How to Help if a Child Is Unresponsive and Not Breathing
How to Help if a Child Is Unresponsive and Not Breathing
We all hope that we will never face a scenario in which a child is seriously injured or unwell. While it is rare that you would need to help a child who is unresponsive and not breathing, it’s very important that, as a childcare provider, you know what to do in this situation. Learning the skills to help and keeping them refreshed will help you feel confident that you could step in and make a difference should you ever need to.
Here’s how to help if a child over one year of age is unresponsive and not breathing.
If a child is not moving and does not respond when you call them and tap their shoulders, they are unresponsive. Shout for help.
1. Check for normal breathing by tilting their head back and looking, listening and feeling for breaths.
If they are not breathing, their chest and stomach will not be moving, and you will not hear or feel their breaths. If they are not breathing normally, move on to step two.
2. Tell someone to call 999.
If you are on your own, call 999 after you’ve spent one minute giving them rescue breaths and chest compressions.
3. Give five rescue breaths: tilt their head back, seal your mouth over their mouth and pinch their nose. Blow five times into the child’s mouth.
By blowing into their mouth, you are topping up the oxygen levels in their blood.
4. Give 30 chest compressions: push firmly in the middle of their chest with one hand so the chest goes inward, then release.
Aim for a rate of 100-120 chest compressions per minute, pushing down about 1/3 of the depth of their chest
If you are small or the child is large, you may need to use two hands.
5. Give two rescue breaths. Continue with cycles of 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths until help arrives.
If an AED is available:
An AED is a machine that can be used to shock someone’s heart back into normal rhythm. If an AED is available nearby, ask someone to get it after calling 999.
Once opened and switched on, the machine gives full instructions on what to do. An AED can be used on any child over one year old. If they are available, paediatric pads can be used for children aged 1-8 years old, but if not, adult pads can be used, placing one pad in the centre of the child’s back and the second pad over the centre of their chest.
Keep giving chest compressions and rescue breaths until the AED tells you to stop touching the casualty and be ready to continue after the shock has been delivered.
Paediatric First Aid from British Red Cross Training
Make sure you and your team feel confident in first aid by training with a trusted first aid provider. Our blended paediatric first aid course includes one day of online and one day of face-to-face training, enabling you and your team to fit your first aid training around other commitments.
All of our first aid at work courses also include practical hands-on training on the use of an AED. You'll learn how to do chest compressions and rescue breaths on a manikin that's hygienically sanitised for your use.
The information in this article is provided by the British Red Cross and does not represent Morton Michel.