MOST tubs come with a plug, but it might never have occurred to you that they pose a danger to your little one.

The story of adventurous two-year-old Archie might make you think differently.




Shared by former paramedic Nikki Jurcutz to the baby and child first aid education page Tiny Hearts Education, a mum recounted a horrifying chain of events involving little Archie.

She recalled being woken up suddenly at 4 am to the sound of her eldest son running down the corridor to her bedroom.

The four-year-old was shouting the his little brother Archie "was in the bath and needed urgent help", the mum wrote.

Scrambling out of bed, she was totally unprepared for what she saw.

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"We found our cheeky, adventurous two-year-old in the bath fully clothed with nappy and everything on."

Though Archie had never climbed into the bath on his own before, he'd managed to pull up a stool next to it and clamber in before pushing in the plug and turning the tap on.

"The bath was overflowing and the bathroom was flooding," the horrified mum recalled. But that wasn't even the worst part.

"The scariest part and something I feel deeply traumatised by is that he had clearly been trying to get out for a while and had given up and was tired," Archie's mum went on.

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"He was kneeling on his knees and falling asleep in the water."

She couldn't bear to think about what might have happened in a different scenario.

"If our four-year-old hadn’t of woken up, I can’t even think about what we may have woken up to," she wrote, explaining that her bedroom was on the other end of the house from the bathroom.

"I’m so, so incredibly grateful my four-year-old woke up as we would never have heard," the mum said.

The fact that he'd heard and Archie and alerted his parents was another 'miracle' in itself, the mum wrote, as her four-year-old was usually a heavy sleeper.

"We had Archie checked by a medical professional and thank god he’s absolutely fine! A few minutes more and this could of been a very different story," the relieved mum said.

She's now installed a lock on the bathroom door and "the plug is also in a locked cupboard," she went on.

But she noted how little known it was that bath plugs could put little children in danger.

"So many parents shared that they never would of thought of this either and they too have their plugs left on the bench or close to the bath."

The mum added that – after receiving suggestions – she'd bought an alarm sensor to put on Archie's door, which would alert the parents with a loud sound whenever he opened it.

"I hope this story can educate other parents because honestly I consider myself to be REALLY on top of child safety," the mum noted.

"Every cupboard is locked, every piece of furniture is anchored or mounted to the wall and every effort is taken to ensure the safety of our kids at all time, but I honestly just never though of locking away the plug.”

Former paramedic Nikki said that it doesn't take a whole bath-full of water for a little on to be in danger.

"All it takes is a few centimetres of water and 20 seconds for a child to drown," she stated.

She pleaded with parents to keep bath plugs safely out of reach of little ones, saying that whenever she was asked why this was necessary, she shared Archie's story.

Meanwhile, ex-paramedic and founder of first aid education platform Safer Little Steps, Ross Smith, said: "It's vital you always supervise children whether they're in or around water."

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