Mommy Minute: Less obvious water safety reminders

We’ve all heard the warnings: keep gates to pools locked and stay off your cell phone if your child is swimming.

“We always encourage parents to not be sitting at the pool on their phones, but have your phone with your phone within arm’s reach so that if something does happen, you’re able to quickly call for help,” said UPMC’s Dr. Natalie Swartzentruber.

But she said there are some safety reminders that are talked about quite so often, starting with the color of your child’s swimsuit.

“So important,” Swartzentruber said. “You want it to be very bright and colorful. The concern is that if your child is having issues and you know they’re under the water, it’s harder to see them. If your bathing suit matches the color of the water… or the liner of the pool. So picking neon colors, very bright colors that really contrast with the pool is also very important for safety.”

She also stresses that flotation devices can give a false sense of security and can never replace a watchful parent.

“Sometimes that makes parents too comfortable that their child is fine,” Swartzentruber said. “They have they have a puddle jumper on, but in fact, they still need supervision in the pool.”

She said parents should also learn the real signs of drowning – which is often silent and involves no splashing.

“So typically what you would see is a child’s mouth just above the surface and their head tilted way back,” Swartzentruber said. “So that is a scary thing that we see. And that’s when this can be silent. But you need to jump in and jump into action and help your child out of the water.”

She also said secondary drowning and dry drowning can happen after an incident in the water. She said to watch for signs of vomiting, coughing or trouble breathing.

“Just observe them – even if they seem like they’re okay, watch them for signs of coughing or vomiting,” Swartzentruber said. “And if you are seeing signs like that, certainly seek out help.”

Every year there are about 4,000 unintentional drowning death in the U.S. and July is typically the deadliest month of the year.

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