First aid for drowning: discover the actions to take

We invite you to discover the first aid gestures to know in case of drowning.
According to the French Red Cross, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children.

Precautions are important to take into consideration to prevent water-related accidents. Surveillance and awareness are essential to avoid risky situations, especially around bodies of water.

⚠️ Make sure to keep a close watch on your child and do not allow them to stay alone near a body of water, whether it's a pool, pond, lake, or the sea. Even if the water or environment seems very calm, constant supervision around water points is essential to limit the risk of accidents.

🩱 Favor the use of a Floating swimsuit Plouf girl or boy for your little one (they will be protected and won't be able to remove it on their own, as is unfortunately the case with armbands). Finally, do not hesitate to limit access to the pool if you have one at home. Pool alarms and fences are devices required by government regulations.

🌊 There are different types of drowning risk situations depending on the location: pool, river, pond, sea, or while using a boat. Be particularly vigilant during water activities and follow safety instructions, especially in adverse weather conditions.

The diversity of drowning situations requires increased vigilance to reduce the number of victims, especially among children and the elderly. Prevention and surveillance are key to avoiding accidents around water points.

If a drowning accident occurs…

Remove the child from the water after their immersion, they must be placed on their back, with the chin raised upwards to clear the airways.
Before intervening, assess your swimming abilities to avoid putting yourself in danger
📞 Do not forget to ask someone to call for help as quickly as possible and ensure the rapid care of the person.
Then, check the child's level of consciousness .

Is he conscious or not? Bring your ear close to his mouth and nose to listen to his breathing. Look to see if his chest rises regularly.
To assess consciousness, ask him simple questions (like his name or the date) and observe his eye reaction to check his responsiveness. Also, ask him to squeeze your hand.
⚠️ Do not try to make the child vomit, extract water from the lungs, or hang him by his feet. You must ensure that the person is breathing while help is on the way. Remove wet clothing and warm him up.

After an incident involving water, stay vigilant, as complications may arise following drowning, even if the person initially seems better.

First aid actions if the child is no longer breathing

Alternate chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth.

Drowning causes asphyxiation because water blocks the airways and prevents oxygen from reaching the brain, making resuscitation urgent. With the « mouth-to-mouth », transfer the air contained in the rescuer's airways to the child's lungs.
➡️ For this, the head must be tilted upward, that is, tilted back, so that the tongue does not block the air passage. This could happen if the tongue falls to the back of the throat. Blow into his mouth while pinching the nose. Ensure that the breath causes the victim's chest to rise.

For chest compressions or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, you will try to stimulate the heart (by compressing it) to maintain blood circulation.
➡️ The victim must be lying on a hard surface. The area you will compress depends on the type and size of the victim:
👶🏽 For babies: one finger below the line joining the nipples.
🧒🏼 For older children, in the center, on the lower part of the sternum.

The heel of one of your hands should be positioned on the child's bare sternum, then place the heel of your second hand on top.
You should compress the sternum between 1 and 2 cm for babies and between 3 and 5 cm for children, and after each compression, the rib cage should return to its normal size. When performing this massage, your hand should always remain in contact with the victim's sternum.
⏱️ The frequency of the action is fifteen chest compressions for two breaths and a pace of 2 compressions per second (between 100 and 120 per minute).

🚨 It is essential to continue these rescue actions without interruption until help arrives. Stay with the victim and continue resuscitation. until the arrival of help, to ensure the best possible coordination with professionals. Rescue training allows you to master these gestures and adapt the intervention according to the type of accident or victim encountered.

First aid gestures if the child is breathing

Turn the child on their side and put them in the recovery position (PLS). This will prevent them from choking in case they are vomiting.
➡️First, lay them down. Bend the child's elbow at a 90° angle (arm on the ground side), the palm of their hand should be facing upwards.
Then, grab the other hand, and place the back of their hand against their cheek (the cheek on the ground side). When you support the victim's hand against their cheek (your palm against their palm), lift the victim's knee on the side opposite the ground and gently turn the body. The knee should finally touch the ground, be careful, the knee and hip should form a right angle.
Open the child's mouth while avoiding moving their head, this will allow liquids to flow out in case the child vomits.

💧 Favor swimming in monitored beaches or pools. We must also emphasize that the advice given in our article does not replace official first aid training.

Have you taken first aid courses?

Share with us below in the comments, your advice so we can all benefit!

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