New Guidelines for Swimming Lessons for 1-4 Year-Olds

School’s out! Off to the beach, pool or lake with the family. Now that temperatures are on the rise and the pools are filled and ready for summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued updated guidelines for when to start your young child in swimming lessons.
In a new release issued last week the AAP updated their guidelines for swimming lessons. Previously, the AAP did not recommend lessons for children ages 1-3 years old. This is because they did not believe the lessons were effective in preventing drowning and there was fear about parents being less watchful of these children due to having had some lessons.

Now, new evidence suggests lessons can help prevent drowning in children ages 1-4. While they stop short of saying lessons are mandatory, they do suggest you assess the following when deciding to put your child in lessons: “frequency of exposure to water, emotional development, physical abilities, and certain health concerns related to pool water infections and pool chemicals.”
Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, MD, FAAP who helped write the policy report, which will appear in the July issue of Pediatrics, writes, “Swimming lessons can be an important part of the overall protection, which should include pool barriers and constant, capable supervision.”
The AAP report states lessons for children under 1 are not recommended because no scientific studies have shown lessons to be effective in drowning prevention for this age group, according to the study.
Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of death among children 1-19, according to the report. It states that teenage boys and toddlers are the most at risk for drowning death.
The report also includes many guidelines for pool safety such as fencing all pools – even inflatable pools, never leave a child alone around open water of any kind and never rely on inflatable floatation devices such as “swimmies” or “water wings” to keep your children safe. Read the entire release here.