Occasionally, I will see a video posted of an instructor throwing a baby into water and watching them flounder about until they right themselves and float. The comments are a mix of “that’s terrible, what is the instructor doing?” and “you guys are clueless, this is how they train the babies.”
My question is, while tossing babies in the water after training may be the standard, and might save their life one day, isn’t there a risk that they will inhale water when being randomly dunked under water and panicking?
I know humans innately stop inhaling when in water until we can’t hold our breath anymore, including babies to an extent, but I don’t know if babies are as capable of this as a grown human. Especially when they do NOT expect being dunked under. I’ve seen adults and kids not expect that, and they end up coughing out tons of water. If water gets in the lungs, can’t it kill you? Cause a lung infection? “Dry drowning”? I never see this talked about in relation to the baby swim training.
These things are considered and any decent instructor won’t throw an untrained baby into the water. Newborns are first slowly conditioned to be in and underwater. Often you add a verbal cue before submerging them, so the baby starts to expect it when hearing the cue. The throwing happens once they are used to being underwater. And then the throwing plays a big role because most infants who accidentally fall into water will do so from well a fall. By being used to this, you reduce their risk of drowning.
Reflexes generally don’t develop as we grow older. On the contrary, we lose a lot as we grow up. For example, newborns have a diving reflex up to around 6 months. So a baby is on average safer underwater at age 0-6 months. Not all infants have this reflex though, so you always need to be extra careful the first few times and should always start slow.
Are there some people who throw untrained babies into the water? Yes, unfortunately, they exist. And yes, some newborns will die because of it. But generally, people who plan on teaching their newborns how to swim start the proper way. So the risk isn’t any higher than with a 4-year-old (which used to be the recommended age). And even if we look at 4-year-olds, the methods don’t change much. Most people start slow and do it properly. A few bad apples throw their child into the water. And then some children drown because of it.
