How do you give newborns or infants first aid?

If Nanny triggers an alarm, follow the instructions below.

Check the state of consciousness

1. Address the baby loudly.
2. If he/she is not responding, scratch or pat the sole of their foot.
3. You can also rub the baby’s back with the palm of your hand.
4. If the baby does not respond to any of these stimuli, he/she is unconscious.
5. If another person is present, ask them to call the national emergency number (999 in the UK) or the European emergency number 112. In the meantime, begin resuscitation according to the following instructions.
6. If you are alone, begin resuscitation immediately. If the baby is not breathing even after 60 seconds, call an ambulance and then resume resuscitation.

Free airways

1. Unconsciousness can be caused by suffocation with your own vomit or other object. Check the baby's mouth and remove anything that does not belong there.
2. With one hand on the baby’s forehead, gently lean their head back. With the fingers of your other hand, slightly lift their chin.
3. With this manoeuvre, you will free the child’s airways and, in some cases, breathing will be restored.
4. Place a blanket, for example, under the baby’s shoulders to keep the airways open.

Ensure breathing

1. Listen or see if the baby has started to breathe.
2. If not, begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
3. With one hand on the baby’s forehead and the other on its chin maintain a slight backward inclination of the baby’s head. Cover the baby’s lips and nose with your mouth.
4. Perform two to five artificial breaths. At least two breaths must be sufficiently effective.
5. You can recognise this by the baby's chest rising when breathing in and falling as it breathes out.
6. The chest should move about the same as if the baby was breathing spontaneously. Therefore, be careful that you do not breathe too little (the chest does not move) or too much (never breathe against stronger resistance).
7. For a newborn (up to one month of age) do thirty breaths per minute (one breath every two seconds), for an infant (from one month to one year of age) twenty breaths per minute (one breath every three seconds).

Ensure blood circulation

1. If the newborn is not breathing naturally and is not moving even after thirty artificial breaths, start indirect heart massage.
2. The baby must always lie on his/her back on a solid support.
3. Place the end of your index finger and middle finger approx. 1.5 cm below the connecting line of the nipples (end of the sternum).
4. Or you can encompass the chest with your hands and compress the sternum with crossed thumbs or two fingers.
5. Compress the chest by approx. 2-3 cm (approx. 1/3 of its sagittal diameter).
6. For newborns, compress the chest at a frequency of 120 times per minute, or for infants at a frequency of 100 times per minute.
7. When resuscitating, observe the following ratios. For newborns, one breath to three chest compressions. Then repeat. For infants, two breaths followed by thirty chest compressions.
8. If there are two people present, keep the infant's ratio at two breaths to fifteen chest compressions. Always breathe or compress the chest, but do not do both at the same time.
9. After every three to five cycles check whether breathing has been restored.
10. Continue resuscitation until the ambulance arrives or until your complete exhaustion.

Put the baby in a stabilised position

1. If you managed to resuscitate your baby, put it in a stabilised position.
2. Nurse the baby on your forearm with his/her face towards you and the head slightly inclined forwards.
3. In this position, there is no risk of the baby swallowing its tongue or choking on vomit.
4. Keep checking that the baby is breathing. If the baby’s skin starts to turn blue or grey, it may be a sign blood circulation has stopped again.
5. Maintain the baby’s body temperature and prevent hypothermia.

Source:

• ERC Guidelines for Resuscitation 2010.

• První pomoc u dětí (Baby and Child First Aid) – MUDr. Pavel Srnský, ČČK 2007

You will receive detailed graphic instructions on how to resuscitate properly with Nanny. Keep these near the cot, so they are available whenever you need them quickly.

Don’t be afraid to resuscitate. Even if you do not get everything right, you will greatly increase your baby's chances of survival.

A good choice are our free first-aid courses where we will teach you the right procedure. Simply choose a date and sign up.