Even though it may be OK to swim with your baby at six months, it is important to remember that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that "drowning is a leading cause of death to children under five."
To keep your baby safe and healthy around water, experts recommend a few key safety practices, including:
- a layers of protection system around your swimming pool, spa, pond.
- using touch supervision, in which your are always within arm's length or have your hands on your baby when she is in the water
- changing your baby's diaper frequently (about every 30 to 60 minutes), even if you are using swim diapers, which will likely still allow stool or bacteria from stool to leak into the pool water.
Layers of Protection
Your pool safety plan should include having a permanent fence around your pool with self-closing and self-latching gates, having childproofed locks on all windows and doors that lead to the pool area, and supervising kids when they are around the pool. With these layers of protection, if one layer breaks down, like if someone leaves a door open, another is still another in place so that your child can't get in the pool.
Touch supervision is the final layer of protection in pool safety. Your baby should be pretty safe if you are holding her or if she is within arms reach at all times.
Healthy Swimming
Unfortunately, it can take time for chlorine to kill all of the germs in water, so you want to keep your baby from swallowing any water that may be contaminated. And make sure no one is swimming if they are sick, especially if they have diarrhea.
Sources: CPSC. Backyard Pool: Always Supervise Children. NCIPC. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. 10 Leading Causes of Death, United States. 2004. Age Groups less than 1. CDC. 12 Steps for RWI Prevention for Pool Staff.
