If you have a toddler or child who’s not breathing, you can assume that their heart has stopped as well. This means you’ll need to use a combination of chest compressions to keep blood moving around the body alongside what we call rescue breaths to provide sufficient oxygen.

• First of all, make sure you’re in a situation in which it’s safe to give aid. Look around and above you to ensure that it’s not dangerous for you to stay where you are.
• See if you can get a response from your toddler. Talk loudly and call his name, and flick the soles of his feet to see if you can wake him up.
• If you get no response, you know your toddler is unresponsive, or unconscious, and you need to get help fast. If you can, ask someone else to call an ambulance while you start resuscitation, stating clearly that you have an unconscious toddler who’s not breathing. If you’re alone, start resuscitation now.
• You need to open the toddler’s airway. Do this very gently by placing one hand under your toddler’s head and one finger under his chin, gently tilting his head back while lifting the chin so that his nose and chin are roughly level.
• You need to check again whether he’s breathing. To do this, bend down so your ear is close to his mouth and listen and feel for breath against the side of your face. Look at your toddler’s stomach to see if you can see it rising and falling. Listen, look and feel for any breaths, counting to 10 as you do so.
• If your toddler’s not breathing, you need to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This is a combination of the chest compressions and rescue breaths as described above.
• Begin with five rescue breaths. Pinch the nose, and cover the whole of your toddler’s mouth with your mouth and give five small puffs of air.
• Then you need to perform 30 chest compressions. Place your index and middle finger on the breastbone in the middle of your toddler’s chest and press down to about one-third of the depth of the chest. The speed at which you press is between 100 and 120 times a minute – roughly to the beat of the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive”.
• Having performed 30 chest compressions, you can now alternate between these and two rescue breaths. Open up the airway, hold the chin up, pinch the nose and cover your toddler’s mouth with your mouth and give two puffs of air. Continue with 30 more chest compressions and then give two rescue breaths. Repeat.
• If you DON’T have someone with you, perform CPR for one minute before calling for an ambulance, taking your toddler with you to the phone if needs be. If someone else has called an ambulance for you, carry on with CPR until the ambulance crew arrives and takes over.

It really helps to SEE how to perform CPR. You can watch our online First Aid lessons for a practical demonstration, or go and take a full first aid course with an expert group such as St John Ambulance.