Why Might You Want a Popper Vest For an Older or Larger Child?
For children that wear incontinence products life is tricky enough. The same goes for parents and carers trying to wrangle wriggly kids into their clothes every day.
A good quality, hard wearing popper vest keeps nappies in place to help prevent leaks, supports a full nappy from sagging and falling off, keeps your child discreetly covered up and keeps those busy fingers and hands from places you would rather they didn’t get into (such as a full nappy).
What is a Popper Vest / Bodysuit?
Very simply put, a popper vest, also known as a bodysuit is an item of clothing that has snapper studs at the crotch. They are for covering up nappies while also allowing easy changing.
Quick Start
If you don't have time to read this article you can go straight to the product pages here:
Who Are Larger Popper Vests For?
Any child that wears a nappy, pull-ups or incontinence pad will benefit from wearing a KayCey® Bodysuit. People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) can sometimes have very specific needs and preferences, as no doubt you know well. Not every child with ASDs wears nappies, but there are also lots of reasons why children without ASDs might wear nappies and also benefit from a popper vest.
Although kids with ASDs can be particularly sensitive, KayCey® Bodysuits have been designed to make adaptive clothing more comfortable for everyone. By taking into account the things that some kids can’t tolerate, KayCey® has a better made garment for everyone.
Advantages to Getting Dressed With A KayCey® Bodysuit
It’s absolutely possible for a child to wear a nappy without a popper vest, but let’s consider the advantages of wearing one:
- Helps to stop children undressing inappropriately
- Helps to stop children removing nappies (or getting their hands inside them!)
- Keeps children discreetly covered up (no more embarrassing nappy waistband peeks) and gives them that extra warm layer
- Conveniently fitted with poppers at the crotch for easier changing
Almost any bodysuit for older or larger children will offer these benefits. Why are KayCey® popper vests any different? Read on to find out.
Age Appropriate and Fashionable Adaptive Clothing
Let’s say that your child is fast outgrowing children’s clothing and outgrew baby clothing a long time ago. Let’s imagine for a moment that your child is 14 (unless your child is 14 in which case you don’t need to imagine):
It is soul destroying to have to dress your 14 year old child in clothing that is basically a scaled up baby product. Your child is very nearly a young adult male or female! Why hasn’t the adaptive clothing industry realised this and made something age appropriate? Some of the products out there are literally the same templates used in baby products that have been up-sized! That does nothing for comfort or self esteem.
The philosophy of a KayCey® popper vest is to provide high quality, fashionable and age appropriate popper vests so that you and your child can feel comfortable and confident.
KayCey® Bodysuits have been specially designed for older children from 3 to 14 years old. In fact the size guide suggests that the larger size will be suitable for up to a size 10 (UK) ladies dress size, or 30” inch waist for young men.
They are so discreetly designed that from the waist up they will look like an ordinary T-Shirt, Vest or Polo Shirt. The Polo shirts are even available in the most popular school uniform colours!
With a skirt or trousers on the bottom half the KayCey® adaptive clothing range is no different to any other good quality high street fashion wear. Now isn’t that welcome news?
Keeping Nappies And Hands Where They Should Be
Some children have wandering hands, and who can blame them? They will take any opportunity to explore and play with their hands. When those hands get inside a dirty nappy though, that’s a problem.
Not only is it a health risk but it’s also not very nice to clean up for any parent or carer.
KayCey® bodysuits know all about this. From years of experience manufacturing their larger popper vests they have listened to the feedback of parents. It seems that a couple of clever design changes almost completely alleviate this issue.
LONGER LEGS! Longer legs on your popper vest means that more of the leg is covered so the nappy isn’t exposed. This makes getting nimble fingers inside much more difficult.
The added benefit is that your child will also feel warmer and more secure. It also keeps the seat of the nappy where it should be; on the seat of the child.
Another design change has been the reinforced crotch area with heavier duty popper studs. This keeps all but the most determined kids out and means that your vest will last longer.
These design changes come together to make the nappy area much more inaccessible. It has the added advantage that a particularly heavy or soiled nappy will stay exactly where it’s supposed to be instead of sliding slowly down a leg.
Autism Spectrum Disorders and Sensitivity Issues / Undressing
Why do some children like to undress? Some might say that it’s just fun, a thing they do to entertain themselves.
For others though it might be that their clothes are uncomfortable or irritating. It’s not only kids with ASDs, there are a variety of things that might make your child particularly touch sensitive in one way or another.
KayCey® bodysuits have been designed very carefully to avoid irritation, here are some of the design features that will help provide the sensory touch that they crave:
Topstitched seams - By topstitching the seam the garment is lovely and smooth against the skin. The arm/leg/neck openings are double overlocked so that strong, busy fingers can’t rip them apart.
Super Soft Cotton / Elastane Mix - You might think that 100% cotton is the way to go, but adding only 5% elastane means you can have a lovely soft feel next to the skin and a good amount of stretch in the material to make it sturdy, but soft and forgiving.
AZO Free Dyes - If you don’t know what this means it’s quite simple - some dyes are made of chemicals that are harmful to the environment and under certain conditions harmful to people as well. You know sometimes when you get some new clothing and it smells like chemicals? Well you won’t get that with KayCey® garments because they are made from 100% AZO free dyes.
Tag Free Labels - If you buy any garment from certain high street retailers you can find two, sometimes three big, ugly, nylon tags sewn into them with sizing and washing instructions. KayCey® knows their customer - All tags are printed directly onto the garments like a T-Shirt transfer so that they don’t need cutting out and they don’t itch and irritate the skin. I wish all clothing was like that.
Staying Discreet, Warm and Comfortable
KayCey® bodysuits are pretty adaptable - you can use them as an undergarment when you need extra warmth in the winter or you can wear them as a normal T-Shirt, Vest or Polo shirt in the summer.
Don’t feel that they are just for the daytime either, KayCey® popper vests are also suitable for bedtime too.
They are available in a great range of colours as well so you will have something to match every outfit.
Perhaps more important than fashion is function. We have already talked about keeping nappies in place, but don’t forget that as the whole body and nappy area is covered there is no danger of the nappy poking out over the waistband of trousers. It’s a great confidence boost for kids to know that whatever happens, they will remain completely covered up.
Good Value Popper Vests For Older Children
Because KayCey® garments use high quality cotton, they wash really well. Really really well. I was talking to Sasha Radwan, the founder of the KayCey® brand, about how parents are finding the garments. She told me about a customer that purchased 5 vests 2 years ago and had just been back to buy more. The customer wasn’t buying more because they had worn out, but because their child had outgrown them!
That’s a very hard wearing vest. Another advantage to the cotton / elastane mix is that the vests keep their shape, wash after wash.
If you’ve purchased cheaper bodysuits or popper vests before you might have noticed that they become thinner, go bobbly or get misshapen after a few washes. You won’t find that with KayCey® garments.
Environmental and Ethical Considerations
Remember that vest that you saw for £4? Maybe you haven’t seen it, but they are available. Maybe it’s £5 or £6. Either way, it's very cheap.
Where do you think that vest was made?
Do you think that the manufacturer offered their factory worker a fair wage to make that garment for £4?
Do you think that the cotton they used was ethically sourced?
Do you think that they invested extra money ensuring that their dyes were AZO free?
Are you sure that they aren’t using slave labour or child labour in their factory?
£4 is not a lot of money - can you check all of these things if you are selling vests for £4? Maybe it’s time to take a step back and think about it. It would be awful to think that the adaptive clothing you bought to make your child feel more comfortable came at the cost of another child somewhere in the world feeling miserable...
That goes for any garments you buy, not just popper vests and bodysuits.
KayCey® are absolutely committed to their supply chain to ensure that their suppliers do not use slave labour, unethical practises or harmful chemicals or toxins in the production of KayCey® adaptive clothing.
Ethically sourced cotton and fair factory conditions are a must - be sure you are getting the right thing with KayCey®.
It’s worth thinking twice about how manufacturers can make their clothes so cheaply. You might benefit with a good price, but at what cost?
School Uniform Specifically Designed to Cover Nappies
KayCey® Polo Shirts have been designed with school in mind. Many schools feature a polo shirt as part of their school uniform, and now your child can attend with a smart new KayCey® Polo Shirt bodysuit.
With all of the benefits about covering up nappies mentioned earlier, they will be more than happy to go to school with their lovely new KayCey® polo shirt.
It’s not only good for your child, but the school staff will probably appreciate the vests as much as you do. From keeping kids clothes on and nappies in place to easy changing, they are sure to be a hit at school.
Tube Access Designs
We have a high number of customers that use a tube feeding system, biliary drainage tube system, persistent ECG connections or require other tubes or wires to be connected.
So many of our children have a tube or wire fitted for one reason or another. Finding adaptive clothing that considers this is difficult. Even if they have a hole for tube access, is it in the right place? Is it wide enough?
KayCey® want their clothes to be suitable for everyone, so all of their designs are available with a tube access variant. The tube access is strategically placed so that it doesn’t cover stomas, and will hopefully keep the tube access point on the body covered up to prevent accidental extubation (or accidentally pulling the tube out for those of us that aren’t doctors).
We know how important this is likely to be for you if you choose to buy, so all of our product pages for KayCey® feature a size guide that shows the exact location of the tube access and close up photos so you can see it in detail.
Select the “With Tube Access” option on the product pages if this is what you need.
Keeps Nappies Covered Up
Some children are self conscious about wearing nappies, pull-ups or incontinence pads. School is trickier still, especially if it’s a mainstream school and the nappies are a secret.
None of us would be too pleased about our underwear being on public display, certainly not if that underwear was as personal as an incontinence product.
KayCey® bodysuits are a great solution. Your child can wear one under their outer clothing and nobody will ever notice anything, because it’s normal to wear a vest. This should be a huge boost for self esteem!
It’s also handy for wheelchair users where they find that their clothes ride up their back throughout the day, whether or not they wear a nappy. Because KayCey® bodysuits have a longer leg you don’t need to worry about your child getting a wedgie!
Discreet Bedwetting Solution for Sleepovers and School Trips
Bedwetting is really common, we have a lot of customers that buy our products for bedwetting.
We get lots of calls along the following lines: “Thanks for the nappies, they work really well. My child has been invited to a sleepover with their friends but they don’t want to go because of the nappies - do you have something more discreet?”
We get so many calls in fact that we have written a huge blog post about discreet bedwetting solutions for sleepovers.
You can read our detailed thought process in the blog post, but our conclusions were:
So if your child wets the bed and is going to a sleepover, wear the disposable nappy or pull-up with a KayCey® vest over the top, under normal PJs!
It’s a perfect solution because whatever pillow fights and horseplay they get up to, the nappy will never be seen! In the morning? Dry PJs. It’s a win win win!
Nobody would ever think twice about a child wearing a vest under PJs or a nightie, that’s perfectly normal.
It will also help to hide the profile of the nappy / pull-up under their night clothes.
Younger children (and maybe older children too) might find the popper studs a bit tricky to do up and undo themselves, so a discreet hand from a parent or carer will help. Also bear in mind that if they want to go to the loo in the middle of the night they might need a bit of help to get in and out of the vest.
Conclusions
KayCey® bodysuits have been considerately designed to help older or larger children that wear nappies.
Other vests don’t always consider the very particular needs of parents and children. From their longer legs to keep busy and nimble fingers out of nappies to good quality cotton, top stitched seams, printed on tags instead of stitched and the availability of tube access designs and polo shirts to match in with normal school uniform, KayCey® Vests are designed by people that understand your specific needs.
With KayCey® you can feel good and look good by doing good. Because KayCey® fabrics are ethically sourced and contain no harmful chemicals like AZOs you can be sure that not only do you have a quality garment but you are also doing a bit of good in the world.
If this article was helpful for you and you know of someone that might benefit from ready it, please share it!
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