omg, I want Jade to do that, she is in swim lessons and only goes under and tries to get back to the edge. A long way off that type of thing, Babies are amazing.

That is amazing.  I'm actually crying (and filling up with milk) though, because these situations do happen in Australia all the time, and children just aren't prepared for them.  My girls are all going to go into swimming lessons over this summer, and then keep it up as their extra activity.

Learning to swim is so important and there are still too many children that are not being protected by their parents when it comes to water safety.  There are still too many adults who think it is ok to jump in  a pool or go to the beach when they don't know how to swim as they think that the lifeguards will 'get them in time', but the reality is, they won't if you can't at least float yourself properly.

We do actually bathe our kids in a way that they are already learning how to swim, and we didn't even realize it. 

I think our government here in Australia should make swimming lessons for mobile children compulsory, that is, you don't get the lessons, you don't get your payments etc, because every child needs to learn the basics of water survival. 

OMG watching that baby made my heart beat so fast cant bleieve how long that babywa in the water xxxx

I researched this when I was a lifeguard. The stats on drownings in back yard pools are worse than they should be, that's for sure, but most children under 5 years of age that drown each year in Australia do so unsupervised in the bath!

There have been several organisations in the USA in particular that have had such infant programs for decades now, and they are fantastic. The clip shows a "typical" American home - where the pool fence laws are appauling in my opinion - but these programs have also saved children that have been left unsupervised in baths, fallen into dams, ponds, large puddles, fallen out of boats, etc.

These programs can and do teach children how to do this, and from there move onto teaching children how to swim to safety, starting at around 6 weeks of age, though some such organisations take on children as young as two weeks of age.

I wish that we had more swim schools that taught these skills in Australia! I have met one tiny baby, only about 6 months old, that could swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool doing backscull, and he could fall into the pool and right himself like in this video and would backskull to the edge, find his way around the edge until he reached the stairs and then crawl out! He was utterly fascinating to watch.

Generally speaking, a child only a few months old could maintain that position - depending on whether they are due for a nap! - for up to half an hour, the more awake and older the child is, the longer they can maintain it. The position is easy and relaxing to maintain once learned properly and adults that have been trained to do it can maintain this position for several hours. Well-trained lifeguards should be able do it for at least 8 hours while also holding onto a non-swimmer.

The comments about parents getting too complacent about their child's safety once a child learns to do this is so incredibly true it's frightening, but even more frightening is the number of parents that become equally complacent after putting a floatation device on their child that can't swim at all. More than half of the children that do drown in pools were wearing floaties at the time!

The number of near drownings at public swimming pools is horendous as well. Most don't make statistics, because the lifeguards would prefer to prevent it than try to save a child after the fact. When I was working, I would save a different child under the age of 3 from drowning at least 3 times in every 6 hour shift! Mummy would be sunbaking on the lawn and little crawling bubby would wander over to the pool alone and get caught by me before falling in. I've even stood there and watched in disbelief as parents put floaties on their 2 year old and sent them into the pool grounds alone and then would get in their car and drive off!

They thought the floaties would stop the kids from drowning and we lifeguards would be supervising their child for them... Yeah sure we would, along with the other 500 people in the pool! Needless to say, I made a number of calls to the police for child abandonment during each summer season.

Nothing we can teach a child or put on a child will make them safer than good responsible 100% supervision!!!

wow had me sitting on the edge of my seat..

xx cazza

Absolutely amazing !!!!!!!!!

Still no replacement for only giving them supervised access to water but still incredible all the same

xxx

 Remarkable skill but still saddened me to watch this. All pools should be fenced off and as soon as a child is old to be taught how to swim, I feel they should.

This was incredible to watch and would be a great skill for any child.  I would also be worried that it would make people too complacent.  When Zane did swim lessons they did a day when he had to wear his clothes in the pool because it is different falling in when you are fully clothed.  Clothing and shoes can really weigh you down.

We still need to be careful with buckets, ponds and baths where kids can fall in, get wedged and drown.  But still, such a young bubba and so clever!

I was thinking the same thing as ajv00...  While fantasic I wonder how long the baby could keep it up...  Still it is a great skill..

I was shocked here that the regulations are so slack on pools.. Here a fence like the aussies are only manditory if it is in ground, and even then it is only needed around your yard, and not the actual pool itself.. Above ground you just have to make sure the steps are up and away so no one can climb them...  But what I don't understand is even then I see houses with pools here and so many kids toys in their back yards that kids can climb up to the pools ledge just by standing on a toy....

omg this is wonderful.

wow i want tobi to learn that now!

Wow,  I was wondering how long the baby could keep that up for the crying and the floating.  How long b4 someone got there?  Would be baby tire of it, And roll back on to stomach?

It was amazing to watch tho and I think all kids who are near any sort of water should learn this. 

As Dannii pointed out all pools should be fenced.  This is an american video so I wonder what their laws reguarding fencing pools are.

How incredible. But where the hell was the gate to the pool??? Austin just started swimming lessons again today and they focus on teaching babies to head back for the edge of the pool when they get in, but i dont know if they know about this technique. Will have to ask next week.

WOW im stunned! thanks for showing this!!!

That was amazing. I was scared that the baby was in the pool like that, but the child managed to keep their head up above water, and the lesson taught on how to stay afloat and roll and twist onto their back is amazing.

Great reminder at the right time of year for us in the southern hemisphere!  Our wee man had lessons when he was 5, and while they practised floating on their backs, and swimming to the side and pulling themselves out, they didn't really focus on this technique.  I can assure you we will be from now on though.  What a great posting, and how cute is that wee boy, you just want to give him the hugest hug!

 Actually, my doctor brought this up with me when our littlest went in the pool for the first time. He said something to be aware of is that the parents of kids that have been through this program (or other swimming programs) often get overconfident about their child's abilities in the pool. That, while these programs are not bad ones, when kids are in an actual potential drowning situation, they often panic or forget what they have learned in the classes, so parents should not wholly trust that their child will successfully utilize the techniques they have learned under supervision. So dannii17, you are right that class or no class, prevention is the best tactic.

But I know what you mean, when I watched it, my heart was in my throat the whole second half of the clip.

wow thats fantastic!! I think if any parents have a pool or regularly visit people with a pool they should think about looking into this. I also think no matter what age your children are or even if you have no children, your pool should always be fenced and gated.

That's really amazing! I was getting pretty impatient to have somebody get that baby out of the water after awhile though!