How to Do First Aid on a Choking Baby

Infants are notorious for assuming they can eat anything in the world, whether it fits in their throat or not. If you suspect that a child under 12 months old is choking follow these instructions. If the child is over 1 year old read how to help choking adults and older children.

Steps

1. Let coughing happen. If an infant or child is coughing, do not interfere – let him or her try to cough up the object. If a child can cough, he or she is getting air.
2. Look for the following signs of choking and heed them, even if you didn't witness the child putting anything into his or her mouth.[1][2]
   • Being unable to talk or vocalize
   • Can't breathe without difficulty
   • Breathing is noisy
   • Cannot cough effectively
   • Changes in skin color: blue lips and fingernails
   • Unconsciousness - If the child does not respond to any stimulation (such as flicking the feet with your fingertips), call emergency services immediately (if you can get someone else to call while you administer first aid, that's even better).
3. Administer needed treatment. Note that the technique differs between infants and older children. For children over 1 year old, follow the steps in How to Help a Choking Victim.[3] If the child is less than one year old, continue to the next step. If you're the only person present, don't lose precious time calling emergency services yet; proceed immediately to first aid (see Tips).
4. Place the child on his or her back. Grab the feet of the baby with one hand, and slide your other hand along the back, until your hand is underneath the head. Scoop up the baby so its back is resting on your forearm and its head is resting on your hand.
5. Hold the baby's jaw with your opposite hand. Don't cover the face.
6. Turn the baby over so that the front of the body is now on the arm that is holding the jaw. Make sure the child's head and neck are well supported. Place your forearm along your leg to stabilize your arm and the child. The child's head should be away from you, and lower than his body.
7. Administer back blows. Use the heel of your hand to give the child 5 firm back blows between the shoulder blades. Remember to keep the head lower than the body.
8. Flip the child over. Grab the back of the head with the hand your used to give the back blows and flip the baby over onto the forearm, again making sure the head and neck are supported, and the head is lower than the body at all times. Lean that forearm on your thigh.
9. Look to see if the obstruction has been removed. If so, sweep the child's mouth to remove it.
10. Use chest compressions. Place two fingers at the center of the child's breast bone, oriented vertically (lined up with the baby's spine), about one finger width below the nipple line. Give 5 compressions.
11. Check again to see if the object is removed. If not, try the back blows and chest compressions again. If you cannot dislodge the object, call for emergency services or get the child to an emergency room immediately.
12. Begin child CPR if the child does not begin breathing normally again.

Video

On the original essay the video shows how to perform back blows and chest compressions on a choking child, and also describes how to best position the child to let gravity assist in removing the object.

Tips

• In this situation, your first priority is to administer first aid as quickly as possible; don't spend time getting help until you've tried two sets of back blows and chest compressions.[2] If there's someone else who can call for emergency services, or if they can administer first aid while you call for help, then do so.

Related wikiHows

• How to Help a Choking Victim
• How to Do CPR on a Baby
• How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver
• How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver on Yourself

Sources and Citations

• VideoJug.com Source of images and information, shared with permission.

1. ↑ http://www.unicef.org/ffl/12/5.htm
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 MayoClinic.com - Choking:First Aid
3. ↑ U.S. NASD - Basic First Aid

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