Best Baby Life Jacket

Comparison shopping is an absolute must if you want to find the most optimal baby life jacket to suit the individual requirements and circumstances of your child. Whether you’re searching for an outdoor baby swing or a baby wipe dispenser, paying due diligence to the design features on offer is crucial for finding something safe and efficient. This principle is no different when searching for an effective life jacket, either.

In this section, we’re going to present you with all of the areas to consider when browsing through the many life jacket options on the market to ensure that you’re getting the best value and level of safety for your hard earned money.

• What category of jacket is it? There are five main categories of life jacket available, so you need to ensure that your chosen model is relevant for the situation you’ll be using it in. We’ll provide more details about these categories shortly, but this is a massively important detail to focus on. Though the majority of infant floatation devices sold on the market only belong to the categories that are relevant to the typical use and scenarios of most families, it’s still worth reading the specifications extensively to avoid wasting your money due to buying an incompatible product.
• How secure is it? This is the most important question of all. Your infant life vest needs to fasten securely enough that there’s absolutely zero risk of it coming off when your child is in the water. As such, look at the fastening mechanisms of your intended product intensely before making a purchase decision. Some of the best options feature multiple fastening solutions to provide an all-encompassing approach to safety. The more avenues you have to secure the jacket in place and the higher the quality of them, the safer your child will be.
• Sizing: As per any infant product like a baby bike trailer or bib, not all options will fit the same, and since you can’t effectively secure a life vest if it doesn’t fit around your child’s body snugly, you’ve got to get this part right to provide the right level of safety for your baby. Luckily, most jackets of this variety have adjustable strapping and fixtures to ensure that they can accommodate your little one straight out of the box. If your desired option comes in fixed sizes, then pay very close attention to the measurements to ensure the best fit.
• How visible is it? High visibility is a must if you want to maximise safety and your baby’s chances of survival should a worst case scenario ever occur. Ideally, the coloring on the vest needs to be incredibly bright and ideally have integrated reflective strips as well. Remember that this is a life saving safety device as opposed to a fashion accessory like a baby sun hat. If you like a particular pattern but it doesn’t meet the above criteria, then the jacket simply isn’t suitable for emergency situations.
• Does it have USCG and CE approval? If your intended option doesn’t come packing CE certification and approval from the US Coast Guard, then this should immediately serve as an enormous red flag that the product might not have been stringently tested or proven safe. This doesn’t mean to say that anything lacking these supportive accreditations isn’t going to work at all, but you’ll need to perform some serious homework to be sure that it’s safe (user reviews would be a good starting point) if it doesn’t have these all-important stamps of approval in place.
• Does it have a recovery handle? Also known as recovery loops, these useful features include a large loop attached to the jacket, which makes it super easy to control your baby in the water when they’re wearing an infant life vest. It simply allows for a greater degree of protection at all times. They’re also great in emergency situations because they allow rescuers to access your child more rapidly, and considering that every second counts in a scenario like this, that’s good to know.
• Fast drying: Try to go for a life vest product that’s fast drying so that you’re not constantly having to drag around a dripping item of clothing and getting other items wet in the process. It’s also not good for your baby’s skin if they’re having to constantly put on an already damp vest when they enter the water. Damp fabric can house all sorts of nasty bacteria and lead to infections and skin irritation. The faster the product dries out, the better, so that it doesn’t serve as a breeding ground for these unwanted and potentially harmful elements.
• Brands: Big brand names can provide massive reassurance when it comes to shopping for anything baby related from the best beach stuff for babies to an effective baby bottle. Well-known brands are widely used for a reason. When it comes to optimum baby life vests here is a list of some of the manufacturers that are currently producing some of the highest quality options on the market: Stohlquist, Airhead, Mustang, O’Neill, Stearns, Body Glove, Dark Lightning, and Gogokids. Any product purchased from one of the above manufacturers will be sure to meet your utmost satisfaction requirements.