Kids' swimming: Keep health risks at bay

A footling preparation can go a long way when information technology comes to children and water play. Follow these yr-round tips for kids' swimming.

Past Mayo Clinic Staff

Jay L. Hoecker, M.D. Jay Fifty. Hoecker, M.D.

Is information technology OK for your diaper-clad toddler to splash in the local pool? Tin your child safely wear a cast or ear tubes in the water? Could bacteria lurking in the puddle or lake make your little one sick?

Before you help your child adjust upwards, consider these applied tips from Jay L. Hoecker, Thousand.D., an emeritus pediatrics specialist at Mayo Dispensary in Rochester, Minnesota.

Tin babies or toddlers wear diapers in the water?

Swim diapers and swim pants are h2o-repellent and fit snugly around a child's thighs and waist, merely they're not waterproof. If your kid has a bowel motion in the h2o, fecal fabric might escape the diaper.

A muddy diaper might comprise diarrhea-causing germs, including the parasite cryptosporidium — which can contaminate pool h2o or other swimming areas. In otherwise healthy people, a cryptosporidium infection causes diarrhea. The consequences can be more severe for people who take weak immune systems.

Urine in the water is less risky than feces, but it's hard to separate the 2 when children article of clothing diapers. If you allow your child to swim in a diaper, take breaks to change the diaper in the bathroom or utilize the toilet. Don't allow pond if your child has diarrhea.

Is it risky for children to swallow pool water?

Your child is jump to gulp pool h2o at one time or another, especially when offset learning to swim. A little swallowed pool water isn't typically a cause for concern, just too much pool water can pb to illness. Encourage your child to spit out any h2o that gets in his or her mouth.

Can children who have casts go pond?

It depends on the blazon of cast:

  • Plaster cast. If your kid has a plaster cast over cloth wrapping, he or she must stay out of the water. Trying to protect a plaster bandage with plastic bags generally isn't effective.
  • Fiberglass bandage. If your child has a fiberglass bandage that's lined with a water-repellent liner, it's usually OK to swim — equally long as you have the physician'south OK. Subsequently swimming, it's of import to thoroughly rinse the within of the cast with make clean h2o. Generally, you tin can permit the bandage to air-dry out.

Tin can children swim if they have ear tubes?

If your kid has ear tubes — tiny cylinders placed through the eardrum to bleed fluid and allow air into the middle ear — inquire his or her doc about ear protection during swimming. Some doctors recommend that children who accept ear tubes wear earplugs while swimming to prevent bacteria from entering the middle ear. Even so, routine use of earplugs might only be needed when children dive or swim in untreated h2o, such as lakes and rivers.

What's the best way to preclude swimmer's ear?

Swimmer's ear is an infection that'due south often treated with prescription eardrops. To forbid swimmer's ear:

  • Keep ears dry. Encourage your child to habiliment earplugs while swimming. After swimming, dry your child'south ears by wiping the outer ears gently with a soft towel or apply a hair dryer. Put the hair dryer on the lowest setting and hold it at least a human foot (about 30 centimeters) away from the ear.
  • At-dwelling house preventive treatment. If your child doesn't have punctured eardrums, use homemade preventive eardrops before and afterwards swimming. A mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 1 part rubbing alcohol might aid promote drying and forbid the growth of bacteria and fungi that can cause swimmer's ear. Pour 1 teaspoon (about 5 milliliters) of the solution into each ear and permit it bleed back out. Similar over-the-counter solutions might exist available at your drugstore.
  • Avert putting foreign objects in your child's ear. Don't apply cotton wool swabs in your child'southward ears, which can pack material deeper into the ear canal, irritate the thin peel inside the ear or pause the peel.

What about crimson eyes after swimming?

Exposure to chlorine might go out your child with red eyes. To ease discomfort and reduce redness subsequently pond, rinse your child's eyes with a sterile eyewash or an artificial tears solution. To prevent red or puffy optics, encourage your child to wear goggles while swimming.

What's the all-time age to begin swimming lessons?

Many kids learn to ride a bicycle and to swim on their ain at the same historic period — frequently the summer earlier kindergarten. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports swimming lessons for most children age 4 and older.

If you enroll a child younger than age iv in a pond program, pick one that requires parental involvement, has qualified teachers and a fun atmosphere, and involves a limited number of underwater submersions. This volition limit the amount of water your child might swallow.

Tin children swim when they're ill or have cuts and scrapes?

It'due south fine for children who have colds or other small-scale illnesses to swim, as long as they feel well enough to do so. Besides, it'southward OK for children to swim with cuts and scrapes — equally long as the wounds aren't bleeding.

Is information technology OK to swim right subsequently eating?

Information technology's OK to swim immediately after a light meal or snack. If your kid feels lethargic afterward eating a heavy meal, nevertheless, encourage him or her to take a break before pond.

Are hot tubs safe for children?

Immature children tin quickly get overheated in a hot tub or spa. The Centers for Affliction Control (CDC) do non recommend children under 5 years employ a hot tub or spa. If y'all allow your child to utilise a hot tub or spa, go along the visit supervised and brief, and don't allow your child to put his or her caput underwater. Long hair can get defenseless in an uncovered hot tub grate and crusade drowning.

June 19, 2020

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