CPR FOR BABY: 1-8 years old
Keep up to date with the basics of CPR for children with this step-by-step guide
If your child is unresponsive and has stopped breathing, every second counts. Try to keep calm and remember the letters
ABC: Awake, Breathing and Compressions.
A IS FOR AWAKE
Your first task is to check if the child is awake. Tap the child and call out their name loudly.
B IS FOR BREATHING
Your next task is to check if the child is breathing. Look at the chest for movement and listen for sounds of breathing. If there is no breathing, start chest compressions. Make sure that someone has phoned emergency services for help.
C IS FOR COMPRESSIONS
You now need to get the oxygen from the lungs to your child’s brain. Start chest compressions immediately. Using one hand, press down in the middle of your child’s chest. Press your hand down about 5cm onto your child’s chest. Perform 30 of these chest compressions followed by two effective rescue breaths, with as short as possible a pause between each chest compression. Give the breaths by tilting the child’s head back and pinching their nose closed. Then blow enough air into the mouth to make the chest rise. Repeat the routine of 30 chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths until trained help arrives or your child starts to move.
GET PROFESSIONAL HELP QUICKLY
If someone is with you, send them to call the emergency services for an ambulance immediately. If you are on your own, do one minute of CPR on your child first, then go to the nearest telephone to call for an ambulance, taking the child with you if you can. Try to remember as much as possible what happened to cause your child to stop breathing. This will make it easier for the paramedics to help her.