Recommendations on resuscitation of babies at birth
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Recommendations on resuscitation of babies at birth
The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), in its 1997 advisory statement on paediatric life support [1], recognised the need to develop consistent international guidelines to be promulgated by national resuscitation councils and associations. These guidelines, known as advisory statements, are based on specific data (outcome validity), but in the absence of specific data, were developed and supported on the basis of common sense (face validity) or ease of teaching or skill
Basic life support
Basic life support should be commenced if the baby has failed to cry by 30 s, to establish regular respiration by 1 min, or has a heart rate of below 100 beats per minute before that. It can usually be achieved by means of a simple positive pressure ventilation device.
Airway
Advanced life support requires intubation of the trachea. Position the baby’s head by gently extending the neck into the ‘sniffing’ position, if necessary, by an assistant. Holding the laryngoscope handle in the left hand, pass the laryngoscope blade down into the mouth making sure that it is in the midline, with the tongue pushed to the left, until the epiglottis comes into view. Most clinicians find a straight bladed laryngoscope preferable. The tip of the blade can then be positioned either
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