Does Your Pool Require Swim Diapers?

Recently, About.com Toddlers Guide Stephanie Brown posted a thought-provoking blog about pools requiring swim diapers for babies and toddlers. It seems that swim diapers are required in order to protect swimmers from the spread of illness from diaper leakage, and also to keep the pool cleaner. Yet, the swim diapers aren't actually leakproof, and may not be all that great at keeping germs from spreading, either. Some pools have taken it a step further and now require plastic pants over the swim diaper, which is an improvement, but still not as effective as you'd like, if you're the one swimming next to a baby who is trailing illness-causing organisms throughout the pool.

If your local pools require swim diapers, though, and you don't want to keep buying the disposable variety, take a look at reusable swim diapers. Traditionally, reusable swim diapers were targeted at cloth-diapering families. However, if you swim often with your baby or toddler, investing in a reusable swim diaper or two could be a way to knock down part of your summer diaper budget, and they reduce the number of disposable diapers headed to the landfill to boot.