Two Texas infants died in bathtubs within a 12 hour period yesterday, prompting state officials to remind parents never to leave small children alone around any container of water.
An 8-month-old girl died in a bathtub Wednesday afternoon in north Dallas. Hours later, a 17-month-old girl drowned in the Houston-area. Those deaths followed a weekend tragedy in Tyler, where a 2-year-old boy drowned into a pond in near his home.
"We'd like to remind people to think ahead," Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Julie Moody told KUT News. "If you're planning to give your child a bath, make sure that the phone is off the hook, or just don't answer your phone."
Moody says leaving a child unattended for even a moment can leave them to slip, fall, panic, and drown. She says it can happen around toilets, bathtubs, aquariums, even buckets used for cleaning and mopping.
Texas counted 113 child drownings in 2009. The figure dropped to 78 in 2010. In the first three months of 2011, nine children had drowned. That number does not include these recent deaths.
