Baby swallowed bath water

[Jac1978]

We were washing my 16 week old this evening in the bath and she was wriggling a lot and turned her head suddenly when we were washing her hair and must have got a load of water in her eyes and mouth, she panicked and started spluttering and becoming distressed. It was horrible. Eventually she stopped coughing and calmed down but I'm worried we've harmed her. How do I know if it's got into her lungs or not? Am praying she's alright and am nervous about taking her swimming now in case it happens again and harms her

Hi Jac, I really wouldn't worry. If it had got into her lungs she would still be coughing. I would think that she became distressed because she panicked and was a bit frightened by the new experience of water going down her throat. But she will be fine. My 10 month old has occasionally had the same thing happen to him, and he's usually happy as a clam in water. It's just one of those experiences that is pretty inevitable. I certainly wouldn't avoid taking her swimming - far better that she learns early how to behave in water. But maybe consider signing up for a course of baby swimming lessons, as they help parents learn how to handle their baby in water Hope this helps.

It's not nice to see your baby distressed but sure she will be fine - don't let it stop you taking her swimming either, you sound a very vigulant parent - it will be fun :)

These things are really scary when they first happen, but bath water will not harm your baby, I promise!

I developed a technique of using a flannel to wipe ds's hair rather than rinsing it so that he didn't get a stream of water in his eyes/ mouth :-)

Thank you all very much xx

Lungs are very wet anyway - within limits, obviously, getting a bit of water in them doesn't hurt them at all.

Be warned, when they get a bit older they will try and drink the bathwater, either by using a plastic beaker or by sucking it out of the flannel. The fact that they've probably weed in it doesn't seem to bother them. [eeeww]

At least urine is sterile. .

As everyone else said, if she's not still coughing then she's fine.

DS drinks the bath water It must taste disgusting with all the bubbles but we catch him sneakily drinking from his bath toys or the jug every time. He will get out and refuse to get back in again though if he has weed in the bath

My 3 year old poured a cup of bath water into my 15 weeks old's mouth the other day (while dh was yelling at her to stop and trying to stand up and get the baby out of the bath without falling over and dropping him). I was NOT impressed with the 3 year old! He coughed and spluttered but no harm done. She'll be fine.