3 Best Swim Diapers
We tried models from Charlie Banana, Hello Bello, Huggies, Pampers, and other brands to see which ones will keep your baby comfortable and the pool clean
When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.
As summer kicks into gear and your little humans head out to the pool or the beach, swim diapers become a lot more important. If your child isn’t toilet trained, a swim diaper is necessary for containing untimely poops and keeping your community safe; exposure to fecal matter in water can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, and beyond. As one swim teacher told me, “God forbid your kid trusts a fart. We require swim diapers in our pools!”
Swim Diapers We Evaluated
The Charlie Banana Reusable Swim Diaper Snaps UPF50+ was the easiest to remove and the quickest to dry, compared with the other diapers we evaluated. It’s a reusable cloth diaper with snaps along the child’s hips.
We preferred this diaper because the side snaps made it easy to pull off wet little legs. The snaps were an easier option for double layering, although we found the Charlie Banana to be a bit small if you plan to double layer; when in doubt, size up. It was also the fastest to dry, which is ideal for keeping your diaper bag dry on the way home. It fit snugly, which is important for preventing leakage. Our tiny tester also liked the Charlie Banana diaper’s soft outer fabric; plus, it comes in many fun and colorful prints.
More Diaper Tests
See our reviews of disposable diapers and cloth diapers.
The Hello Bello Swim Diaper was our favorite disposable diaper in the pack, and we found that it was the most ideal option for double layering. (Put one of these diapers under a Charlie Banana reusable diaper for the best-fitted and most comfortable combination.)
Hello Bello diapers have stretchy waistbands that make them easy to get on and off, even if your little one has chunky thighs. But that looseness has a downside: We felt a bit nervous about how much give these diapers had and worried about leakage, so our best bet would be to double layer them.
Disposable swim diapers are, on the whole, more expensive than reusable swim diapers. And they do not air-dry; you’ll need to throw them away immediately after use. But if you’re on the go and need a solid backup option, we’d pick the Hello Bellos over the other disposable diapers we tried.
Beach Necessities
We evaluated beach chairs, tents, and canopies so that you don’t have to.
The Alvababy One-Size Swim Diaper is a one-size-fits-all swim diaper that was quick to put on and remove and more adjustable than the other reusable diapers we tried because of its snap configuration. This is ideal because you can use this diaper with your child as they grow, reducing costs and the number of diapers in the landfill.
The Alvababy One-Size Swim Diaper is also a good option for double layering because you can make it larger or smaller depending on whether you need to put a second diaper underneath. It comes in fun prints, such as starfish and dolphins, and is relatively inexpensive, and the fabric is soft. But the fabric is thicker than the others we tried, which means it’s a bit slower to dry, especially compared with the Charlie Banana diaper. And the fit alone was a bit more baggy than we found on the Charlie Banana, which left us concerned about leaking poop in the pool.
Other Diapers We Evaluated
Photo: Manufacturers, Jenni Gritters/Consumer Reports Photo: Manufacturers, Jenni Gritters/Consumer Reports
Pampers Splashers are disposable diapers with a tighter fit than Hello Bellos. Because of this fit, they had less give, but they were still easier to get off than some of the other diapers we tried. We’d still recommend making them the bottom layer, though, if you’re planning to double up, because they’re tough to fit over another diaper—especially a bulkier reusable one.
Green Sprouts Eco Snap Swim Diapers with Gussets reusable diapers were tough to remove, taking double the time of most of the other diapers we tried, and were tough to layer, due to the bulky fabric. This also makes for a concerningly loose fit and a long dry time.
Huggies Little Swimmers were our least favorite disposable diapers, because of how difficult they were to remove. They offered a tight fit around the waist and thighs without double layering, but the fit was far too small to allow for another diaper underneath.
How We Evaluated Swim Diapers
We took our smallest tester, Lily—an almost-2-year-old who loves the water—to the local community pool with a pile of swim diapers. We suited her up in her swim diaper and swimsuit, let her paddle for 5 minutes at a time, then removed each diaper and took notes about how easy it was to pull off. Then we gave her another diaper and repeated the process.
Meanwhile, we timed how long it took each reusable diaper to dry on the pool deck. While we didn’t experience any surprise poops during the swim, we were quickly able to tell which swim diapers gapped around the thighs and which stayed well fitted.
Because some pools and swim schools require caregivers to double layer swim diapers for health purposes, we also tested each diaper option in layers, in our backyard kiddie pool on a hot day. We noted whether any of the diapers stayed dry in double-layered setups (none did). And we noticed that it was easiest to put a disposable diaper on under a reusable diaper, if given the option (mostly because reusable diapers are adjustable).
Lily also had preferences about which diapers she liked best, mostly due to patterns and colors (but also given how easy they were to get on and off, and how soft they were). While this is subjective, we noted her enthusiasm as well.
