I saw this video on facebook the other day. A father puts a coast guard-approved, UL-certified PFD on his toddler and has her get in the pool with him. The PFD turns the toddler face-down or sideways (the father is right next to the girl to help her right away). The PFD has one of those neck support things which one would assume is for the head to rest on while the kid is floating on their back in the water.

Many of the comments on the video were that PFDs are supposed to keep kids afloat and it did, or that the dad put it on wrong because the leg strap is supposed to go through the loop on the neck collar (I’ve never heard this).

We have an infant PFD and a child PFD with the neck collars (ours are Stohlquist brand) and, imprudently perhaps, never actually tested them out before taking our kids canoeing with us. Even if the water is cold, we’ll be testing them out this year for sure.

If you read the directions on most PFDs they stated that they well not turn you face up. It take a specific design to do so.

riverrunner: "If you read the directions on most PFDs they stated that they well not turn you face up. It take a septic design to do so."

Do you want to edit the last sentence? Did Autocorrect shanghai you?

Always test a pfd on your babies/toddlers in the bath tub. The difference from the one In the video and the ones I use to used is where the neck support attaches to the pdf. The life jackets I had like that had the neck float attaching more to the back behind the shoulders. But we tested out lots of pdfs in the tub till we found one that would work. Trust me, this isn't the only life jacket that flips kids to their face.

Weird...I used a toddler PFD on my children many times and it didn’t turn them on their face. I don’t remember any specifics about attaching the bottom strap but I know we used it. My kids have had swim lessons from a very young age (still are not great swimmers :) ) but they also know how to float ina life vest, without seeing the video maybe the child is tensing up or moving in a many that doesn’t allow the vest to do it’s job?

T

yellowcanoe: "

riverrunner: "If you read the directions on most PFDs they stated that they well not turn you face up. It take a septic design to do so."

Do you want to edit the last sentence? Did Autocorrect shanghai you?"

Could do the testing in septic tank :)

auto correct is wonderful

Here is the video

Duh, never occurred to me to test their PFDs in the bathtub. Fun times ahead tonight!

Also, I just checked our infant PFD and it’s a Type II which is supposed to turn *some* people face up. When I bought it, I probably erroneously filed that info away as “all kids’ PFDs turn them face up in the water.”

I also signed my babies up for mommy and me classes though the red cross. These classes taught infants to swim in lifejackets and how to flip themselves over in a life jacket. My kids all knew how to swim in a pfd before the age of 1.

it's a real computer glitch if your kids are swimming in a pdf ;)

cowdoc: "it's a real computer glitch if your kids are swimming in a pdf ;)"

hahah I fixed it. But I was tempted to put a pic into pdf of the kids swimming in a pfd

I wonder if the UL label is legit. Would like to know the source of the PFD.