TAMPA, FL -- Drowning is the number one killer of children under the age of 4 in Florida.
With summer fast approaching, we want to show you another way to add a layer of protection between your infant and water. It only takes seconds for an infant to drown.
Emma Grynbal, an infant swimming resource instructor in Tampa, says she teaches babies how to survive in water, even fully clothed. Today she's teaching Grace how to float.
Grace's mother checked out other swim lessons, but says, "What I saw in other lessons was there's a lot of playing around going on. When Grace was 11-months-old, I didn't think that was the appropriate method to teach children, that a pool is a playground."
Doctor Harvey Barnett, who created the infant swimming resource method, agrees. "This isn't swimming; it's aquatic survival. To save yourself you simply have to go from face down to face up. So that is the distance between life and death in this scenario."
Specially trained instructors teach kids six-months-old to 12-months-old how to roll over and float on their backs.
For a child who can walk, the instructors teach the kids to propel themselves through the water by swimming, and floating when needed.
Doctor Barnett says, "In that sequence, they swim until they need air, roll over on their back, rest and breathe, then they flip back over to continue swimming toward safety."
Because its serious business, the kids don't always appear to enjoy the classes.
Grace's mom Hiral Kanaiya says, "I knew she would not like it in the beginning and she didn't like it, but each day was better."
Grace was in the water almost every day for four weeks, ten minutes at a time. The lessons are short for safety - and instructors monitor the infants for body temperature and water intake.
Doctor Barnett says, "We've taught 179,000 infants and young children to survive in water."
And for Grace's mom, that equals peace of mind. "Now she she can float on her back and she will not drown, she will survive."
There are many different ways to teach a child to float or swim, the important thing is to teach your child someway to survive around water.
For more information go to: www.infantswim.com, where you can enter your zip code and find an instructor near you.
