That's why she's called Alpha Mom. While I've been downloading clips of sick&twisted kids TV shows, Alpha Mom's Isabell Kallman has been busy mobilizing her editorial staff to report on actual, important--lifesaving, even--news.
Turns out the American Heart Association just announced significant changes to the CPR techniques for infants and children. It's the kind of think you should read, study, and practice for yourself, of course, both online at the AHA's announcement site, and in a regular CPR training session before or after you have a kid.
So just because Alphamom.com has an executive summary doesn't mean you're off the hook:
2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care [aha]Most significant change is the ratio of compressions to rescue breaths: For children and infants (excluding newborns) it is now 30 compressions followed by two rescue breaths. (Previously, the recommendation was 5 compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths.) Lone rescuers do the 30-to-two compression-to-ventilation cycles five times-- or for 2 minutes-- before calling 911. The new guidelines highlight the importance of effective chest compressions to successful resuscitation. As such, the protocol places an emphasis on: push hard, push fast, allow full chest recoil, minimize interruptions and donít over ventilate. After giving two rescue breaths, lay rescuers no longer check for signs of circulation before beginning chest compressions. For children, lay rescuers may now use one or two hands for chest compressions over the lower half of the breast-bone. The recommended pressure is one-third or one-half depth of chest. (Previously, the recommendation was for one hand over the lower half of the sternum.) For infants, use two fingers pressing on the breast bone, just below the nipple line.
AHA CPR Changes - Summary [alphamom.com]
Just took our Infant CPR class last week. Luckily we had an instructor that was on the ball and gave us these new standards less than a week after they were published. It's 30 and 2 for EVERYONE not just infants and Children. Makes sense, all the air won't do much good unless the blood is circulating. Also, our instructor commented that with the old standards, often too much air ends up in the stomach, resulting in spewage.