Unconscious Infant less than 1 year: What is the recommended CPR sequence?

Unconscious Infant less than 1 year: What is the recommended CPR sequence?

• A. 30 compressions, check for foreign object, and give two rescue breaths; repeat until the object is cleared and breaths go in.
• B. 30 seconds of rescue breaths only.
• C. Push on the chest with two fingers and check for object.
• D. Abdominal thrusts and back blows only.

Answer: (A)

When an infant who is unconscious may be choking, the flow that saves time is to start CPR with chest compressions and then provide ventilations in a 30:2 cycle. Deliver compressions with two fingers placed on the center of the chest just below the nipple line, about one third the depth of the chest, at a rate of roughly 100–120 compressions per minute. After performing thirty compressions, open the airway and give two rescue breaths, each lasting about one second, and look for the chest to rise to confirm they’re going in. If the breaths do not go in, check the mouth for a visible obstruction and remove it if you can see and reach it safely, then resume the cycle. You continue these cycles until the obstruction is cleared and breaths can go in, or until help arrives. This sequence is used because it both circulates any available oxygen and provides new oxygen to the lungs, which is essential for an unconscious infant. Options that focus only on breaths or that suggest non-CPR techniques (like abdominal thrusts and back blows) don’t provide the needed combination of circulation and ventilation for an unconscious infant.

When an infant who is unconscious may be choking, the flow that saves time is to start CPR with chest compressions and then provide ventilations in a 30:2 cycle. Deliver compressions with two fingers placed on the center of the chest just below the nipple line, about one third the depth of the chest, at a rate of roughly 100–120 compressions per minute. After performing thirty compressions, open the airway and give two rescue breaths, each lasting about one second, and look for the chest to rise to confirm they’re going in.

If the breaths do not go in, check the mouth for a visible obstruction and remove it if you can see and reach it safely, then resume the cycle. You continue these cycles until the obstruction is cleared and breaths can go in, or until help arrives.

This sequence is used because it both circulates any available oxygen and provides new oxygen to the lungs, which is essential for an unconscious infant. Options that focus only on breaths or that suggest non-CPR techniques (like abdominal thrusts and back blows) don’t provide the needed combination of circulation and ventilation for an unconscious infant.