Parenting

This 2-Minute Cartoon Teaches Infant CPR

by Ashley Austrew
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

A new video from St. John Ambulance teaches parents how to perform CPR on an infant.

If your baby stopped breathing, would you know how to perform infant CPR? The scary reality is that about a quarter of parents wouldn’t, and that’s why the UK charity St. John Ambulance put together an easy how-to in the form of a musical video.

The video features characters like Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill, along with a catchy song about performing CPR that reminds us what steps to take and how long to carry out each action. First, of course, you should call an ambulance. If you’re alone, the video advises that you should do one minute of CPR before calling, then continue as soon as help is on the way. To know how to perform CPR, you just follow the steps in the song:

You first place the infant on a flat surface and tilt their head back. You cover their mouth and nose with your mouth, then give five small puffs of air, each lasting about one second. Next, use two fingers in the center of their chest to pump 30 times at a rate of 100 to 120 pumps per minute. After that, you repeat the sequence with two puffs and 30 pumps until help arrives.

Sue Killen, the chief executive of St. John Ambulance, tells iTV her organization created the video after a survey they conducted showed one in four parents don’t know how to perform CPR on an infant. “We know that a major barrier to parents learning is that baby CPR frightens them,” she said, “so we’ve removed the fear factor and made it reassuring and as easy as possible to learn.” She adds that she hopes the video will be shared widely with every parent, grandparent, and caregiver so they’ll know what to do in an emergency.

This isn’t the first time St. John Ambulance have put a memorable spin on incredibly important information. Last year, they released a video called The Chokeables that used animated small objects to teach parents the correct technique to help a choking child. The video ended up being watched almost seven million times and, according to iTV, it’s credited with saving the lives of at least 46 children throughout the UK.

No parent enjoys the thought of having to perform emergency life-saving procedures on their children, but thanks to videos like this it’s easy to prepare so you won’t panic in the event that something ever does go wrong. As intimidating and awful as it may be to think about these potential catastrophes, it’s comforting to know there are things we can do in the moment to save our kids’ lives.

If you missed last year’s choking video, you can watch it right here:

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