InsidePassageNews.com

The following was written as an editorial response to an article that appeared in the March 2006 issue of Pacific Yachting. The title of the article was “Personal Flotation Devices: Everything You Need to Know” and I reacted to it because there was not any mention of the importance of PFD’s for small children and the dangers and difficulties of acquiring one that does the job adequately.

Any boaters traveling with children up to age three would be well advised to listen and heed this warning. Last summer I observed two young families with their motor yachts tied to a yacht club dock in Sylva Bay. While the parents enjoyed happy hour and lively conversation on the stern of one of the boats, two small children with minnow nets in their hands hung over the bulwarks hoping to catch some supper. One of the children was not much over one year old judging by the wide stanch of her legs and wobbly gait as she toddled down the dock after her older sister. The older child looked to be about four years old. Together they walked up and down the fingers of the docks hanging over the side whenever they saw something noteworthy in the water. I had to fight the urge to go over to the parents in their deck chairs and educate them to the perils of believing that if your child has a PFD on they are safe.

Many years ago I was a lifeguard at one of the public pools in the Fraser Valley. One of my responsibilities was teaching a “WaterBabies” swimming class. This class was for mothers with babies from six months to three years old. As part of all Red Cross Life Saving classes the use of PFD’s is taught at every age level from infant to adult.

One of the lessons that myself and many of the parents found most remarkable was the one explaining how and when PFD’s work and don’t work for young children. The “wide-neck collar to support and keep a child’s head out of the water” only works if the child should be in the water on their back. However, if they were to fall into the water face first this very buoyancy at the back of their neck is what could drown them!
The flotation is more powerful than the child’s ability to lift their face out of the water and if not properly trained they are unable to flip themselves over to rest comfortably and safely on their back. Small babies also lack the strength in their neck to keep their face out of the water for long periods of time.

Younger children typically are more top heavy than older children; their heads being the biggest part of them. If their feet come out from under them, even in water that may only be waist deep for them, they are hard pressed to get their feet back underneath themselves, get their face out of the water, and stand up again. The flotation in most PFD’s works beautifully when the child is lying on their back but fails miserably if the child is not able to wriggle themselves around from a face first position with the buoyancy of the vest working against them.

As a lifeguard/instructor I demonstrated this to a group of mothers and babies in the shallow end of the pool as part of a WaterBabies swimming lesson. One of the mothers in the class had been bringing her child to swim since she was six months old. She was now eighteen months. She could go underwater and swim happily from her mother to another adult close by, exhaling her air and returning to the surface with a big grin on her face. She routinely happily slid down the kiddies slid, plunked into the water and paddled her way back to the edge, climbed out and was ready for another go. This kid was very comfortable in the water!

With her mother’s permission I wanted to use her baby to demonstrate the effect of a PFD on a child that falls into the water face first. We suited her up in a PFD similar to the one pictured in the article last month. All the buckles were done up right, the through-the-legs strap fastened and the large neck collar support suited to her size and weight as the specifications indicated.

This child had not had a PFD on before this demonstration. We placed her on her back and let her get used to the feel of it, all the while her mother looking into her face and smiling her encouragement. The baby smiled back and kicked her feet and flapped her arms around playfully. I then asked the mother to turn her baby over onto her tummy and let her float freely in that position. As predicted, the child had her face in the water and was not in a position to get her nose out of the water and breathe. She was able for short periods of time to lift her head but the neck collar was working against her. This little girl did not struggle initially because she was comfortable with her face in the water. We soon flipped her over onto her back and all the mothers watching the demonstration were silent while clutching their children close to them. Without assistance from us this child would most likely have drowned. We spent the rest of the lesson teaching the babies that were old enough and strong enough how to flip themselves over while wearing a PFD. As you can imagine, only the larger, older children were able to accomplish this with little assistance.

This information isn’t meant to frighten anyone. The intent is to educate the ignorant to a critical piece of information that could save your child’s life. Of course your child is much safer with a PFD on than not. What needs to be clearly understood is that although children may be wearing a PFD they still need to be closely supervised particularly if they are not comfortable in the water and are under three years old.

To my knowledge, there is only one PFD currently on the market that addresses this problem. The Salus “Bijoux pint-sized” PFD is advertised as one that will “turn your baby (9 to 25 lbs.) face up from a face forward position, while a 3-piece collar cradles the head when floating”.

This PFD earned an award from the CASBA for the Best New Safety Product. Visit www.salusmarine.com for more information. Further information about PFD’s and young children is provided at any public swimming pool and/or through your local Life Saving Society.