If a child stops breathing, and their heart stops beating, you need to act fast. Every cell in the body needs oxygen to survive, and if the blood stops bringing fresh oxygen, the cells begin to die. That can quickly lead to brain damage and death.

So every parent should know how to provide life support for a child, until the emergency medical services arrive. This is what the American Heart Association’s guidelines recommend:

• Check the child for movement and response to your voice
• If the child isn’t moving or responding, call for help and start life support. If possible, get someone else to call 911.
• Ensure the child is lying face up on a hard surface. Check their mouth and throat are not blocked. Tilt their head backward slightly and lift their chin.
• Cover the child’s mouth with your mouth, pinch their nostrils closed, and breathe into their mouth, enough to make the chest rise. Give two rescue breaths like this, then start chest compressions.
• Give 30 chest compressions, pressing quite hard and fast on the lower part of the breast-bone (the sternum). Allow the chest to spring back before starting each compression.
• Give two more breaths. If you are alone, do this whole cycle three times, before stopping to call 911. If someone else is calling 911, try to continue until help arrives or the child begins to move.
• If there are two of you giving life support, you can do cycles of 15 chest compressions followed by two breaths, instead of 30 compressions.

Many people worry about giving rescue breaths (mouth to mouth). For adults, studies show that giving chest compressions alone may work about as well as giving both rescue breaths and compressions, especially if the person has had a heart attack. So, 911 operators may talk people through just giving chest compressions, if they’re treating an adult.