When we nurture our young children, we know that they are very active and we can’t stop them from running here and there.  Moreover, they are in the midst of exploring the surrounding that they live in, therefore we have to keep an eye on them to minimize the possibility of any accident.  What if accident happen?  Do you know what to do?  Lets learn some basic first aid skills for some common injuries.

Choking infant

Baby loves to put object into his mouth.  He will choke when the object enters his airway.  The baby will have the following symptoms :

  • difficulty in breathing
  • flushed face and neck
  • strange noises or no sound
  • grey-blue skin (if no immediate action)

If this happen, do not do a finger sweep in the mouth.  Instead please follow the steps :

  1. Check the mouth.
  2. Lay the infant face down along your forearm, with his head low.
  3. Support his body and head.
  4. Give up to five back slaps between the shoulder blades.
  5. Dial 999 for ambulance or get help to send you and your child to the nearest clinic or hospital.

Choking child (1-7 years old)

We can recognize if a child is choked with food or any object by observiing :

  • difficulty in speaking and breathing
  • coughing and distress
  • eventually loss of consciousness

Steps to help the child :

  1. Encourage the child cough in order to bring the object back into his mouth.
  2. If the child is beginning to struggle, bend him forward.
  3. Give up to five sharp slaps between his shoulder blades using the heel of your hand.
  4. Check his mouth.
  5. if the child still chokes, then stand or kneel behind him.
  6. Make a fist and place it against the lower half of his breastbone.  Grasp your fist and pull sharply inwards and upwards up to five times.  This is called chest thrust.  Repeat every 3 seconds.
  7. Check his mouth again.
  8. If choking proceeds, stand behind the child with both arms around the upper abdomen to perform abdominal thrust.
  9. Make a fist, and place it between the child’s navel and the bottom of his breastbone (see picture).
  10. Grasp your fist with your hand.  Pull sharply inward and upward up to five times.
  11. Check the mouth again.
  12. If the object still not clear from the airway, send him to hospital.

Bruise on skin

Sometimes a child accidentally bumps their head on something hard (e.g. wall, chair) and causes a bruise on the head.  It is actually caused by bleeding into the skin or tissues beneath the skin.  If this happen, we need to reduce blood flow to the injury and minimize swelling.  This can be done by :

  1. Raise and support the injured part in a comfortable position.
  2. Apply firm pressure to the bruise using a cold compress (or ice bag).
  3. Keep the compress or ice bag in place for at least 5 minutes.

Few other common injuries and the related first aids skills that adults should know will be discussed in Part 2.  So, do follow up!

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