Can You Save Your Baby? What You Need to Know About Infant CPR

If you’ve ever imagined a moment where your baby suddenly can’t breathe, you already know the feeling in your stomach. It’s one of the scariest thoughts a parent can have. The good news is that infant CPR is a skill you can genuinely learn, and knowing the basics puts you in a far better position than not knowing them at all. This guide walks you through what infant CPR actually involves, when to use it, and where to go to learn it properly, because reading an article is a good starting point but it is not a substitute for hands-on training.

Why Infant CPR Is Different From Adult or Child CPR

Babies aren’t just small adults. Their airways are narrower, their necks are shorter, and their ribs are more flexible, which means the technique for infant CPR is genuinely different from what you’d do on an older child or an adult. You use fewer fingers, less force, and a different head position. This is exactly why “I already know CPR” from a workplace course years ago doesn’t always translate to knowing infant CPR.

In babies, cardiac arrest is usually caused by something stopping their breathing first, such as choking, suffocation (often from bedding or soft objects), drowning, or a severe allergic reaction. The heart tends to stop as a result of the oxygen running out, rather than the heart being the original problem, as it more often is in adults. That’s an important distinction because it means getting oxygen back into your baby’s lungs quickly really matters.

Before You Start: Check, Shout, Call

Before jumping straight into compressions, take a few seconds to check what’s actually happening. This isn’t wasted time, it’s what stops you doing CPR on a baby who’s actually fine, or missing something else going on.

• Check responsiveness. Gently tap your baby’s foot and call their name. Do not shake a baby’s shoulders the way you might with an older child or adult.
• Check breathing. Look at the chest and stomach for no more than 10 seconds. Is your baby breathing normally, not breathing, or only gasping occasionally? Occasional gasping is not normal breathing and needs action.
• Shout for help and call emergency services. If someone else is with you, get them to call 999 (UK) or 911 (US) immediately while you start CPR. If you’re on your own, current guidance for infants and children is to give about two minutes of CPR first, then call for help yourself, because in babies a breathing problem is usually what caused the collapse in the first place. If you have a phone to hand, put it on speaker so you can call while continuing CPR.

Step-by-Step Infant CPR

Lay your baby on their back on a firm, flat surface such as a table, the floor, or a changing mat. Don’t attempt CPR on a soft bed or sofa, it absorbs the compressions and makes them far less effective.

1. Chest Compressions

Place two fingers (usually your index and middle finger) in the centre of your baby’s chest, just below an imaginary line between the nipples. If there are two of you, the encircling technique (both thumbs side by side on the chest, hands wrapped around the back to support it) is actually more effective and is what’s taught to healthcare providers, though two fingers is fine and easier for one person alone.

Push straight down about 1.5 inches (roughly 4cm), which is about one third of the depth of your baby’s chest. Let the chest come all the way back up between compressions, don’t lean on it. Aim for a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute, which is faster than most people expect, close to the beat of “Baby Shark” or “Staying Alive” if that helps you find the rhythm. Give 30 compressions if you’re on your own, or 15 if there’s a second person helping.

2. Open the Airway

After your set of compressions, tilt your baby’s head back very gently into a neutral position, sometimes called the “sniffing” position, using one hand on the forehead and the fingertips of your other hand lifting the bony part of the chin. Don’t tilt the head back as far as you would for an adult. Babies’ necks are short and soft, and over-tilting can actually close the airway rather than open it. Avoid pressing on the soft tissue under the chin, as this can also block the airway.

3. Give Rescue Breaths

Take a normal breath, seal your mouth over your baby’s nose and mouth together (their face is small enough for this), and give a gentle puff, just enough to see the chest rise, over about one second. This is nothing like a breath you’d give an adult. Too much air can cause the baby to vomit or force air into the stomach instead of the lungs. Give two of these breaths, then go straight back to compressions.

Keep going in cycles of 30 compressions to 2 breaths (or 15:2 with a second rescuer) until your baby starts breathing normally, shows clear signs of life, emergency help arrives and takes over, or you’re physically unable to continue.

If Your Baby Is Choking (Conscious)

This is different from CPR and it’s worth knowing the distinction, since the video below covers it. If your baby is choking but still conscious, coughing, crying, or able to make sounds, let them try to cough it up themselves. Don’t interfere unless they can’t cough, cry, or breathe.

If the airway is genuinely blocked:

• Lay your baby face down along your forearm, supporting their head and neck with your hand, head slightly lower than their chest.
• Give up to 5 firm back blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
• If that doesn’t clear it, turn your baby face up along your other arm and give up to 5 chest thrusts in the same spot you’d do compressions, but sharper and slower.
• Repeat back blows and chest thrusts until the object comes out or your baby becomes unresponsive.

Never do abdominal thrusts (the Heimlich manoeuvre) on a baby under one year old, their internal organs are too close to the surface and it can cause serious injury. If your baby becomes unresponsive at any point, start infant CPR straight away, and before giving breaths, have a quick look in the mouth for anything visible and easy to remove. Don’t do a blind finger sweep, as this can push an object further down.

Mistakes People Commonly Make

Even well-meaning parents get a few things wrong in the panic of the moment, so it’s worth knowing what to watch for:

• Tilting the head back too far, which can close rather than open the airway.
• Blowing too hard on rescue breaths, which sends air into the stomach instead of the lungs.
• Compressing too slowly, or not letting the chest fully recoil between pushes.
• Stopping too soon because the baby seems to be showing some response. Keep going until you see normal breathing return or professional help takes over.

Why a Real CPR Course Beats Reading Alone

Nothing replaces hands-on practice with a proper training manikin and an instructor watching your technique. Reading about compression depth is one thing, feeling what one third of a chest actually feels like under your fingers is another. A good infant CPR course, run through your local hospital, the British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance, the American Heart Association, or the Red Cross, will let you practise on a training doll, correct your hand placement and rhythm on the spot, and talk through scenarios like choking, drowning, or an unresponsive newborn.

Many antenatal classes now include a short infant CPR and first aid session, and it’s worth seeking one out specifically if yours doesn’t. Guidelines do get updated every few years as resuscitation science develops, so a refresher every couple of years, or whenever you have a new baby, is a sensible habit rather than a one-off box to tick.

What to Do Afterwards

Even if your baby starts breathing normally again during CPR, they still need to be seen by a doctor or taken to hospital straight away. Something caused that emergency in the first place, and there can be complications from CPR itself, such as bruising or rarely a rib injury, that need checking. Don’t assume everything is fine just because your baby looks alert again.

If you were alone and didn’t manage to call emergency services before or during CPR, call as soon as you possibly can, even if your baby seems to have recovered.

Prevention Still Matters Most

Knowing CPR is a brilliant safety net, but the real goal is never needing to use it. A few habits go a long way: always place your baby on their back to sleep, keep cots clear of loose bedding, pillows and soft toys, cut food into pieces too small to choke on and supervise mealtimes, keep small objects like coins, batteries and toy parts well out of reach, and never leave a baby unattended in or near water, even for a moment. None of this guarantees nothing will ever go wrong, but it stacks the odds firmly in your favour.

If you’re ever unsure whether something you’ve noticed in your baby, such as breathing that sounds different, unusual colour changes, or a choking episode that resolved itself, needs medical attention, it’s always worth calling your GP, health visitor, or local emergency number to talk it through. It’s far better to check and be told it’s nothing than to wonder.

Watch: Infant Choking and CPR Demonstrations

Videos are a genuinely useful way to see the hand positions and pacing in action, though they should sit alongside a real course rather than replace one.

Infant Choking and CPR (1-year-old and younger)

CPR for Infants (Newborn to 1 Year)