Brief overview
- What is mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? A first aid measure in which a first aider blows his own exhaled air into an unconscious person when he is no longer breathing on his own.
- In which cases? When the baby or child is no longer breathing on their own and/or has a cardiovascular arrest.
- Risks: If air accidentally gets into the child’s stomach, it can cause vomiting. Stomach contents can then enter the lungs during the next ventilatory push.
Caution.
- Even if a child lying lifeless scares you – do not pull him up and shake him! You could injure the child (even worse).
- For babies, do not hyperextend the head into the neck. This could narrow the airway and your exhaled air could go into the stomach instead of the baby’s lungs.
- Start with five breaths. If the baby still does not resume breathing after this, start chest compressions immediately! Two seconds of one more, after five pushes check the pulse.
How does mouth-to-mouth resuscitation work on a child?
Before you start giving breaths, check the child’s consciousness by talking to him, touching him, gently pinching him or gently shaking him. If the child is unconscious and not breathing, you should begin breath donation immediately.
Breath donation for infants and young children
Infants are children up to the end of the first year of life. Children in the 2nd and 3rd year of life are called infants.
- The baby’s head should be in a neutral position (do not overstretch!). Since the head of a baby in the supine position is usually slightly bent forward, it is necessary to lift the chin slightly for a neutral position without bending the neck backwards. With an infant, the head can be very slightly hyperextended.
- Inhale just before you enclose the child’s mouth and nose with your open mouth.
- Release the child’s mouth again and observe whether the chest now lowers again. Then deliver the next breath.
- If the child’s chest does not rise during breath delivery or you need a lot of pressure to blow in air, see if there is a foreign body or vomit in the airway. If so, you must remove it.
- If you still cannot find any signs of life (pulse, breathing, spontaneous movements, coughing), you must start cardiac massage immediately, alternating it with rescue breathing. Experienced and/or trained rescuers are recommended to use a rhythm of 15:2 (i.e. 15 x cardiac pressure massage and 2 x breath donation in alternation), inexperienced or, if you have to provide help alone, the 30:2 rhythm.
Breath donation in older children
- For children aged three and older, slightly hyperextend the head for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to open the airway. To do this, grasp the child’s head by the chin and forehead and gently place it a little on the back of the neck.
- Close the child’s nose with your thumb and index finger.
- Breathe in normally, placing your mouth over the child’s.
- Release the child’s mouth again and observe whether the chest now lowers again. Then deliver the next breath.
- Initially, give five such breaths. Then try to feel the child’s pulse and see if the child already begins to breathe on its own.
- Continue resuscitation until the child is breathing on his or her own or emergency services arrive.
When do I give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a child?
Risks of respiratory donation in children
Especially in very young children, the anatomy of the airway is somewhat different from that of adults. Therefore, you must not hyperextend the head of an infant (children up to one year of age), because this would narrow the delicate airways. Breath delivery would then not succeed or not succeed sufficiently.
Despite these potential risks, in an emergency you should not hesitate to give your breath to a child who has stopped breathing. After all, a person survives a respiratory arrest for only a few minutes. Therefore, rapid mouth-to-mouth resuscitation can save a child’s life.
