CPSC Announces Study Results of Drowning Danger Using Infant Bathtub Seats

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning parents and caregivers about the dangers of leaving children unattended in infant bathtub seats.

Drowning is the third leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., and children under the age of 5 are at particularly increased risk. CPSC knows of 45 young children who have drowned in these seats since 1983, and nearly two-thirds of these deaths occurred in the last three years. In more than 90 percent of these cases, the children were left unattended by caregivers.

According to data collected by CPSC and published today by the American Academy of Pediatrics in the electronic journal, Pediatrics, the use of bathtub seats may increase the risk of drowning among infants and toddlers by increasing the likelihood that the child will be left alone in the tub.

"More than a million bathtub seats are sold in this country every year," said Renae Rauchschwalbe, a CPSC researcher and the primary author of the study. "We want parents and caregivers to know that they are not a safety device. Never leave your child alone in the tub, whether or not you are using a bathtub seat."

Infant bathtub seats usually consist of a plastic ringed chair with three or four attached legs that is placed inside a bathtub. The infant sits up inside the bathtub seat, leaving the caregiver's hands free to wash the child.

When unsupervised in the tub, children can tip the seats over, slide into the water through the leg openings and climb out of the seats into the water, posing the risk of drowning.

For the study, the authors analyzed bathtub seat-related fatality statistics collected by CPSC from 1983 to 1995. During this period, CPSC recorded 32 drowning deaths connected to the use of bathtub seats. CPSC is now aware of 13 additional deaths since the study was completed -- three more in 1995, seven in 1996 and three in 1997.

The age of the drowned children involved in this study ranged from 5 to 15 months, with an average age of 8 months. The children were left alone in the tub anywhere from 1 to 35 minutes, and for an average time of 6 minutes.

Of the caregivers who left the children alone, 24 percent left to use the phone, 24 percent left to attend to other children, 17 percent left to retrieve a towel or clothes for the child, and 17 percent left to perform a household chore.

CPSC reminds caregivers that bathtub seats are safe if used properly, which means providing constant adult supervision when young children are in the tub. Children can drown quickly and silently in a small amount of water. Often there is no screaming or splashing.

The Pediatrics study published today, "The Role of Bathtub Seats and Rings in Infant Drowning Deaths," written primarily by CPSC's Renae Rauchschwalbe, was co-authored by Ruth Brenner of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and Gordon Smith of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. The article can be accessed on the World Wide Web at: http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/100/4/e1