence in the water, so who knows? :-)