Suburban teams provide new form of swim class for youths – NBC Chicago

Drowning is the main reason for loss of life for youngsters ages 1 by way of 4, based on information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two suburban Chicago teams are hoping to battle that statistic — however not together with your common swim class.

“Even though we think about water safety when the weather warms up, it is something we need to be thinking about every day,” mentioned Ashleigh Bullivant with Infant Swimming Resource.

May is National Water Safety Month, highlighting the damaging actuality that many households have confronted.

“Almost 70 percent of toddler drownings is during non-swim time, when supervision is not there because it is nap time or they are watching Daniel Tiger on TV …and they go to the water alone,” mentioned Liz Huber, founding father of the CAST Water Safety Foundation.

That’s why Huber mentioned CAST and Infant Swimming Resource determined to take a brand new method for prevention.

“So what we do here is give them the skills to survive if they fall into the water,” she informed NBC Chicago.

Unlike typical swim classes, the concentrate on this program is on security and self-rescue.

“They do learn to swim a short distance with eyes closed, propel in the water, but above all else – they learn to find a floating position and rest and breathe in that float,” Huber mentioned.

The personal, 10-minute classes are completed briefly increments, typically over a six-week interval.

“Every time I see a child roll back and float by themselves for the first time, I get a lump in my throat,” Bullivant mentioned. “I am still so in awe of what they can learn. You can never get sick of a child learning to help themselves for when they might need it most.”

For different security measures, Johns Hopkins Medical Center recommends mother and father take the next precautions to assist stop drownings in younger youngsters:

• Never depart your baby unsupervised close to water at or within the dwelling, or round any physique of water, together with a swimming pool of any dimension or depth.
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and toddler and baby first help.
• Don’t depend on private flotation units (PFDs) or swimming classes to guard your baby.
• Install childproof fencing round swimming swimming pools. The fencing needs to be at the very least 4 toes excessive and have a self-closing latch that’s out of the attain of kids.
• Give your baby swim classes on the earliest age they’ll deal with such classes.
• Make positive you could have rescue gear, a cellphone, and emergency cellphone numbers close to the swimming pool.
• Insist that your baby put on a U.S. Coast Guard-approved private flotation gadget on boats always.
• Don’t permit youngsters to dive in shallow or unfamiliar waters. Always have youngsters enter water feet-first. Diving in shallow water may cause everlasting bodily disabilities or loss of life.