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Obstructed airway in InfantsAka: Foreign body airway obstruction in Infants, Heimlich Maneuver for Infants

Conscious Infant
1. Deliver 5 Back Blows
  1. Place infant face down over hand and forearm
    1. Support head and neck with one hand
    2. Trunk and body straddled over forearm
    3. Head should be lower than body
  2. Deliver 5 forceful back blows (3-5 seconds)
    1. Apply between the shoulder blades with heel of hand
2. Deliver 5 Chest Thrusts
  1. Support head and place infant face up
    1. Sandwich infant between your hands
    2. Turn on back with head lower than trunk
      1. Head and neck supported with one hand
      2. Trunk and body straddled over forearm
  2. Deliver 5 Chest thrusts (3-5 seconds)
    1. Apply with 2 fingers over midsternum
    2. Use similar technique as with Chest Compressions
3. Repeat Back blows and Chest Thrusts Until:
  1. Foreign body is expelled
  2. Infant becomes unconscious
Unconscious Infant
1. Perform 5 Back blows and 5 Chest Thrusts as above
2. Check for foreign body
  1. Do NOT perform a blind finger sweep
  2. Remove foreign body ONLY if visualized
3. Open airway and attempt to ventilate

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 2/26/2010. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.