Swim Vests for 25 Lb Boys

You might look into the all-in-ones that zip up and have floatation devices in them. My guy was too small for the weight given for the vests so I wasn't going to use them, and my sister found a nice Disney Cars one for him, with short sleeves and legs. It kept him floating in the pool so he could play and didn't flip him, and an added bonus was the the fabric offered 50 SPF protection. Sorry I can't tell you the brand, it somehow dissappeared :-/ But it pulled on and zipped at the back of the neck, loved it!

I'm not 100% sure on this, so don't take it to the bank, but I think on the Speedo ones it specifically said it's not intended to act as a flotation device and should only be used with children who have basic swimming knowledge. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure, so hopefully someone else will be, but I THINK that's what it says.

Last summer my daughter had just turned 2 and weighed 24lbs. She used a puddle jumper and did just fine with it. We went swimming in a heated pool a few months ago and I couldn't find the puddle jumper, so I just put the blow up arm floaties on her and she did great with those. Those vests look like they would make the child bob all around in the water, like a bouyee. I'd try the puddle jumper if I were you. Don't count on it for a life saving device though.

Try the swim suit that looks sort of like a wetsuit but w/ floation devices in it. They make them that are shorts and tanktop combined that pull on or that is like shorts and t-shirt but it zips up.

I can't answer your question about the Speedo vests but I can tell you that kids in my family have used what I described above and there are different sizes/weights specified.

I honestly would try your daughters on him to see if it would fit. All children carry their weight in different places. So it may would work for him. But I am with Isn'thisfun? I would not leave him too unassisted!!

We used a device from SwimWays for our daughter. Of course, she was quite a bit older than your 25 lb sons. It is for helping kids actually learn how to swim (and it worked fabulously, and didn't chafe, like so many of the other ones out there seem to do).

You didn't say how old your sons are, but I am assuming that if they are 25 lbs or less, then they are very very young. They should not be "unassisted" in the water at all, in my opinion. It is a recipe for something scary (or worse, tragic) to happen.

But when they are older (including when your daughter is a bit older maybe), I'd recommend this:
http://www.swimways.com/swim-step-3-c-441.aspx

Turns out they do have them in sizes to fit kids 20-35 lbs. But they are not for kids to be in the water alone... you should be right there with them.

I used the water skiing life vest for little ones for my 3 children (bought them at Costco at the time). Foam vest with zipper, straps, and strap between the legs. Also handle at top of vest in back if I needed to grab them quickly for some reason. It was great and allowed them to tilt themselves forward and swim a little too. Gave me some sanity in the pool as well with 3 kids, ages 3, 1, and 1. It was fun to see one of my twins realize that he could kick his legs and lean forward and move around by himself (we were in the deep end). It was also fun throwing them in the pool and they would just pop up. Helped them to be comfortable in the water. They could even do the zip line at Disney World Blizzard Beach with it at age 2. :) Absolutely recommend this. Need some sort of shirt on underneath though because otherwise it can chafe under the arms.

I suggest you look at the nearby YMCA and see what they use for kiddos this age. They would be the utmost authority in this area since they have to protect the kiddos at all costs.