First Aid for Infants and Children

Meredith Chipperton: First aid is an important skill to have. As well as first aid for grownups, there are also first aid courses for infants and there is something you and your partner might consider doing. Well, here with us today is Scott Mitchell from the St. John Ambulance Service. Welcome to the show, Scott! Scott Mitchell: Thanks for having me here. Meredith Chipperton: So Scott, how can we prevent most of the accidents that occur at home? Scott Mitchell: Well, there is a lot of things that we can do. For example, in the kitchen, having the handles tend inside when you are cooking things on the stove, whatever is cooking doesn’t spill on the child. Meredith Chipperton: Because that’s for burning and scolding. Scott Mitchell: Exactly, and in regards to poisons, making sure that they are clearly labeled in their original bottles and that they are kept up high and locked away so that children and infants don’t have access to them. Meredith Chipperton: Okay, but not having them in their original bottles like some people might put them in a Coke cane or something. Scott Mitchell: Exactly, Coke bottles or Sprite bottles. Little Johnny comes along and says like some lemonade he’s like, oh, a bit tasty, I’ll have some lemonade and he is just answering that. Meredith Chipperton: Yeah, right, so keep them in the original bottles out of arms reach. Scott Mitchell: Exactly. Meredith Chipperton: What are some other things you can do to prevent accidents in the home? Scott Mitchell: Well, additional baby proofing as well, having rails on beds, having guards on stairs, having guides on stairs as well so that there are little babies which needs to crawl and can’t fall down and potentially harm themselves. Meredith Chipperton: So what are some common first aid issues for infants? Scott Mitchell: Well, the most common one we’ll have to pay additional bumps and things like that that occur in the home, but a lot of parents said, their doctors said about allergic reactions and bends and a lot of parents also want to know about Johnny. Meredith Chipperton: Even if you don’t have a pool or a spa? Scott Mitchell: Yeah -- not anything like that. If you’ve got a park whether it is alike or being anywhere near around a pond or even at a friend’s pool or anywhere it just need water, even in the bath as well. I mean just a little amount of water I can actually join the child. Meredith Chipperton: They do say, also to be careful, if you soak nappies in buckets of water, so even like just a minimal amount of water can increase the risk. Scott Mitchell: Yeah, just a little amount of water can just fill out the lungs, just about little amount which can actually jam, because the airway just blocks off. Meredith Chipperton: Right. Scott Mitchell: Yeah, and as well as a lot of parents also just want to know about general resuscitation for child and infants because what people know more about is adults, and it’s not that much awareness about child and infants. Meredith Chipperton: And there is a difference with adults and children? Scott Mitchell: There used to be, but not anymore. It’s more of having compressed our hands and halfway down the chest so that we can press and that’s it. Meredith Chipperton: Can you show us some little tips. Scott Mitchell: Sure. Well, I’ve got books here, and just in normal adult when we are doing compressions, we just interlock our hands and just compress. However, in relation to size, babies are lot smaller than adults, so we just use our two fingers and we just compress on the chest just like that, just with that two fingers. We do it at the compression. So we do it to your face, just in the center of the chest and then just check few breaths. Something that’s really important to know is that in regards to the head, in adults, we tilt the head all the way back, however, with the child, just has to be in its natural position just because the airway hasn’t fully developed yet. And I’ve also got little Johnny here. Meredith Chipperton: So just with what you’ve showed them, that’s good for like drowning or -- Scott Mitchell: With drowning, it normally just give that far breaths and then can do CPR from there, but yeah, it’s just both tissues, two fingers, compressions and two breaths. Meredith Chipperton: Okay, so you are going to show on -- what’s this gentleman’s name? Scott Mitchell: Johnny. Meredith Chipperton: Johnny, okay. Scott Mitchell: Little Johnny, very similar to an adult, except compressing to your hands, and compress the center of the chest. Okay, it’s easy to -- Meredith Chipperton: So this is to what age? Scott Mitchell: We don’t really for ages anymore, we just more compare it to size, but as long as you compress about a-third of the depth of the chest, it will be fine. Meredith Chipperton: Wonderful, of course, this doesn’t take place of actually doing the course. Scott Mitchell: Exactly. St. John does offer a lot of courses, especially the child and infants, normal first aid courses. Meredith Chipperton: It’s actually a good idea. So you can work under supervision because you are being taught these things. Scott Mitchell: Yes, exactly, we go through all the theory and we do get a lot of time to practice. Practice during resuscitation and it’s really important you actually do use the time to practice, but usually not going to get an opportunity to practice anywhere outside. Meredith Chipperton: No, how important is that for your babysitter or carer who is looking after your child to have completed a first aid course? Scott Mitchell: It’s none of your requirement per se, however, it is generally a really good idea for babysitters and nannies and carers and things like that, just more awareness, just having the knowledge of what to do in any sort of first aid situation, which is strongly what we encourage as well. So yeah, it’s not a legal problem, but it’s a really good idea. Meredith Chipperton: Yeah, wonderful! Well, thank you very much for coming on the show today. Scott Mitchell: No worries, thank you for having me! Meredith Chipperton: Thank you! If you’d like to do a course, obtain more information, hop onto our website at roomtogrow.tv.