🩺 Health · 0–8 years
🚨 Getting trained in infant & child first aid
Hands-on infant and child first-aid training helps you recognise an emergency and practise what to do. A guide or video can refresh learning but does not replace supervised practice with a qualified instructor.
What a course should cover
- Recognising choking and practising age-appropriate responses, including infant back blows and chest thrusts.
- Assessing responsiveness and breathing, calling for help, and infant and child CPR with AED instruction.
- Burns, falls, poisoning, seizures and when a child needs urgent medical care.
- Practice on infant and child manikins, with instructor feedback.
Build your family's emergency skills
1. Find qualified training
Ask your maternity hospital, paediatric team or local health centre about reputable hands-on courses. Check instructor qualifications, infant content, language and opportunities to practise.
2. Include regular caregivers
Invite your partner and any willing relatives or paid caregivers who regularly look after your child. Agree on consistent responses rather than relying on family remedies.
3. Make a local emergency plan
Save 911 and your nearest appropriate emergency department. Keep your address and landmarks easy to share, and arrange backup transport if emergency response is delayed.
4. Recognise when not to wait
Breathing difficulty, blue colouring, floppiness or unresponsiveness needs immediate emergency help. A baby under three months with a temperature of 38°C or higher needs urgent medical assessment.
5. Keep skills current
Follow the training provider's refresher advice and review the emergency plan as caregivers change. In an emergency, call 911, use speakerphone if possible and follow dispatcher guidance alongside your training.
Classic mistakes
- ❌ Delaying help to search for a tutorial Call for emergency help first when a child is seriously unwell. A dispatcher can guide you while help is being arranged.
- ❌ Practising emergency techniques on a well baby Practise CPR and choking manoeuvres on training equipment, not on your child.
A local detail, or your own experience with this guide? Write to the team
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When in doubt, contact your doctor or midwife. For a life-threatening emergency, call 911.