Infant CPR while holding the baby on your arm...What?

[everthesame, LPN, LVN]

I currently work in corrections and the annual CPR course they teach at my facility is not certified by AHA or American Red Cross. It is from the American Safety and Health Institute.

Anyway, while teaching the infant CPR portion, the instructor said you can perform CPR on an infant while carrying it on your arm. Since I was coming off of a long stretch of work nights and the course was during the day, I assumed my sleep-deprived self heard wrong. Later during the demonstration check-off one of my co-workers was having a hard time getting the infant dummy's chest to rise. She was having difficulty bending over the table due to a recent surgery. The instructor decided that this was the perfect time to reiterate the fact the you can perform infant CPR while holding the baby on your arm, head toward the crook of the elbow. Of course, my co-worker couldn't deliver effective breaths while holding the baby because it was impossible for her to correctly position the airway while holding the baby like that.

Did I miss something? When did they start teaching this technique? I thought I was going to fail the infant check off because I disagreed with this technique. In the past I have worked in newborn nurseries and in a NICU. I just find it hard to believe that this is an acceptable technique and I ruffled a few feathers when I politely tried to explain this to the instructor.

Has anyone out there heard of this before?

[Guest27531]

Yes, this is so. CPR is performed while holding the infant in your arm, head in hand.

[Flo., BSN, RN]

wow I never heard of that. I just heard of holding the baby when they are choking to clear the airway.

[JustinAllen]

Absolutely yes. Of course you can also do it the other way, especially if you are in a NICU or other stable environment.

I will say that as a paramedic for 10 years that almost every time I have performed infant CPR it is with the baby in the crook of my arm. Usually running :)

[SwampCat, BSN]

Yeah, when my daughter spent the first week of her life in the hospital due to a turning blue episode, my husband and I were taught to do it with her in our arms as we grab the phone to call 911

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

I've never seen this being demonstrated on a dummy, but I remember seeing it in a movie about CPR 20+ years ago.

[everthesame, LPN, LVN]

Thanks for the responses. I had never heard of this before and I still think it would be very difficult to obtain a patent airway while trying to balance a floppy baby on my arm.

Does anyone have a link to a site that would show this technique?

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Another thing to keep in mind is that unless it is in a hospital setting, it is important to initiate emergency services quickly - in most cases it takes more than just CPR to resusitate someone. Also, in some settings, very limited personnel and/ or not all essential equipment are immediately available. So, doing CPR on the arm makes the infant portable - allowing the rescuer to both provide care to the infant AND initiate further emergency help (911, emergency procedure for facility etc).

[mentalhealthRN]

yup....never done CPR on a baby--only adults--but yeah I remember this being the way I was taught every time I have re-certified. --In NY here.

[Guest27531]

I never really paid strict attention to babies until my grandchildren were born a few years ago...then I really listened up!

[GreyGull]

I have done CPR on infants too many times to count throughout my career. The latest one for carrying the infant and CPR was meeting the parents at the ED door. The mother gave a couple of quick breaths and I continued compressions in my arm a short distance to the resuscitation room. The infant had been deemed a high risk and both parents were taught CPR including how to get closer to a phone by carrying the baby at discharge from the nursery. It may not be the most ideal method for effective compressions but sometimes to get help quickly, you gotta do what you can.

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

Is this AHA protocol? I've only ever certified through them, and I can't remember ever being taught this.