A sad story recently went viral on social media about a brave nine-year-old girl who tried to save her drowning five-year-old cousin in a swimming party.

The adults nearby did not immediately know what was happening; both children did not survive.

The elder kid reportedly knew how to swim, but her skills unfortunately proved futile.

Baby books warn not to leave your child in a tub even for a moment, due to the danger of drowning in even an inch of water.

There have also been stories of kids “going under” the water in the bathtub briefly or having “drowned a bit” but went out fine, only to pass away in their sleep the next day.

“Dry drowning is a term that used to signify symptoms of drowning that occur once out of water up to 24 hours after an activity involving water,” said Jose Clemente, pediatrician at St. Luke’s Medical Center and Makati Medical Center.

He explained that it’s “already considered confusing and the latest textbooks and journals on pediatrics suggest that we abandon using the term. All forms of drowning, whether while submerged in water or hours after, involve respiratory problems because of hypoxia or lack of oxygen.”

Submersion

As the terms can be misleading, such instances are instead more appropriately called “submersion injuries.”

Now that swimming season is almost upon us (and bathing babies is still a daily task for moms like me!), as rare as these incidents may be, it would be good to know and do all we can as parents to prevent these accidents from happening.

What should we look out for?

“Signs and symptoms are connected to ineffective respiration: difficulty in breathing, vomiting, extreme irritability or increased sleepiness. If any of these symptoms occur after swimming or bathing, drowning should be a consideration,” said Clemente.

What should we do?

“Parents should know that most victims of drowning should be observed for at least six to eight hours, even if they look perfectly well and should be brought to the emergency room or their pediatrician to be assessed.”

What is the treatment?

“Generally, drowning victims who are awake and alert after the incident have good outcomes, while comatose victims have irreversible brain injury. It’s either good or bad; rarely anyone falls in the middle.”

Clemente added: “This means treatment may involve observation or minimal resuscitation for the ones with good outcomes, and more advanced life-support strategies, which any good hospital can provide, for those with bad outcomes.”

How can we prevent submersion injuries?

“Prevention is always linked to appropriate parental or adult supervision, which means that a responsible adult must be with the child submerged in water at all times.

Clemente pointed out that proper education, such as swimming lessons, and making sure lifeguards are around and barriers to swimming pools when children are visible and in place, all help prevent such incidents.

Swimming truly is a life skill, which is why my husband and I invested in swimming lessons for our son when he was two years old.

We enrolled him at Aqualogic, where children are taught to be safe in the water.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said that children are not developmentally ready to learn to swim until they are four years old, in 2010 it updated its guidelines on water safety and drowning prevention—with new evidence showing that children ages one to four may be less likely to drown if they have had formal swimming instruction.

According to the Aqualogic site, “Researchers observed that the optimal age to start babies is between six months and 12 months old. At this stage the majority of infants are ripe in the water. They are comfortable, the water feels natural. These very young babies still seem to have a memory of the fluid environment in the womb.”

Will enrolling in swim school make your child drown-proof?

Aqualogic Swim Co. founder and teacher Ria Mackay said, “No one is drown-proofed, not even Michael Phelps.”

She regards her Aquababes and Aquatots programs for children as young as six months old as “safety training,” rather than drown-proofing.