🛁 Water safety and drowning prevention

Prepare before water time

• Have the towel, washing supplies, diaper and clothes ready before the bath.
• Plan how to secure bathrooms, pools and water-storage areas.
• Use a properly fitted life jacket for boating or appropriate open-water activities; inflatable toys are not safety equipment.

Build layers of protection

1. 1. Stay within reach

   Keep a hand supporting a baby during bathing. Bath seats and non-slip mats do not replace you. If you must leave, take the child with you.

2. 2. Make supervision explicit

   Name the adult responsible and hand over clearly before switching. Do not assume another adult at a gathering is watching.

3. 3. Secure stored water

   Empty baths, buckets, basins and paddling pools after use. Securely cover necessary water-storage drums and prevent children accessing them; keep bathroom doors closed where practical.

4. 4. Check pools and outdoor water

   Use a four-sided pool barrier with a self-closing, self-latching gate where possible. Alarms are only an extra layer. Stay close near beaches, ponds, canals and floodwater; swimming lessons do not remove the need for supervision.

5. 5. Prepare for rescue and emergency care

   Take professional infant and child CPR training. In an emergency, get the child out without putting yourself in danger, call 911 and follow dispatcher instructions. A child with breathing difficulty after submersion needs urgent emergency care.

Classic mistakes

• ❌ Leaving to answer a call or door Let it wait, or take the child out and bring them with you. A brief absence can be dangerous.

Same topic

• 🧸 Babyproofing the house (when baby goes mobile)
• 🍬 Preventing choking and swallowing hazards
• 🪜 Preventing falls at home
• 🧴 Preventing household poisoning

Read next

• 🛁 Safe bath time: a dad's practical guide
• 🚨 Getting trained in infant & child first aid