Swim vests can help your child stay afloat, thanks to a certain level of buoyancy, but still requires some semblance of skill on the wearer’s end. Most swim vests would need the child to be able to tread water until help arrived.

Swim vests are simple to use, they pull on like a waistcoat and zip up at the front. Vests come with 8 removable floats, which are positioned in the lining of the vest. The floats can be gradually removed in pairs and are marked so that you know which order to take them out in as your child’s swimming ability grows.

With a vest with 8 floats, the floats are usually removed in pairs in the following order as your child’s swimming ability increases:

• Outer pockets at the front of the vest first
• Outer pockets at the back of the vest
• Inner pockets at the front of the best
• Inner pockets at the back of the vest

The floats work with your child’s natural buoyancy, so when using a swim vest for the first time, you may need to remove floats to achieve the optimum level of balance for your child.

Even when all the floats are removed, the vest can still be worn to provide your child with extra warmth and sun protection.