If you live in a hot country.. are you told not to swim after eating.. especially in cold water?? I've been a bad mother

[Eve]

..my husband has always forbidden the kids to swim after eating, but a few days ago we were at an evening wedding.

There was a pool, my kids had swimming things in the car and between courses they dived in.

.. result was that my eldest has just spent last 3 days in hospital on a drip, as his digestion apparently went into shock and stopped, creating all sort of problems.

We are in Itlay and Doctors were aware of condition.. but I can't find any info on the net on it and why it happened.

Can anyone shed any light?

So sorry to hear about your DS. I had thought the no swimming and eating this was a bit of a myth, but I guess not.

I assume it's the coldness versus the act of swimming, how cold was pool? Shock can do all sorts of things to your body. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

I've always been of the impression that you don't swim until at least 30 minutes after you've eaten. On holiday at the beginning of the month I didn't allow my own DC's in the water until nearly an hour. I did think though it was because your body would cramp more easily in cold water after eating and therefore you could end up in difficulties and drowning.

Hope your DC is feeling much better now.

I've always been told not to swim within an hour of eating and to be honest I've simply never questioned it.

Oh dear, sorry to hear this.

Was the water of the pool very cold? (quite unlikely though in Italy, unless the pool was on a hill/windy place)

I grew up in Italy, where the sea is usually quite warm in the summer and there was a rule not to swim for 2/3 hrs after eating.

Nowadays I don't really follow this rule, IF:

they only just had a light lunch

the water is warm (sea water is about 27 degrees at the moment)

by they I mean the dc.

i thought it was so you didnt vomit your dinner up in the pool. Cant shed any light but i hope your eldest gets better soon.

I always thought it was to do with your stomach not being able to do the cramping of muscles needed to swim and process food at the same time. Not sure where I acquired that 'knowledge' from though.
Hope your DS is ok.

Firstly, you haven't been a bad mother! I was always told not to swim for an hour after eating because you could get cramp but my mum recently said she thought this was dreamt up by parents wanting a little post-lunch nap!

I'm so sorry to hear about your dc. Hopefully all will be well v soon.

thank you all .. hes fine.

Out of hospital and back to normal bouncy self, pool was cold, it felt ok to hand but it was unheated and we are in the mountains.

Problems seems to be that he dived straight in, rather than took his time to get used to it.

I always thought it was a myth as well and the net seems to say so to.. so I'm a bit mystified as to what happened. He was definitely ill though had very painful stomach, was sick every time he ate something.. so think he did need to be in hospital and it did happen straight after he came out of the pool.

I still can't find any info on net about this?

Any ideas anyone?