Mother whose son drowned defends teaching her six-month-old how to swim

A US mother has been forced to defend footage posted online that shows her young baby learning to keep herself afloat in a swimming pool.

Keri Morrison from Florida lost her son Jake in a drowning accident three years ago when he was two and she’s determined that her other children will know what to do if they ever fall in the water.

In the tense video posted to Facebook earlier this month, her daughter Josie - who was six-months-old at the time - is shown sitting at the edge of the pool before she’s coaxed in with a sandal.

She briefly struggles before righting herself and floating on her back for over a minute. Her mother and instructor are nearby the entire time.

It’s a technique called Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) which teaches children as young as 6 months old how to "self-rescue." Babies are taught in 10-minute sessions, five days a week for four to six weeks.

"You’re seeing a 6-month-old sitting on the steps playing, which can be a real life situation,’’ Keri said on TODAY.

"She falls in and she turns over and saves herself and floats for over a minute and a half. I don’t see how there could be anything negative about that."

Keri with baby Josie

Many online commenters have criticised Keri for unnecessarily putting her daughter in a distressing situation.

"A baby has zero reason to learn anything about the water at that age. They can barely control their limbs. Its the parents duty at that age to watch them like a hawk. A baby should NEVER be by or in a body of water without adults, period. So this is just not that well thought out."

"Oh my god, id never and these people are crazy... if child protection services saw that they’d have a cow!!!"

But others have commended her for giving her daughter tools that could save her life.

Keri told Fox News that she wants to be able to see "her face above the water at such a young age and know what to do".

"One of the things I really struggle with is that my son fell in the water not knowing what to do. And that thought and vision fires me up to make sure that not just my children but children all over are safe and can do this in the water," she said.

"To me, I’m protecting her and that is what a mother is supposed to do protect her. I feel like I failed my son and I’m not going to fail my daughters."

H/Tbreakingnews.ie