Drowning is, logically, one of the greatest fears for any parent, since a small mistake can be fatal. You may have heard of secondary drowning or dry drowning, also called silent drowning.
A condition that generates a lot of concern, according to which, if a child suffers a drowning even if he recovers, he could even die a few days later. But luckily, this does not exist.
Currently, dry drowning is a deprecated and incorrect term. In view of the fact that parents could be frightened and avoid confusing with terms that are not correct, WHO gave a definition on drowning and how to qualify them:
"It is considered drowning to suffer respiratory difficulties as a result of submersion or immersion in a liquid." The results of drowning should be classified as death, morbidity or absence of morbidity. There was also consensus as to consider that they should stop using the terms dry, active, passive, silent and secondary to qualify drowning.
In Babies and more Ten tips from a mother expert in water safety to avoid drowning in childrenFrightening parents without need
As a positive aspect, many have taken to the water the fear it deserves, and not only are they much more aware of their children, but also do their best to learn to swim before, to prevent possible accidents.
On the negative side, even with surveillance, there are children who swallow some water, or who are victims of the (so hateful) chokes, and at that time the "secondary drowning code" is activated, through which parents pass the worse 72 hours of their lives, thinking that at any moment they can find their son without life. But no.
Why we say it does not exist
The pediatrician Jose Mª Lloreda explained it very well in his blog 'My kingdom for a horse':
"There is no case described in the world of a drowning, that he would recover without symptoms, and subsequently die for that reason. None. Another thing is to put that in writing in news, which is what has happened. And the copies from one place to another, which have spread throughout the world. "
For his part, the pediatrician Jesús Martínez, also clarified in El País:
"Swallowing water through an aguadilla or two or two hundred leads to having an empacho, probably a vomitona or a cracker, but nothing more. The water has gone to the stomach and if it can digest it it will pass and if not, it will go out somewhere, by above or below. "
What should we watch
The problem comes when the water does not swallow it, but you suck it (or breathe). Then it goes to the lungs and the cough mechanisms are activated (such as when the water goes to the other side eating) to remove it as soon as possible. If the child is conscious and coughs and coughs until it passes, the episode ends and there is no risk of anything.
If instead the child loses consciousness and consequently does not take out all the water he has in the lungs, we must do everything possible to throw it and recover.
If he expels the water, and recovers, he will have to go to a hospital equally, as is logical, for the loss of consciousness and for the relevant medical evaluation to be made and to be observed if necessary; but without cough or signs that show that there is still water, it is considered that there is no danger of breathing problems
If you do not eject it all, even if there is very little water in your lungs, then you will have trouble breathing, and you will not be able to go home from hospital. Jesús Martínez says it like this:
"If the drowned and recovered child continues to cough or remain dizzy Because oxygen does not reach the brain and is confused and sleepy, it means that there is still fluid in your lungs and you cannot be discharged in the emergency room. It can get complicated with the passing of the hours. That persistent cough hours after the scare, as if choked, it should make us suspect that something is not going well, that drowsiness and excessive decay is not a secondary drowning, which we already know does not exist, is that primary drowning that has not yet been fully resolved. "
In Babies and more The prohibition of bathing up to two or three hours after eating makes no sense, pediatricians saySo this summer, and every summer, and whenever there is water in between, watch your children because the water is very dangerous, and more if they don't know how to swim. And if something happens to them, they swallow water or the like, you can rest easy if after a few coughs you are active again and playing.
Only in case you see him turned off and with respiratory symptoms you will have to worry, and then in the hospital it will be the doctors themselves who will not let you go home until the child is fully recovered.
