The few minutes before an ambulance arrives can matter most. What every parent should know about choking, the recovery position, and CPR — and where to learn it properly.
Choking, a fall, or a sudden collapse can happen in seconds. Knowing the basics — and having practised them — buys crucial time before paramedics arrive. This is an orientation for parents; the actual step-by-step technique differs for babies and children, so learn it from St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross, or the NHS, and refresh it regularly.
The response to choking depends on whether the child can still cough or breathe. If they can cough, encourage it. If they cannot clear the blockage, first aid uses back blows and then abdominal thrusts (the technique is different for a baby under one). An unresponsive child who is breathing should be placed in the recovery position; one who is not breathing needs CPR. Because the exact steps and ratios differ by age and are easy to misremember, this page points you to the authorities rather than replacing hands-on training.
In your child's behaviour
Learn the technique before you need it
Do a short paediatric first-aid course or follow the free step-by-step guides from St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross, or the NHS. Knowing choking first aid, the recovery position, and child CPR is far more useful than reading about it in a crisis.
Reduce choking risk for young children
Cut food such as grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways, avoid whole nuts for under-5s, keep small parts and button batteries out of reach, and supervise meals. Most childhood choking involves food or small objects.
Keep emergency information to hand
Have a stocked first-aid kit, know the fastest route to A&E, and keep 999, 111, and your GP's number visible. Teach older children how and when to call 999 themselves.
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myth: A baby who is choking needs the same abdominal thrusts used on an older child or adult.
Fact: For a baby under one, abdominal thrusts are never used. St John Ambulance and the NHS teach back blows followed by chest thrusts instead, because a young baby's body cannot safely take the adult technique.
Myth: Holding a choking child upside down and shaking them will dislodge the blockage.
Fact: The British Red Cross says this is not effective and risks dropping the child or pushing the object further down. The safer approach is supported back blows with the child leaning forward, followed by abdominal thrusts if that does not work.
Myth: If you cannot see what is stuck, sweeping a finger round your child's mouth will help you find and remove it.
Fact: NHS and St John Ambulance guidance is against sweeping the mouth blindly, since this can push an object further down the throat. Only remove something you can actually see and reach.
This age group is at the greatest risk of choking, and it spans babies under one, for whom the first-aid technique differs from an older toddler's. Cut round foods such as grapes, cherry tomatoes, and sausages lengthways, avoid whole nuts, and supervise mealtimes closely, since a baby or toddler cannot describe what is wrong or call for help themselves.
A child this age can describe what is happening and can be calmly coached in the moment to keep coughing rather than panic. They are also old enough to start learning, in simple terms, that if a friend or sibling is choking they should fetch an adult straight away, leaving the actual first aid to someone trained in it.
Most children this age can be taught how and when to call 999, give a simple address, and follow the call handler's instructions, which is worth practising together as a family. St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross both publish free, child-friendly guides that introduce choking first aid in simple language.
From age eleven, St John Ambulance's Cadets and Young Responders programmes, and similar British Red Cross youth activities, teach real first-aid and life-saving skills, including choking response and CPR, in a hands-on setting rather than just in theory.
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