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Infant CPR could save your child

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) isn't just for adults. Sometimes the tiniest of people—infants—need CPR too.

If you care for a baby up to 1 year old, taking an infant CPR course could be a literal lifesaver. If you have a pool, live near water or care for an infant who's at high risk for heart or lung failure, this training is especially important.

Even if you know adult CPR, you need separate training for infants because some of the steps and methods are different.

Size counts
The goal of CPR is always the same, regardless of people's size or age: Rescue breathing helps keeps oxygen coming into the body and chest compressions keep the heart beating and blood flowing.

But infants and adults generally need CPR for different reasons. Adults usually need CPR because heart disease or an unusual heart rhythm has caused the heart to stop beating. Infants are more likely to need CPR because of problems with breathing.

Infants may stop breathing because of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), injury, poisoning, lung disease, choking or near-drowning. An infant can only go a short time without breathing before the oxygen shortage causes the heart to stop. An infant may also need CPR if the heart stops because of heart disease or heart rhythm problems.

Handle with care
Because infants' bodies and airways are smaller than adults, some of the methods used in infant CPR are unique, such as covering both the baby's mouth and nose during rescue breaths and using only a few fingers instead of two hands to give chest compressions.

The right training can make the difference between helping, harming or not knowing what to do at all.

CPR is the combination of techniques that includes rescue breathing and artificial circulation. Rescue breathing is used for respiratory arrest—when breathing stops. Chest compressions are used along with rescue breathing when there is no pulse and the heart stops beating.

You and your family members have the responsibility to learn and practice CPR to protect your own children, your friends and loved ones, and yourselves. Training in CPR is available in your community from such groups as the American Red Cross and American Heart Association.

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