I received a lot of great responses after publishing this post about dry drowning symptoms. So many parents are concerned about their children dry drowning, and it’s been great to set some of those fears to rest. I’ve updated the end of this post with more water safety tips and a free printable — my hope is that this resource will help you keep your kids safe in the pool, open water, and even the bathtub.

You know there is an issue when medical providers are learning medical terms from social media, and not the other way around. That’s exactly what happened to me (and many of my colleagues) with dry drowning.

A few summers ago, I read about dry drowning for the first time on Facebook. Since then, this misrepresented drowning condition has struck fear into the hearts of parents across the country. With reports that a child in Texas died from dry drowning this month, concern over this topic is making its rounds through parenting circles again, and it’s showing up in our exam rooms, too.

Are these dry drowning symptoms? 

At urgent care, I’ve been getting questions regularly regarding dry drowning. Parents are usually a little hesitant to voice their concern, but their questions about dry drowning symptoms usually go like this:

“I think my son might have swallowed some water in the bath tub last night, should I be concerned about dry drowning? I was so scared to put him to bed.”

“A few days ago, my daughter was playing the pool and coughed a few times after jumping in the water. She said she got water up her nose. Is dry drowning a possibility?”

The situations these parents are describing happen to all children at some point! It’s extremely normal for a child playing in the water to experience these things, but parents are worried there is a greater danger and their children are experiencing symptoms of dry drowning. I hear those fears. I understand. There are many, many legitimate concerns and threats to protect our children from. But thankfully, dry drowning isn’t one of them, and it doesn’t have to keep you up at night…

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