 First Aid for Babies and Kids
Is Your Family Prepared for an Emergency?
 Mum Zone's resident First Aid for Babies and Kids Expert - Michelle Fiddian of Little Aid - can answer your questions about all basic first aid areas, for example:
- DRABCD principals
- CPR
- Choking
- Drowning (including "dry drowning")
- Legalities surrounding applying first aid to a child
- Hazards and prevention (safety etc.)
- Burns/scalds
- Fevers
- Seizures (especially important for all parents to know about febrile convulsions!)
- Poisons
- Bleeding, amputations, embedded objects, internal bleeding, etc
- Head injuries
- Childhood illnesses, eg chicken pox, meningococcal, etc.
- Anaphylaxis
- Asthma
- Diabetes
- Breaks, sprains, spinal injuries etc.
- Shock
- First aid kits
- Australian bites and stings (bees, snakes, spiders, marine creatures)
- Heat/cold exposure
- Strokes (more common with adults)
- Heart attacks (more common with adults)
Then there's other relevant issues such as:
- Calling an ambulance (there's several things here such as clearing up confusion when to call, questions involved, landline vs mobile, what happens when you get to hospital etc.)
- Use of phones during an emergency
- Keeping yourself safe during an emergency
- How to stay calm during an emergency - especially when it involves your child or baby
- Highlighting the fact that no matter how safe a parent is, "stuff happens" sometimes (they're called accidents!) and all the difference can simply be a matter of staying calm and knowing what to do.
- Etc, etc, etc.
View Michelle's Responses to Readers' Questions
Our resident First Aid for Babies and Kids Expert Michelle Fiddian of Little Aid is available to answer your questions.
View Mum Zone Readers' Questions and Michelle's Responses.
Example Reader's Question for Michelle
What do I do if my 5 year old is choking? My first reaction would be to whack his back in between the shoulder blades but I hear you should not do that?...
Read Michelle's Response How Does it Work?
Using the form below,
post your question to our resident First Aid for Babies and Kids Expert Michelle Fiddian and she will endeavour to answer you as
soon as she can. Depending on the time she has available, Michelle will
answer a selection of readers questions then post her answers for everyone's benefit.
Submit a Question for Michelle
About Michelle and Little Aid
About Michelle Fiddian
My name is Michelle Fiddian. I am fast approaching my 10th year in the industry, having started working for the ambulance centre in 2000.
In 2002 I became one of the Workplace Trainers at the 000 centre in Victoria (training up staff with how to take live emergency calls).
I left in 2006 after the birth of my second daughter (I'm also a mum!) The running joke here is that I left after not being able to face my colleagues again, as this birth was particularly fast - she was born on my bed at home, my husband being the "midwife" and needing an ambulance myself. Which of course means all my colleagues had access to hear me in labour! Delightful.
I've unfortunately had to practice what I preach in many first aid situations with my own children, Brooke (now 6½) and Jemma (now 4). So other then professional experience, my personal experience includes:
- Full-thickness burn to my first daughter when she was just 10 months old from a heater despite it being "safe".
- Both girls have split the back of their head open requiring gluing
- Brooke has dislocated her elbow twice throwing a tantrum whilst we were holding her hand, throwing herself on the ground and twisting it when she was just a toddler
- Jemma threw a tantrum right next to a window, tripped and went through the window. Resulted in her forhead being significantly cut open requiring plastic surgery
- Brooke choked when she was a baby
- I had gestational diabetes with Brooke so know what it's like to live as a diabetic - we're a high-risk family so careful about what we eat.
- We have a pool and all too aware of the responsibility this entails.
- Brooke suffered a febrile convulsion when she was around 2. Both girls have suffered fevers over 40 degrees.
- Educating my own children regarding safety and prevention.
I have spent approximately 2 years teaching accredited first aid qualifications, mainly CPR, level one and level two first aid, before starting Little Aid.
 About Little Aid
I started Little Aid in March 2008 because of my combination professional/personal experience which probably led to my passion for educating other parents (and grandparents/carers) to know what to do in the event of an emergency.
Courses are conducted from just $25pp for 90 minutes to $45pp for 3-4 hours.
Currently, courses are conducted:
- Privately in the home during the week, evenings or weekends
- At various Maternal & Child Health centres (this is continuously growing due to word-of-mouth)
- Community centres
- As a fundraiser for preschools, playgroups, churches etc.
- Currently approaching maternity hospitals
- Maternity wear store
- Play centres
Little Aid has expanded very quickly. This includes currently hiring trainers, beginning our own line of first aid kits and safety products (a work in progress - new website currently being built for this one - www.shop.littleaid.com.au) and branching interstate due to huge demand.
Little Aid focus on the education of baby and child first aid in a relaxed, informal and easy-to-understand format (no medical "jargon" or information overload.)
Whilst teaching first aid, Little Aid assist with product recommendations regarding safety, as well as promoting overall health and wellbeing (promoting help for post-natal depression, soon supporting Childhood Foundation with ending childhood abuse, etc.)
For more information on Little Aid visit www.littleaid.com.au.
 Check out other Ask the Experts sections.
The opinions expressed on these pages are of a general
nature and are by no means a substitute for professional advice. Therefore
neither Mum Zone or Michelle Fiddian of Little Aid are liable
for any actions pertaining to the use of the supplied information.
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