How to save your child's life if he stops breathing

Pamela Rauseo was driving her car on a Florida highway when she realized that her 5-month-old nephew, who was traveling with her, stopped crying and started to turn blue, It was cyanotic. An excess of mucus in the airways made the baby choke and stop breathing but his aunt knew the technique of resu

Pamela Rauseo was driving her car on a Florida highway when she realized that her 5-month-old nephew, who was traveling with her, stopped crying and started to turn blue, It was cyanotic.

An excess of mucus in the airways made the baby choke and stop breathing but his aunt knew the technique of resuscitation or CPR and this saved her life. He gave him what is known as "the kiss of life."

A baby can choke because of a runny nose

Image: Al Díaz (Miami Herald)

These images show the dramatic moment. A local photographer was in the area, he made these photographs that went around the world and he was in charge of asking for help from both the passing drivers and the emergency services, who continued the resuscitation work started by Rauseo and managed to stabilize to the baby.

The doctors detected after the event that a large amount of mucus had clogged Sebastian's airway. In addition, they discovered that small polyps in the throat had favored, along with phlegm, that obstruction.

Choking of the baby due to runny nose

The child or the baby with the nose dripping is a common sight when it is cold. Does not know how to blow and accumulates mucus on the face, nose, sleeves and even in the throat.Those mucus in the upper respiratory tract often produce cough, which is the natural mechanism to expel them. But sometimes they accumulate, they reach the lower respiratory tract and inflammation occurs, it happens with bronchiolitis.

In very small babies, this excessive accumulation of mucus can cause choking and may even stop breathing. Therefore, pediatricians recommend constant nasal washes to clean the airways and fight against mucus.

What if my baby stops breathing? CPR technique for babies

Pamela saved her nephew's life because she knew the technique of resuscitation or CPR. How it is performed?

- If the baby is done by putting him face down on his forearm, we give him 5 blows to the back. Le - We rotate him back in the arm and we look for a point of compression in the thorax, with two or three fingers we sink the chest in 5 occasions, we turn again and perform the same procedure.

- Continue until you start to breathe normally.

- If it becomes unconscious, we place it face up on a flat surface and give it 5 artificial ventilations, wait a few seconds and then give it again.

- Next, we performed 30 compressions on the baby's chest.

We repeat the two breaths and compressions until the health services arrive.

And what happened to the baby? After a hospital stay of one week, Sebastian returned home, has already completed one year and is perfectly. The photographer Al Diaz, received the Humanitarian Action of the Year Award granted by the National Association of Press Photographers and his photo was selected as photo of the year by the Associated Press Media Editors.