Are you first aid ready?

Little girl in pink top giving her teddy bear first aid with a first aid playset

If your child were to get injured, or choke would you know what to do? Help keep children safe by knowing how to respond to five of the most common emergencies.

Burns

Minor burns: Run cool water over a minor burn for five minutes and apply a bandage. Give over-the-counter children's pain medicine.

Large/severe burns: For a large or severe burn that causes swelling, blistering, or loss of skin or feeling, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department (ED).

Choking: Here are the steps to take if your child is choking:

Call 911.
Stand or kneel to the side of and slightly behind the child.
Use the heel of your hand to deliver five firm blows between the shoulder blades.
If choking continues, stand behind the child and wrap your arms around their waist. Lock your hands together above their belly button and below their ribs. Perform five abdominal thrusts by pulling upward and inward.
Continue back blows and abdominal thrusts in sets of five until the child coughs or speaks.

Hands-only CPR

First, call 911 and put the phone on speaker so you can continue to talk with the dispatcher.

Next, kneel beside the child, place one hand on top of the other at the center of their chest, lock your elbows and start chest compressions.

Push all the way down about one and a half inches and come all the way up with each compression. You should perform 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute. Counting out loud ‘one and two and three and four' can help you maintain rhythm.

If the child is unresponsive, ask the 911 dispatcher for the location of the nearest automated external defibrillator (AED) and send someone to grab it, if possible. If it's a shockable rhythm, the AED will either automatically shock once the pads are applied or tell you to push the shock button to deliver the shock. The pads must be placed on a dry chest and the AED should be left on so you can continue to do compressions after the AED makes the first and subsequent analyses. It will reanalyze every two minutes to see if there's a shockable rhythm and advise you if a shock is necessary.

Asthma attack

Move the child away from the asthma attack trigger if you can.

Keep the child calm and allow them to sit in a comfortable position. Give the child their breathing medicine according to their asthma action plan. Watch for an improvement of symptoms.

Call 911 if an inhaler or nebulizer isn't available and the child has trouble breathing.

Poisoning

Call the child's physician if the child is alert and showing signs of poisoning, such as slurred speech, confusion, sluggishness, stomach pain or vomiting. You can also call the Poison Control Center 24 hours a day / 7 days a week at 1-800-222-1222.

Call 911 if the child is nonresponsive or not breathing well.

Cook Children's has emergency departments in Fort Worth and Prosper. To learn more, visit cookchildrens.org/visit/emergency.

Clear-cut clues

Sometimes a cut needs stitches, other times it can be treated at home with just a bandage. Your child's cut may need stitches if it:

Continues bleeding after five minutes of applying pressure.
Has foreign objects in it.
Is deep or wide.
Is on the face, neck, private parts or a joint.
Spurts blood.

If you think your child needs stitches, go to the nearest urgent care clinic or emergency department.

Is it an emergency?

Sometimes it's hard to know when to go to emergency, urgent care, or your child's doctor. Download our handy chart that can help you know where to go.

Get the chart

More first aid and injury prevention resources

First aid and care resources | Cook Children's
Create an emergency contact sheet| Cook Children's
How to build a first aid kit| Cook Children's
Have your child's medical records handy | Cook Children's
Poison prevention | Cook Children's
Water safety | Cook Children's
Safe infant sleep | Cook Children's
Safety and injury prevention resources| Cook Children's