Keeping the Inner West Children safe

I would highly suggest everyone do a First Aid for Children course but in the meantime, here is a summary I created for my family after attending a St John First Aid for Children Course. Keep it on your fridge or near a breakfast bar where people tend to read while they eat.

Before we begin, here's some info...

Ambulance, Police or the Fire Brigade dial 000 or 112 from mobile (this is something most people don't know...you do NOT need to have reception or credit on your mobile to dial 112).

A Baby is a child under 1 year

A Child is a child from 2 years and up

Doing something is better than doing nothing. I know it may be hard to read and absorb but just imagine how long it would take for an ambulance to arrive.

Get in the habit of keeping mobile phone, wallet, house and car keys near front door for all emergencies

Choking

How to recognise a child choking

Could happen during feeding time. A child may clutch at the thoat. Breathing is obstructed – face may turn blue, trying to cry or talk but making strange noises or no sound

Baby – lay face down along your forearm for gravity purposes (support head by holding chin with your hand)

Child – lay across your legs (you are seated) facing down for gravity purposes or bend forward if it’s an older child (as if taking an overextended bow)

Only give your child a few seconds to cough it up on their own (don’t waste time)

Give four sharp slaps between shoulders

Look in his mouth then put your finger on his tongue to clear the view. NEVER put a finger blindly down the throat.

Remove any construction that may have come loose with your little finger

If back slaps fail to clear the blockage, turn him face down on your lap and give 4 (four) lateral chest thrusts. Place one hand on either side of his chest below the armpits and give up to four quick, squeezing thrusts on both sides simultaneously.

If an older child – put lie on side and place both hands on chest under armpit and give 4 (four) downwards thrusts.

Repeat 4 (four) lateral chest thrusts and check mouth until ambulance arrives

If she becomes unconscious at any stage, the throat may relax and she may be able to breathe. If she does not breathe, begin resuscitation.

We were told that sometimes ambulance officers will give mouth to mouth (EAR) to push down the object into the lungs (but this will require surgery later to get it out). If after the thrusts, I would ask the ambulance operator what to do but be prepared, they MIGHT suggest you give mouth to mouth to push it down. Keep as calm as you can. If you panic or yell and cry, you can’t help the situation. Keep the tears for when you’ve sorted out the obstruction.

If your baby is holding his breath on purpose – the only suggestion was to BLOW into his face.

Poisons – eaten Plants or swallowed Chemicals, Drugs, Alcohol

Call 000 or Poisons Information 13 11 26 and get the bottle of what your child has swallowed. Do no induce vomiting (unless the back of the packet says to).

Fire

Reactive plan

Feel the door – if hot do not open, go to window and call for help

Put blanket at bottom of door to keep smoke out and to give you time to get help or climb out of window

If cool, go to planned exit door and close doors behind you

Keep children low where air is clearest. Remember “Get down low and go go go”

Have a fire exit plan. Example - Wife duty to get extinguisher and put out fire while husband job is to take 2 year old daughter to front yard. If safe grab photo albums, which are conveniently located near the front door. If electrical fire, husband job is to switch off electricity at fuse box (located in front yard).

Make additional escape plans for each room as a member could be stuck in that room after feeling a hot door – as we live on the second story, we have an additional plan which is if we are forced to climb out of a window, we tie bedsheet around our child (practice this – make a game of it with your child) and we hang onto her while we slide her down until there is no more sheet to drop then we tell her “jump to ground, 1,2,3”, then we slide onto ledge and drop ourselves – broken bones are better than dead.

If you have to break windows, put a blanket over frame before escaping

If child on fire, push him to ground and wrap with coat or blanket and roll him on the ground to put out fire. If water is available, lay him down with burning side uppermost and douse him

Electricity

Children can suffer electric shock and may not be able to let go of an electric cable because of the alternating current, which causes muscle spasms

Switch off the current at the mains (go and check this out now)

If you cannot switch off the current, stand on dry insulated material such as telephone books or wooden box. Use wooden broom handle or chair to push the child’s limbs away from the source

Never touch the child’s skin with your hands – pull at his clothes only as a last resort

Wrap a dry towel around his feet and drag him away from the source

Burns

DO NOT REMOVE ANY CLOTHING OR MATERIAL THAT MAY BE STICKING TO THE BURNED AREA AS THIS MAY CAUSE FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE SKIN

If the burn is from an electric shock, there may be a burn both at the point of entry and the point of exit.

Chemical Burn to Eye

If your child suffers a chemical burn (such as oven cleaner) flush out under running water for 20 minutes. (If chemical burn of the eye – pry eyes open and clean with jug of continuous water for 20 minutes. The good eye or the part of the eye that is unaffected should be closest to the water to avoid the contaminated water going into the good eye – aim for the chemicals to go into the inner eye as the nose ridge will protect the other eye. Do not allow child to rub eye

Thermal Burn

Run under cold water for 10mins (if you don’t have running cold water, get a bucket of water or milk if water is unavailable and refresh as the body will warm up this water or milk quite quickly).

Remove clothing now only if not stuck to skin

Cover the burn with non-fluffy material to protect it from infection. You can use a clean cotton sheet, pillowcase or hanky. You do not need to tape down the dressing.

Alternatively if the hand or foot is burned, you can use clean “Glad/Cling Wrap” to keep the moisture in. Tape down the bag not the skin

No food or water (which I thought was bizarre not to allow water) – it’s for surgery reasons.

Amputation.

Kids love putting their fingers in between architraves and door hinges or car doors so be prepared for this one as gross as it may be.

Control the blood loss by pressing firmly on the injury using a sterile dressing or clean pad. If you haven’t got a first aid kit, use something like a handkerchief as it isn’t fibrous like a pillow case. Do not use cotton wool on any raw surface. Bandage or tape the dressing firmly in place

Call 000

Raise the injured part above the level of your child’s heart.

If the child faints in shock, raise the child’s leg’s to get the blood back to the heart.

You have to look after the amputated part (hopefully you have someone with you to look after the child while you find the amputated part) in order to re-plant the part using microsurgery.

Never wash the amputated part.

Never apply cotton wool to the amputated part or the part that is raw on the child.

Wrap the severed part in soft fabric, such as a cotton handkerchief.

The place the wrapped part (which is in the handerchief) in a water-tight container such as a sealed plastic bag.

Then place the sealed container in cold water that has ice added to it- the part should NOT come into contact with the ice.

Drowning – bath or pool

Only 2.5 cm is enough for a child to drown.

You may not hear a baby slip into a pool even while you are standing next to them as they don’t make much of a splash (closer to pool than an adult and very light weight)

Carry her with her head lower than her chest to reduce the risk of inhaling water

If not breathing – do mouth-to-mouth (Expired Air Resuscitation). You may have to breath more firmly and more slowly to get the chest to rise

Always take your child to hospital even if she seems recovered as she may have inhaled water and caused lung damage.

Always check for danger to yourself (such as the case above with the electricity) – you will cause more problems for your child and the rescuers if you become a casualty

Before anything, take 10seconds to look for a response. Call your child’s name out, pinch him whatever.

Treat any life threatening bleeding or burns

ABC…

AIRWAY

Place in recovery position (on side)

Scoup out any foreign object with your finger

Tilt headback (very little in babies) to help breathing

BREATHING

Check for breathing – listen for sounds of breathing, feel for breath on your cheek, look along the chest for movement – 10 seconds.

If not breathing after you’ve opened the airways, pinch nose (or with babies you can cover nose and mouth with your mouth) then blow your expired air into the mouth – 2 breaths. Watch chest rise and fall.

For a baby you only need to blow as much as you’d need to fill up your cheeks.

Call ambulance – if no helper – take baby to telephone

If there is circulation but no breathing. Pinch nose, give 20 breaths for 3 minutes (don’t worry if you don’t get this 100% right – remember doing mouth to mouth is better than not doing anything at all)

CIRCULATION

If there is no movement, swallowing, breathing, skin colour change on child’s face, check for pulse (best located upper arm for babies, neck, wrist for child or adult) – give chest compressions (CPR) and mouth to mouth (EAR). Use two fingers on babies (don’t worry if your finger nails cut into the skin) and only one hand on a child – put the other hand behind your back.

5 chest compressions in three seconds followed by one breath (mouth-to-mouth). Do for one minute then check pulse.

Get the right positioning – need to show

Press down one third the depth

If no pulse, keep doing to ambulance arrives

Bleeding

Press firmly on the wound to stop the bleeding

Press over a clean pad or put the palm of your hand directly on the wound. Raise the injured part above the level of the child’s heart. So if arm is bleeding, raise above head, if leg bleeding raise leg on pillows. Place pad over Bandage firmly. Keep pressing on the wound (to restrict blood flow to the injury) until bleeding slows down or stops.

If there is an embedded object in your child, do NOT remove it. Instead bandage around the object – careful not to press on the embedded object.

Nose bleed

Tilt head forward and ask her to breath through her mouth then pinch the fleshy part of her nose for ten minutes. Place cold wet towels on the neck and forehead. (If there is a watery discharge from nose or ears following a head injury, call an ambulance immediately)

If bleeding has not stopped, pinch fleshy part of nose for another 10 minutes.

Allow child to dribble or spit (preferably into a bowl)

(If bleeding does not stop after 30 minutes, take to hospital)

Once bleeding has stopped, use cotton wool dipped in warm water to clean around your child’s nose.

Tell child not to pick or blow her nose within the next few hours or the bleeding may start again.

Holding head backwards is outdated and doesn’t work. Instead the child just ends up drinking her blood and it’s disgusting (trust me I suffered a lot of nose bleeds as a child).

Mouth injury

Do not wash out his mouth as this may disturb a blood clot and start bleeding more.

Place a clean pad over the wound and pinch it between your thumb and forefinger. Maintain pressure until the bleeding stops.

Lost tooth – place a pad over the tooth socket, making sure that it is higher than the adjacent teeth so that your child can bite on it.

Ask your child to sit down with her hand supporting her jaw. Tell her to bite hard on the pad.

Milk teeth cannot be replanted but try to find the tooth to ensure that it has not been inhaled or swallowed. Go to dentist to check the gum.

An adult tooth may be re-planted. Clean the tooth in saliva or milk and replace it in it’s original position. Tell child to hold in place. If unable to replant, wrap tooth in plstic or store in milk or sterile saline and rush child and the tooth to the dentist.

Chest wound

This is crucial as if you don’t do this, the child’s lungs can collapse if they breathe in air from the wound.

Cover the wound with the palm of your hand and support your child in a semi-upright position (like they were in a hospital bed)

Cover the wound clean pad and tape in place

Create a seal by covering the pad with Glad/Cling Wrap and tape in sides and top. Do not tape the botton edge as this will allow fluid to drain

Abdominal Wound

Bend her knees and support her with a cushion

Cover wound with dressing (press over wound if your child is about to cough or vomit)

Tape dressing in place

Concussion

If a child is dizzy for 20 seconds after a bump but is conscious, treat with a cold compress (frozen peas in a tea towel). If he does not recover completely within 30 seconds call 000. Sometimes the reaction to the fall can be delayed. Watch your child very closely for a few days after the head injury. Things to watch out for, disorientation and confusion, severe headache, impaired consciousness, noisy breathing, becoming slow, a slow but strong pulse, unequal pupils, weakness or paralysis, a raised temperature.

If you see any watery substance coming from nose or ears, call the ambulance immediately.

Insect in Ear

This may be quite distressing to little children

Keep affected ear uppermost

Flood ear out with tepid water so that the insect floats out

Keep a towel under ear around neck so that the warm water does not trickle down and irritate child further.

Show, Recovery position, Mouth to mouth (EAR), CPR (2 fingers for child and 1 hand only for children) positions., How to bandage bleeding and broken arms

This is no replacement for official training, which only takes a few hours and could save your child’s life and your guilt for life if God forbid anything did ever happen. Please call St John Ambulance today! Even just order the First Aid for baby book, which has pictures to guide you if you can’t spare the time or money for the course.