An adult who needs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) typically suffers from a primary cardiac disorder or an arrhythmia that has stopped the heart. An infant who needs CPR typically suffers from hypoxia caused by respiratory difficulty or respiratory arrest.

Most pediatric crises requiring CPR are preventable. They include motor vehicle accidents, drowning, burns, smoke inhalation, falls, poisoning, suffocation, and choking (usually from inhaling liquids).¹ Other causes of cardiopulmonary arrest in infants include laryngospasm and edema from upper respiratory infections and sudden infant death syndrome.

The goal of CPR is the return of spontaneous circulation.¹ However, CPR techniques differ depending on whether the patient is an adult, a child, or an infant.

For CPR purposes, the American Heart Association defines a patient by age. An infant is younger than age 1; a child is age 1 to puberty.¹ Survival chances improve the sooner CPR begins and the faster advanced life-support systems are implemented. No matter how speedily you undertake CPR for an infant, however, first determine whether the infant’s respiratory distress results from a mechanical obstruction or an infection, such as epiglottiditis or croup. Epiglottiditis or croup requires immediate medical attention, not CPR. CPR is appropriate only when the infant isn’t breathing.¹