So my toddler fell into a canal the other day, and very luckily I was able to get him out safely. This is not intended to be a praise or blame thread, but at the suggestion of two other posters I am starting a thread to share ideas and links and info about what to do when a child falls in water and how to prepare for it.
Firstly, this is what helped us.
Twenty years ago I did basic lifeguard training.
I also keep up with my first aid.
We walk that canal path most days and as we walk I am always running a mental rescue/hazard check - safe entry and exit points, who is about,current flow, water depth and visibility,hazards such as moored boats which could crush us and also boats with easy access via steps and ladders at the back so a child could be placed in one from the water and both scramble out.
I also carry a mobile.
The other helpful thing is that DS and I swim every day and have done water safety practice since he was a baby.
When 4-6 months he was 'dived down' in my arms and pulled underwater and resurfaced so he 'swam'' underwater. This taught him not to breathe in underwater and not to panic.
When about 9 months and to this day he has been taught to sit on the side and jump in on command. ( We sing Humpty Dumpty had a great FALL 1-2-3- jump!) At first I caught him, standing directly under him in the pool, then I let him go down deeper and bob up as he got older and now he jumps in and knows to kick for the surface and also hold breath underwater and not panic.
(All this without armbands so he is used to his unfloated weight although we do swim with armbands he rest of the time and at 2.1 he swims independently in them.)
We practice holding onto the side of the pool for a count of ten, longer nd slower counts each time so he automatically grabs the side.
We practice swimming to my hand and grabbing - the automatic drowning response is not to reach and grab. I practice looking out for drowning whenever I at the pool or beach because it does not look like what you think,
Here is a good link about what people look like when drowning.
www.modernmom.com/article/how-to-save-your-kid-from-drowning
Key part pasted below
The Instinctive Drowning Response
Drowning does not look like drowning - Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
- Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
- Drowning people?s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people?s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
- Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water?s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
- Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
- From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people?s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
Signs of Drowning
This doesn?t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn?t in real trouble - they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn?t last long - but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc. Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
? Head low in the water, mouth at water level
? Head tilted back with mouth open
? Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
? Eyes closed ? Hair over forehead or eyes
? Not using legs - Vertical
? Hyperventilating or gasping
? Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
? Trying to roll over on the back
? Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.
I did shout for help but nobody came. I shouted 'HELP BABY IN WATER! HELP BABY DROWNING! ' ( being specific rather than just screaming which might have been taken for horseplay)
I kicked off my shoes (they would have impeded entry: laced up trainers I wouldn't have bothered)
I looked for hazards and entry and and exit points.
Then I got in and got DS who was underwater, looking up and kicking for the surface. He had floated under the dock so it was dark and harder for him to kick for the light as trained.
He was fine and with an adrenalin surge I was able to lift him to the dock at head height and then roll him to safety before pulling myself out and I have no idea how I do that but I must have done a chin-up. However I could have swum out and round a moored boat with steps and got onto the boat and then onto the dock instead.
Anyway, not a yay me thread and I shouldn't have perhaps let DS run by canal at all but it happened and we were ok and if a thread about it with further ideas and links will help other parents and children then something good has come out of a scary experience.
DS played 'dinosaur fall in water, help help, mummy dinosaur get him out' for next two days but seems fine, albeit noticeably careful by canal these days.
We continue to swim and practice.
HTH.