'My little girl almost drowned while being supervised in the bath'

"Soapy water was coming out of her mouth. My mum was picking her up and started patting her back, but there was no sound coming out and she had a distressed look on her face, hunched over."

A mum has made an impassioned plea online after her young daughter almost drowned after drinking bubble bath water.

The Sun reports Angel was forced to rush her seven-year-old to hospital after she realised she could be at risk of a rare condition called “dry drowning”.

In a Facebook post, Angel said she’d run a bath for her daughter Cali at 7.40pm before dinner.

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“She sat down and began playing with toys and water crayons,” Angel wrote.

“My mum came in and was talking to her while she was playing with the bubbles.

"I stepped out to go gather her laundry to put a small load in. As I was gathering some of her stuff about 7:55pm, I overheard my mom and her chatting.

"Then I heard one splash, nothing...and then a heavy cough. I walked around the corner just to take a peek before I ran downstairs, and see her on her knees trying to get up as my mum is helping her.

"Soapy water was coming out of her mouth. My mum was picking her up and started patting her back, but there was no sound coming out and she had a distressed look on her face, hunched over."

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Cali almost drowned in her bubble bath while being supervised by her grandmother. Picture: Facebook

"She was coughing up water and gasping for air"

Angel grabbed her daughter once she turned “bluish” and started doing “back blows”.

“She was still coughing up water and gasping for air,” she wrote. “I was hearing sounds, but there was no breathing or crying.

“I was screaming ‘come on baby, it’s OK, get it out’.

“Water was coming out her mouth and nose, and I was trying to keep it together. I looked down, and she was throwing up water and food.”

Cali eventually stopped vomiting, and while Angel said the ordeal “felt like an eternity”, she realised the events probably took place within five minutes.

“I asked her questions just to make sure she was responsive and making sense, and she told me her tummy hurt,” she said.

“We calmed down, but I couldn’t stop pacing even though about 15 minutes after she was acting like her normal self again.

"By 8:15pm I’m on the phone with Mercy Pediatric Emergency Hotline; Operator: Was she underwater for two seconds?

"Me: (My stomach dropped) Yes, but no longer. Operator: .... okay... did she throw up? Me: Yes.. Operator: what did she throw up? and how many times? Me: A bunch of water and then food she had eaten."

The operator told Angel to bring Cali to hospital because “it could already be in her lungs, with her food, from choking on both. And that can lead to dry drowning”.

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Angel rushed her daughter to hospital once she learned of the dangers of dry drowning. Picture: Facebook

"That's so scary to think about!"

They rushed Cali to hospital where a scan confirmed her lungs were clear, but they were told to look out for a cough, fever, sluggishness or sleepiness as she was at risk of pneumonia.

"They told me I did everything right, but I still can’t stop thinking about it. All I want people to know is how easy and fast a child can inhale a fatal amount of water,” Angel said.

Angel’s post received an outpouring of support from other Facebook users.

“Glad she pulled through,” one person said.

“That’s so scary to think about!” another person said. “I’m glad you knew what to do.”

Another person said she’d gone through a similar experience.

“I cried reading this,” she said. “It happened to my son at nine months.

“It felt like the longest minutes in the world! I’m so glad she is OK.”

Originally published as 'My little girl almost drowned while being supervised in the bath'