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Drownings have doubled among young children, reversing a slow decline in the number of toddlers who have lost their lives from drowning amid fears more time at home during lockdown may have contributed.

Data from the Royal Life Saving Australia’s National Drowning Report shows that 25 children aged 0-4 years drowned in 2020-21 – a 108 per cent increase on the previous year.

More toddlers drowned in 2020-21 than children aged 5-9 years (eight), 10-14 years (six) and 15-17 years (eight).

Tomas De Foxa Ducat and James Radman learning water safety skills at Speedo Swim Centre in Bondi Beach.Credit:Janie Barrett

“Prolonged periods of stay-at-home directives while working and schooling from home is challenging for parents and carers, increasing the likelihood of distractions around the home environment and lapses in child supervision,” the report said.

Eight toddlers drowned in swimming pools in 2020-21, followed by lakes and dams (seven) and bathtubs and spas (five).

University of NSW School of Population Health lecturer Amy Peden said it was not completely clear why more toddlers drowned last year.

Swim instructor Rajesh Bhardwaj takes 17-month-old James Radman for water safety lessons at Speedo Swim Centre in Bondi Beach.Credit:Janie Barrett

She said drownings in bathtubs more than doubled from two in 2019-20 to five in 2020-21, while deaths in lakes and dams increased from two in 2019-20 to seven the following year.

“There is also, anecdotally, concern about lockdowns and parents working from home putting pressure on supervision of children in bathtubs, and around pools and farm dams,” Dr Peden said.

“Similarly, there may be a flow on effect into adulthood of children who had their learn to swim journey interrupted or even ended during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The report found 294 people drowned in 2020-21, with an estimated 674 people involved in non-fatal water incidents.

“Drowning continues to be one of the leading causes of accidental death for Australian children under five.”

“Twenty seconds and a few centimetres of water is all it takes for a toddler to drown,” Kidsafe Victoria chief executive Melanie Courtney said.

Besides swimming pools, Ms Courtney said potential drowning hazards included portable pools, baths, buckets, eskies with melted ice, dams, fishponds and even pet water bowls.

“Despite significant reductions in toddler drowning deaths over time, drowning continues to be one of the leading causes of accidental death for Australian children under five years of age,” she said.

Stacey Pidgeon, national manager of research and policy at Royal Life Saving Australia, said a child’s risk of drowning triples when they turn one. “Lack of adequate supervision is a key risk factor for drowning in this age group.”

Ms Pidgeon also said there were eight non-fatal drowning incidents for every death among children aged 0-4 years – the highest fatal to non-fatal drowning ratio of any age group.

Data from Royal Life Saving also showed Queensland recorded the highest number of drownings among young kids (156) followed by NSW (149) in the 16 years to 2017-18.

Boys accounted for 61 per cent of all drownings and two-thirds of fatalities occurred among children aged 1-2 years.

Ms Pidgeon said strategies to prevent child drowning included active adult supervision, restricting a child’s access to water, correctly installed and regularly maintained pool fencing, teaching children water awareness and learning resuscitation techniques.

“These are not individual strategies but should be used together for maximum safety,” she said.

“This means that, if one line of defence fails, there are other prevention measures actively working to prevent your child from drowning.”

Craig Burns, owner of Speedo Swim Centre in Bondi Beach, said the First Lap voucher program for swimming lessons was a “great start but should and could be extended – particularly for those that have just had a baby, and more specifically first-time mothers”.

Dr Peden said learning to swim was only one component of reducing the risk of toddlers drowning: “Many children among the 0-4 years age group are unable to swim adequately to solely protect them from drowning.”

She said there was already a lot of education aimed at parents and carers about keeping young children safe from drowning.

“However, there are definite equity issues where we see increased drowning risk in young children in rural and remote areas and in low socio-economic areas and among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children,” she said.

Dr Peden also said the enforcement of pool fencing legislation was “patchy and consumer education at the point of sale could also be further strengthened”.

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