Babies In Sheep's Clothing High Performance Swimwear Review

The sun's been beating down here the last few days, and it's time to start thinking about summer.  Squeaky's nursery even asked for suncream & sunhats today!  (What they've done with last year's, I don't know).  I don't envy them trying to get that many small unco-operative people liberally covered in factor 50!

But along with summer comes playing on the beach. And whether they like it or not, our little darlings DO need their skin protected from the sun.  Delicate skin can burn very easily, even through clothing, and sunburn is a sign of skin damage, and can lead to skin cancer in the longer term, which none of us wish on our children.

Well, the kind people at Babies In Sheep's Clothing got in touch with me recently, and asked if I'd like to try out something from their new range of High Performance Swimwear from Little Red Fish.  It might sound early in the year, but as we were soaking up some March sunshine in Spain last week, the timing couldn't have been better, and a red & white striped bathing suit found its way into our case to join us on our travels.

The suit was a bit thicker than normal "high street" swimwear. Not as thick as a wet suit, but a little thicker.  It was also much, much softer, almost like a thick t-shirt.  The cleverest part of the design, in my opinion, is that the zip does up at the back, like a wetsuit.  We've had an all-in-one costume before, but the zip was at the front, and little fingers find them quite interesting.  Putting the zip at the back means it stays zipped up.  Squeaky loved the Little Red Fish logo on the arm, and kept looking at it.

Fishy!

We were sent a 1-2 year old size.  Squeaky turned 2 in January, but she's at the smaller end of her age bracket, and wears 18-24 month clothes for the most part anyway, and it was a great fit, with plenty of room for growth, so I'm confident it will still fit her in the summer and beyond, there was plenty of stretch, we just didn't need to use it!  We found the suit wore and washed well, dried quickly, and didn't lose any colour, despite the intensity of the colour on the suit (shame the same can't be said for some of the other items I took away with us!).  We gave the suit a full test over the course of a week, in the pool, the sea, the sand, and the children's play area.  It still looks brand new, not a snag or a single sign of wear.  As the fabric is designed to handle New Zealand summers, and in most cases the sizes cover a 2 year age group, they are meant to be durable, and it certainly seems to be the case in our experience.

Daisy says Yes!

The fabric offers the same level of protection as factor 50 suncream - which doesn't mean you can forget all about it, there's still arms, legs and faces to deal with, as well as the bits that start out covered by the costume until they start running around, but it means that the body gets the same amount of protection, and you can rest a little easier.  As you can see, the design met with the Squeaky and Daisy Seal of Approval.  By reaching her elbows & knees, it meant she stayed cool, but had freedom of movement.  (Yes, I am the person who believes you stay cooler if you have a layer on, don't give me science, I just trust my own experience)

The Little Red Fish range at Babies In Sheep's Clothing includes Swim tops and bottoms as well as One piece suits in a range of styles, in blue or red stripes.  They aren't cheap (prices range from £24.99 to £49.99), but the quality of the costume, as well as the peace of mind knowing Squeaky's skin is protected, makes it worth every penny in my opinion.  The only thing it didn't do was magically attract the fishes in the sea, despite the fish on the sleeve.  We went paddling, and called them, but only one fish came to see us.  They must be waiting for the school holidays.

Dig For Victory

Diclosure: We were provided with a Little Red Fish swimsuit free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I was not told what to say, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme, and will not receive any reward for their use.