Child Safety First Aid for New Parents: St John WA's free 15-minute course for your baby
St John WA's free online course teaches the DRSABCD action plan, CPR, choking and minor burns for babies in about 15 minutes. No cost, no class to book, and you can stop and come back.
New babies come with a lot of advice and not much spare time. If you have fifteen minutes on the couch while your baby sleeps, you have time to learn what to do if they stop breathing or start choking.
St John WA's First Aid for New Parents is a free online course. It runs in your web browser, takes about 15 minutes, and you can stop part way and finish later.
What it is
St John Ambulance WA runs a set of short free courses called First Aid for Me, each built around one kind of life: drivers, teachers, sport, fishing, and new parents. St John's own first aid trainers wrote them.
The new parents course is made for babies. Every step is shown for an infant, not an adult, which matters: the way you open a baby's airway, give breaths and press on their chest is different.
What you learn
- The DRSABCD action plan for infants. Danger, Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation. One letter at a time, then the whole plan in action.
- Choking. How to tell a baby is choking, and what to do: five back blows with your baby face down along your forearm, head lower than their body, then five chest thrusts with two fingers on the lower half of the breastbone if the blockage hasn't cleared. Keep swapping until it clears or help arrives.
- Minor burns. What a burn looks like and the first aid for a small one.
Each part ends with a short quiz, so you know it stuck.
Who it is for
New and expecting parents, and anyone who minds a baby: grandparents, partners, older siblings, the friend who babysits. Send the link to them. The person holding the baby when something goes wrong is the one who needs to know.
What it costs
Nothing. St John says plainly that First Aid for Me is free, and you can do as many of the courses as you like.
What it is not
It is not accredited, and it is not a hands-on class. St John says so too: there is no substitute for practising CPR in person, because your hands need to feel how hard to press. Think of this course as the first step. The next one is a class with a trainer and a manikin:
- St John WA's Tiny Tots First Aid, one morning of practice for parents and carers
- Heart Beat Club in person, Royal Life Saving WA's three-hour class
- Heart Beat Club online, Royal Life Saving WA's free one-hour online course, if you'd like a second free one first
How to do it
- Open the First Aid for New Parents page on your phone or computer.
- Tap Start course.
- Work down the list: introduction, the DRSABCD plan for infants, choking, minor burns.
- Answer the quiz at the end of each part.
- Short on time? Close it and come back. The course is built to be done in pieces.
Save the page to your home screen so it's there when you have a quiet minute.
Questions
St John WA general enquiries: (08) 9334 1222, stjohn@stjohnwa.com.au. First aid training: (08) 9334 1233, firstaid@stjohnwa.com.au.
In an emergency, call 000 first.
Sources
- St John WA First Aid for Me: First Aid for New Parents (free, 15 minutes, DRSABCD, choking, minor burns)
- St John WA First Aid for Me: course contents (DRSABCD for infants, choking, minor burns, quizzes)
- St John WA First Aid for Me: Back blows and chest thrusts (infants)
- St John WA First Aid for Me: About and FAQ (free, not accredited, finish later, as many courses as you like)
- St John WA: First Aid for Me