Summer is still a ways off, but it's a good time to think about water safety. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their water safety guidelines to include information on prevention of drowning--something close to the hearts of water-friendly parents at the Shore.
The statement said pediatricians need to address the issue and provide resources on ways to prevent drowning. They also must be familiar with drowning risk for children with special health care needs, including epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder. They also must recognize the socioeconomic, racial and ethnic disparities in drowning risk and work to mitigate those.
The policy statement will be published in the May issue of Pediatrics.
Drowning is the leading cause of injury death in U.S. children ages 1-4 years and the third leading cause of unintentional injury death in children and adolescents ages 5-19 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.
It takes only seconds to drown. Infants are most likely to drown in bathtubs or buckets, and preschoolers are most likely to drown in swimming pools. Many of these deaths occur when the child gets unanticipated access to water.
African-American children have the highest drowning rates. According to a national study, 64 percent of African-American children and 78 percent of African-American parents have little or no swimming ability.
The risk of drowning also is high for children with autism who are prone to wandering. Drowning is the cause of death for almost three-fourths of children with autism who wander off alone. The AAP recommends a family supervision plan for children with autism and other special needs. Have a checklist of nearby ponds, lakes and pools to search if a child wanders. Download an emergency plan at http://bit.ly/WanderingPlanAutism.
Prevent Drowning at Home and at the Beach
To prevent drowning, it requires several factors. Adequate supervision--close, constant and attentive supervision of young children--must be in place around any water. Especially when children are not expected to be around water.
To prevented unanticipated access to water, put barriers in place. Here are a few:
- Protect your pool. For instance, four-sided fencing with a locking gate that isolates the pool from the house has been shown to prevent more than 50 percent of swimming pool deaths in children. Door alarms, pool alarms and rigid pool covers are other less-studied prevention strategies.
- Teach kids to swim. Swim lessons, including for children 1-4 years, have been shown to decrease the risk of drowning in some children, but it's not a definitive way to prevent drowning.
- Teens can take a role. The Academy also recommends that teens learn CPR and other water safety skills.
- Supervise and learn to save. Parents should be able to recognize a child in distress and take appropriate action, including CPR.
It may be too cold to swim outside now, but this is definitely something to go over with family members and your doctor as the weather gets warm.
Find more swim safety information at www.healthychildren.org.
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