Kids First Aid Guides
Calm, clear steps for the everyday injuries and emergencies parents face, based on NHS, AAP, CDC and Red Cross guidance.
In an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number first. These guides are general information, not medical advice. A first aid or CPR course is the best way to prepare.
- Allergic Reaction in a Child: Signs and First Aid
For a mild allergic reaction, such as a few hives or an itchy mouth, remove the trigger and watch your child closely. If they have any breathing difficulty, throat or tongue swelling, or become pale and floppy, use their adrenaline auto-injector if they have one and call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.
- Bee Sting in a Child: First Aid & Allergy Signs
If a bee stings your child, scrape the stinger out sideways with a fingernail or the edge of a card as soon as possible, wash the area, and hold a cold pack on it for 10 minutes to ease pain and swelling.
- Child Burn First Aid: Cool, Cover, When to Get Help
For a burn, stop the burning, then cool the area under cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes, remove clothing or jewellery near the burn unless it is stuck, and cover it loosely with cling film or a clean, non-fluffy dressing.
- Child Choking First Aid: Back Blows and When to Call 911
If a choking child can cough, encourage them to keep coughing. If they cannot cough, cry or breathe, give up to 5 back blows, then up to 5 thrusts (chest thrusts for babies under 1, abdominal thrusts for older children), and call 911 or your local emergency number.
- Child Fever: What to Do at Home and When to Worry
A fever is a temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher. Most fevers in children are caused by common infections and can be managed at home with fluids, rest and light clothing. Babies under 3 months with a fever need to see a doctor straight away.
- Child Swallowed Something? Poison and Object First Aid
If your child swallows a button battery, magnets, medicine or a household chemical, get help immediately: call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) or your local emergency number, and do not make your child vomit. Call 911 if they have trouble breathing, are drowsy or collapse.
- How to Clean a Cut on a Child: Cuts and Scrapes First Aid
To treat a child's cut or scrape, press on it with a clean cloth until the bleeding stops, rinse it under clean running water to remove dirt, then cover it with a plaster or clean dressing.
- How to Remove a Splinter From a Child: 5 Safe Steps
Most splinters in children can be removed at home: wash the area, grip the end of the splinter with clean tweezers and pull it out gently at the same angle it went in, then wash and cover the skin.
- Toddler Bumped Head: When to Worry & What to Watch
Most bumps to a toddler's head are minor. Comfort your child, hold a wrapped cold pack on the bump for 10 to 20 minutes and watch them closely for the next 24 hours. Seek urgent help if they lose consciousness, vomit repeatedly, are hard to wake or behave unusually.
- Toddler Nosebleed: What to Do (and When to Worry)
To stop a toddler's nosebleed, sit them up, lean them slightly forward and pinch the soft part of their nose, just above the nostrils, for 10 to 15 minutes while they breathe through their mouth.