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Life jackets for infants


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So, come July/August, we’ve got a week on a Pogo36 in Greece, and our boy will be 6 months old.

Although he’s not likely to fall in while working the bow, or trimming from the low side, things can happen.

What’s good and works and what doesn’t?

And anyone got tips for dealing with tiny ones aboard?

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Little ones not crawling are easy. Crawlers are nightmares. We mostly hold on to our little monster, and use lifejackets for dinghy rides or rough water only. A handle is excellent for transferring in to dinghy. Hardest thing we found was somewhere safe to sleep him. He started in a bassinet, moved onto a bunk with leecloth, now in a portacot with zip sides to post him in, jammed in quarterberth. A cheap inflatable ring with a seat for swimming has been awesome. Our little man loves boat life, especially swimming!

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we were very similar to Clipper with our son.  The only extra thing we did was install a couple of pad-eyes so we could attach a car seat to the cockpit on the aft facing cabin end.  If the wind was enough to heel we put him in the seat.  he loved being able to see everyone and be involved.  for us not having to think/watch where he was crawling to just took one more stressor off.  worked until about 2.1/2

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Obviously we have a much smaller boat, but we put our 6 month old in one of those plastic flexi buckets, wearing lifejacket and with a cushion in the bottom.

 

Another thing friends of ours used to do (25 footer) was fit a car seat to a washboard so baby could see.

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All of the above plus some rules as they get older . Lifejacket on or harness and clipped on in the cockpit no argument. That rule became eased as they grew and we were anchored.

When they were not self propelled the good ole moses basket was great ( a bit like the flexi bucket idea). You could put that anywhere suitable down below  to suit the tack etc.

 We had no lifelines, we had friends who did and put the net around , and then didn't follow our type of rules . Their baby  scooted around until she found a way through a pushpit or something and went for a short swim. Our kids just plain weren't allowed out of the cockpit until they were swimmers.

 Funny .. that 'baby' is now 21  and was out with us at mahurangi this weekend along with a couple of our kids.

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Doesn't really apply to the  6 month old age bracket, but for the toddler / pre-school bracket we have found using harnesses handy. they aren't as hot or bulky for the kids, and you can clip them to spots and know they wont go more than a 1 m radius from that. Especially when sitting in the cockit, you can just relax a bit, or when doing a maneuver like docking, you can take your eyes off them for 2 mins and not worry about it.

 

Our kids always where LJ's in the dinghy, and swap to harnesses in the cockpit, and now they love their LJ's, can fairly much put them on themselves and really love swimming in them. I like to think part of that was they weren't 'forced' to wear them all day in the cockpit (they had a choice).

 

Oh, and take lots of toys / books / things to entertain..... lots

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Madyotti

Is that sausage rolls in with your child?

Haha Classic Food for the voyage

Probably. Yummy. Often assisted by generous amounts of coloured liquid in plastic bottles. Also yummy.

 

Health food is for the week!

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Great advice, thanks, 

 

we have a flexi bucket, oblong, that would do the trick.

 

Anyone recommend a PFD brand?

I wouldn't worry about the brand. One that fits, isn't too hard to put on and meets the basic requirements of good seat (I.e. Padded crutch strap) and a lifting handle. You will be lifting and carrying the kid around by the handle, hence the need for a good seat / crutch strap.

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In Europe you're spoilt for choice, crewsaver, gul, gill, magic marine, all are going to have good jackets, just check out a few and find the best for you. Brand doesn't really matter, safety and convenience do

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