No pooping in the pool

I thought that was what the chemicals were for? Not that I let my daughter in a pool with out a swim diaper.

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Um, do you swim in lakes, rivers, or oceans? Because stuff poops there, too. Stuff even dies in there. That creeps me out a lot more than a little baby poo in a pool

Maybe it's because I've got two in diapers, but I just don't see it as a big deal. The diaper contains the poop. Pee is sterile. The pool chemicals are there to kill the germs. If there was an outbreak of something, it's because the chemicals didn't do the job.

That said, I'm deathly afraid of the water, so I've had my oldest kid in a pool exactly once (she wasn't thrilled, either), and my younger daughter has never been... But we have a pack of swim diapers. Most parents have a good idea of their kid's schedule, and could postpone a visit to the pool until after the daily dump. Newborns shouldn't be out in the sun, anyway, so by the time they're old enough to get in a pool, they've probably regulated their schedule a bit, and are at least somewhat predictable.

Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

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You are jumping to some pretty dramatic conclusions from an unusual outbreak. CDC information on poop in pools can be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/fecalacc.htm

Two important facts from their page: (1) In random testing in 1999, none of the samples had the Cryptosporidium Parasite involved in this outbreak. (2) There is a world of difference between a formed stool and diarrhea. A formed stool is very unlikely to contaminate a pool.

The article you reference also says: "More people are swimming in natural water sources where the parasite naturally lives and then are contaminating pools by defecating in pools or failing to shower properly before swimming."

As a parent of two children under 3 1/2, I can tell you neither of them has EVER pooped while in the pool. It also isn't really that hard to forecast a child's poops, assuming they are healthy.

However, I have never taken my kids to the pool while they are sick in any way. It amazes me how common this is. I personally wouldn't take ANY child of any age who had recently had diarrhea to a pool.

My pool requires plastic pants with non-potty trained children. Swim diapers are useless, as anyone who has their child pee through one can attest. With that requirement, I don't think on an average day we are causing a high risk.

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Said from the comfy position of not having a child in diapers.

We don't frequent public pools, as a rule, for reasons other than the "poop factor". We usually go out of town to Grandma's pool. Once this summer, we went to my SIL's neighborhood pool. In, fact that is the only time my 2 have ever been in a public pool. My son was required to wear a pair of rubber pants over his swim diaper. (It was in the neighborhood covenant)

Big kids have been know to do some really gross things in pools, too. Should my young children be forced to suffer 100+ degree weather without being allowed to swim, just because they happen to wear diapers? Are we going to ban all the geriatric diaper-wearers, too? NO, because that would be discrimination.

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Under five?! Good grief!

Each of my kids closed down the baby pool once by poop getting loose from a swim diaper. But they did close the area. This is appropriate precautions to clean the water and make sure it is safe again. The whole pool has even been closed on occasion. If parents tell the staff and are honest about the problem then the pool will be closed until the water tests safe. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own child. We swim every day every summer and have only seen the big pool closed three or four times in six years. The baby pool... different story.

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Jill's post is exactly what the pools who are banning under 5 kids is trying to avoid. Do you know how much it cost them in staff, chemicals, water and cleaners to drain an average public pool to clean, disinfect and refill? Not to mention the lost income from being closed? Even once or twice a year is too expensive for most community pools. We kept our kids in the backyard plastic pools until potty trained because I wouldn't want to go through the whole poop in the pool mess.

Our local Fitness club has a massive pool that just opened this summer and they have already had to post signs stating that if parents don't start using plastic pant on babies they will have to ban them as they have had so many "poopers" already.

Not that I agree, but there is a fiscal reason behind the plastic pants and age bans as well.

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The pool that we belong to has a double swim diaper policy. You can either have your child wear one disposible and one rubber reusable swim diaper, or two reusable rubber swim diapers. Add to that most of us add the additional layer of a swimsuit over the double swim diaper. With two children under 3 in the heat of August in Houston, we are happy to comply with the double diaper policy to have the ability to cool off!

Chris, do they really have to drain the pool? I thought they just had to disinfect it with some strong chemicals and wait for them to do their thing and clear from the water. Most of the pools I've been around when closed for this reason reopen after 4 hours. I can't imagine that is enough time to actually drain and refill the pool? I agree that it would be fiscally challenging!

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What do you do when all your children aren't in the same age category. Suppose you have kids old enough to "safely" swim and one or more under five. Not everybody has a backyard where they can put up a pool or has a sitter to watch younger children so they can take older ones to swim. With this rule either the whole family can't swim until everyone is above five or the younger ones must sit in the heat and watch everyone else have fun? It seems like common sense (follow the rules other commenters left) and quickly report any accidents.

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They made this neat invention called a swimmer that keeps a better control over such things, to me it's gross watching a little one swimming in a diaper thats falling off or sagging to the floor because water is weighing it down. These summer because of a certain family keep letting their little one pooping in the water and laugh about it, because of them the pool closed down a lot for the summer. Until the health district step in as well as the office and evicted their bums.

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My SD is almost 5 and she loves to swim (yes, she knows how, albeit at a beginner level). She also has not worn diapers in more than two years and has had precisely one bowel accident since then, maybe a week after the diapers were banished. She hasn't even wet the bed in more than a year.

I can (sort-of) understand banning babies from a pool (although our public park has a wading pool intended for very small children and babies) but pre-schoolers? Come on.

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Well why stop at pools why not just ban babies and children from everything hey why your at it why not just ban them totally no more kids! I mean gosh it seems everywhere you look these days there is article after article of how annoying kids are to the enitre rest of the world, planes, restraunts, etc.. etc.. even some hotels..and now pools? So why not just ban them totally and then everyone will have something new to bitch about! I can understand taking precautions but to ban babies and children from everything.. how ridculous lets see how many more things everyone can become uptight and anal retentive about!

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Brandi, do you want to clean up baby or toddler poop in a pool and then clean the area and test it again for safety? Didn't think so. This isn't about banning kids, this is about what is safe for other people.

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It is about banning kids instead of imposing other regulations first such as the plastic or rubber pants over a swimmer, go straight for banning. I agree a sagging diaper is disgusting and by no means is pooping in the pool acceptable and I would never allow my children to do so but as I have one over five and one under how else would I take the oldest to the pool? It just seems lately that the first step to everything is banning kids. Common sense should say to first impose rules and regulations, most parents that find it funny their kid pooped in a public pool proably wouldn't like having to follow rules and there fore you could eliminate the bad seeds. Pretty soon you wont see kids anywhere, not on planes (as they find them utterly annoying), restraunts (some as of late dont welcom kids), and now pools (which in my opinion should be fun for the whoel family). So now we will see an increase in private pools and proably accidents all because public pools are no longer kid friendly. Oh ans shannon do not ask me a question and then answer it as if you knew me, just so you know i have worked at a public pool, and I would be much more worried about those that pee in it then the few that poop! I've seen people spend all day at a pool and none of them went to the bathroom! So yes I would clean it up, and then re test it. Not fun but I've done it I just think before we jump to the extreme that little steps should be takin first! Trust me I understand whats safe for other people but the next time your there notice how long people are there and how often they go to the restroom that should freak you out enough to not want to go in there nevermind poop!

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Cleaning the pool does not involve draining it.

To clean the pool after any sort of incident (including poop, the addition of high volume of untreated water from rain, food contamination, or just general body "remains" [skin, sweat, etc]), you do a shock treatment. A shock treatment is a hyper-chlorination of the pool. How long the shock treatment takes to clear depends on how powerful the filters are--one apartment pool I worked at took 8 hours to clear a shock treatment, most public pools take 4 hours.

Most places I lifeguarded at tended to shock the pools overnight once a week or so during the summer season.

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So how the hell are we meant to teach our kids to swim?

We (parents of babies/toddlers) go to the pool knowing we're taking a risk. People could have all kinds of crap on their skin, older kids often pee in the pool, and how many of those children do you think have been scratching their ass before they get in the pool?

If you don't want to risk contact with other people's germs, don't go to the swimming pool. Even better, stay at home in your own germ-free bubble and then whine when your kids start school and catch every bug imaginable thanks to their underdeveloped immune systems.

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So how the hell are we meant to teach our kids to swim?

We (parents of babies/toddlers) go to the pool knowing we're taking a risk. People could have all kinds of crap on their skin, older kids often pee in the pool, and how many of those children do you think have been scratching their ass before they get in the pool?

If you don't want to risk contact with other people's germs, don't go to the swimming pool. Even better, stay at home in your own germ-free bubble and then whine when your kids start school and catch every bug imaginable thanks to their underdeveloped immune systems.

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Oops, sorry about the double post. I felt strongly about it, but not strongly enough to make you read it again! ;o)

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We have our own pool and not once did our son poop in the pool. We changed his diaper if he got out of the pool and put a new one before he reentered. If you are watching your child, it is also pretty easy to see when they are about to poop.

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I think this poop thing is out'a control, these stupid babies have to stay out of the pool or else they should get a fine for spreading Ecoli! Every time a baby goes into a pool I yell "get out you horid baby!" because they spread poop everywhere you look. I am right and you know It because every time you look at a baby you think of poop and Ecoli and Bacteria! Duh, now do all of you stupid baby boomers get the picture, babys are like poop. They're filled with poop, diabettes, ecoli, drool, and loads of sicknesses. The main thing is that you should never bring your child into the public because it will probably poop all over the ground, or a windshield or somthing that you wish your baby never pooped on or if you bring it to the library, it will poop all over the floor then when ever you go to the library their is a big brown smear of a stain all over the carpeting and you think to yourself "what a stupid little baby"

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