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My Child Has:
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Water Safety
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If children are around bodies of water on a regular basis, it benefits parents to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which, in case of an emergency, can save lives, reduce the severity of injury, and improve the chance of survival.
CPR training is available through the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and your local hospital or fire department.
Other specific drowning prevention tips include the following:
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Infants can drown in just one inch of water. Most infant drownings occur in bathtubs. Some drowning prevention tips to remember around your infant include the following:
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- Never leave a young child alone in the bathtub, not even for a minute. Even supportive bathtub "rings" cannot keep your child from drowning.
- Empty any buckets or other containers with liquids.
- Keep bathroom doors closed and install childproof devices to keep your child out of the bathroom (such as doorknob covers).
- Keep toilets closed and/or use childproof toilet locks.
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Small children can drown when they lean forward to look into a bucket or open the toilet. Because the head is the heaviest part of a small child, it is easy for him/her to fall over into a container. Containers filled with liquid often weigh more than the small child and will not tip over when the child falls in.
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Children in this age group most often drown in swimming pools. This often occurs when the preschooler wanders away from the house and into the pool without parents being aware of the child's absence. Children can slip into swimming pools without a sound or splash.
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In April 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement that swimming lessons do not protect children under age 4 from drowning. Although swimming lessons for toddlers are a good way of introducing them to the water, they are not developmentally ready until the age of 4 to learn how to swim properly and safely.
In addition, swimming lessons do no ensure that your child will be safe in the water, even over the age of 4. Children who know how to swim can still drown just a few feet from safety because of confusion or fear.
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To protect your child from drowning in a swimming pool, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers the following tips:
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- Always supervise your child closely in or near a swimming pool. Never leave a small child alone in or near a pool, even for a moment.
- Remove toys from the pool so that your child is not tempted to reach for them.
- Always empty blow-up pools after each use, and put them away.
- Do not let your child use a diving board in a pool that is not approved for it.
- Avoid pool slides; they are very dangerous.
- Keep electrical appliances away from the pool to prevent electric shocks.
- Do not allow riding toys near pools.
- Keep a telephone near the poolside for emergency use.
- Install isolation fencing around the pool. A fence around your pool not only protects your child, but other children in the area as well. Fencing around pools should adhere to the following specification to maximize your child's safety:
- The fence should separate the pool from the house and play area of the yard.
- Fences around pools should have four sides and not include the wall of the house as one side.
- Fencing must be at least 48 inches tall.
- Spacing between the fence slats should be no more than 4 inches. For chain-link fences, the diamond shapes should not be bigger than 1-3/4 inches.
- The fence should have a self-closing and self-latching gate, with latches that are above a child's reach. The gate should also open away from the pool, so that if a toddler leans against an unlatched gate, it will close.
- Other helpful devices, which, when used with pool fencing, maximize the safety of your child, include pool alarms, door or gate alarms, and automatic pool covers that cover the pool completely. Make sure there is no standing water on the pool cover.
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On boats, personal flotation devices (PFDs) should be US Coast Guard-approved. In fact, many states require the use of PFDs on all boats at all times. Blow-up swimming devices such as "water wings," rafts, toys, and other items are not considered safe and should not be relied on to prevent drowning.
It is important that the PFD is the correct size for your child (life jackets are usually labeled "adult" or "child"). However, PFDs do not replace adult supervision.
According to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, 85 percent of boating-related drownings can be prevented with the proper use of PFDs.
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Children in this age group are most likely to drown in bodies of waters such as oceans, lakes, and rivers.
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- Always supervise your child when he/she is swimming in any body of water.
- Do not let your child dive unless you know the depth of the water and it is at least nine feet.
- Do not allow your child to swim during thunderstorms or lighting storms.
- Do not let your child rough-house with others in the water in ways that may be mistaken for drowning.
- Teach your child to stay calm and tread water until help arrives if he/she drifts too far from shore.
- Make sure your child wears a personal flotation device (PFD) approved by the US Coast Guard when boating.
- Do not allow your child to swim around boats and/or in areas where people are water-skiing.
- Avoid letting your child play with blow-up water toys in water that is above the waist.
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Diving accidents can result in permanent spinal cord injuries, brain damage, and/or death. Diving accidents occur when a person:
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- dives into shallow water.
- dives into above-ground pools, which are usually shallow.
- dives into the shallow end of a pool.
- springs upward from the diving board and hits the board on the way down.
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Although older children are more likely to know how to swim, they are at risk for drowning due to overestimation of their skills, unawareness of water currents or water depth, and when consuming alcohol or using drugs. To protect your adolescent from drowning, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers the following tips:
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- Insist that your adolescent always swim with a buddy.
- Encourage your adolescent to take swimming, diving, and water safety or rescue classes to give him/her the skills needed to swim and dive safely. These classes may also prevent your adolescent from acting recklessly.
- Teach your adolescent never to swim or dive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Make sure your adolescent checks the depth of the water before diving.
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The following statistics are the latest available from the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the National Safety Council: Injury and death rates
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- Almost 1,000 children ages 14 and under drown in a given year; more than half of these children are under the age of four.
- Amoung children ages four and under, there are about 300 residential swimming pool drownings each year.
- Approximately 15 percent of children admitted to hospitals for near-drowning die, while another 20 percent will suffer severe and permanent brain damage.
- More than half of drowings among infants occur in bathtubs.
- In 2003, about 200 children ages 14 and under experienced personal watercraft injuries.
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Where and when
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- Most infants under the age of 1 drown in bathtubs. Other drownings in this age group tend to occur in toilets and buckets. Drownings in bathtubs account for 10 percent of all childhood drownings, most often when the child is unsupervised.
- Since 1984, more than 327 children have drowned in buckets containing water or other liquids. The majority (89 percent) of the children were between the ages of 7 and 15 months.
- More than half of childhood drownings in pools occur in the child's home pool, with one-third of these drownings occurring at the homes of friends, neighbors, or relatives.
- In-ground swimming pools that do not have four-sided isolation fencing are 60 percent more likely to be involved in drownings.
- Most drownings and near-drownings occur on the weekend (40 percent) during late spring and summer (May through August).
- More fatal drownings occur in the South and West.
- More fatal drownings occur in rural areas than suburban or urban areas.
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Who
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- The majority (more than 85 percent) of children who drown in swimming pools are between the ages of 1 to 4.
- Each year, 300 children ages four and under drown in swimming pools, while another 2,900 children in this age group are treated for near-drowning in hospital emergency rooms.
- Children ages four and under are two to three times as likely to drown than other age groups and account for 80 percent of home drownings.
- Boys are two to four times more likely to drown than girls.
- Girls are twice as likely to drown in bathtubs than boys.
- African-American children are two times more likely to drown than Caucasian children, and six times more likely to drown in a bucket.
- Non-swimming pool drownings are more common among low-income children.
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