CPR for children
When I’m training my learners are always interested to learn how to do CPR for children. No one enjoys it, because no one wants to think about having to resuscitate a child. However it is a useful skill to know.
There are three sets of guidelines for resuscitating a child or infant depending on your background.
At the first level directed at people who have no experience of resuscitating children I just teach to do what you do for adults but less hard, press less hard and blow less hard but never be frightened of pressing too hard. The second level is to give 5 rescue breaths and then follow with 30 compressions and 2 breaths. The third level is aimed at health professionals who work with sick children, they would do 5 rescue breaths and then 15 compressions and 2 breaths. I predominantly teach the second level to my learners but always with reinforcement that doing something is always better than nothing and if you remember the differences then that’s good, but if you forget don’t worry and just carry on. The Resuscitation Council set out these differences in their document detailing the 2010 guidelines. We are due new guidelines in October 2015 so these may be superseded.
Infant and child BLS sequence
Rescuers who have been taught adult BLS, and have no specific knowledge of paediatric resuscitation, should use the adult sequence. The following modifications to the adult sequence will, however, make it more suitable for use in children:
- Give 5 initial rescue breaths before starting chest compression (adult
sequence step 5B).- If you are on your own, perform CPR for 1 min before going for help.
- Compress the chest by at least one-third of its depth. Use two fingers for an
infant under 1 year; use one or two hands for a child over 1 year as needed
to achieve an adequate depth of compression.
Children are described as over the age of one and up to puberty and infants are under one. Obviously this covers a huge range of sizes so it’s important to consider their size and your strength. Their size is important when it comes to opening their airway. In the photo above you can see me demonstrating how to open an airway on an infant i.e. a child under one. In this photo you can see my learners demonstrating opening an airway on an older child and infant.
If you would be interested in learning CPR for children please contact me.
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In November 2015 following the new Resuscitation Guidleines the Council clarified that for Health Professionals eg Dentists and GPs, that are not working with very sick children, can also use the ratio of 5 initial breaths and then 30 compressions to 2 breaths. This helps to make it much easier to remember and teach!