Tuesday's Health Report: Pediatrician shares advice for pool safety as summer kicks off
BATON ROUGE — Pools are open again with children now out of school.
If you are planning to take your little ones swimming, there are some safety precautions to keep in mind.
“There should be an adult water watcher within arm's length of your kids while they're at any public pool or even any personal pool," Richard So, a pediatrician, said.
It only takes a second for an accident to happen.
The CDC says more children ages one to four years old die from drowning than any other cause of death. To help avoid that kind of tragedy, it's recommended children take swimming lessons by the age of four, even earlier if they live near a pool or pond, or have a boat.
When it comes to life jackets, those should be Coast Guard-approved.
Anyone who owns a pool should make sure it's fenced in and has a working alarm on the gate that way if your child does sneak out, you'll be alerted.
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“Besides swimming lessons to protect your child, I think everyone who owns a pool should have at least have an adult who knows CPR. you can go to your local American Red Cross and you can take an easy basic life-saving classes, but if you have that pool it comes up with a lot of responsibility. you've got to have a fence and someone needs to know CPR,” So said.
You also don't want to forget sunscreen when you are outside at the pool. It should be reapplied every two hours and even sooner if your child is swimming and washes it off.