3.3 Infant CPR: One Hand, Two Thumbs, and Ventilation

Hand Placement and Technique

Infant compressions are delivered on the lower half of the sternum, just below the nipple (intermammary) line, avoiding the xiphoid. The 2025 AHA pediatric BLS guidance recommends the heel of one hand or two-thumb–encircling-hands technique. If the chest cannot be encircled, use one hand. The older two-finger method was removed because it often fails to achieve adequate depth. AHA 2025 pediatric BLS guidance.

Compress about one third of the chest's anterior-posterior diameter, roughly 1.5 inches (4 cm), at 100–120/min, with full recoil and minimal interruptions. As with children, the most common error is too-shallow compression.

Assessment

Check a pulse at the brachial artery (inner upper arm) — the carotid is impractical on a short infant neck. Take no more than 10 seconds. If there is no pulse, or a pulse under 60/min with poor perfusion, begin compressions.

Ratios, Ventilation, and the AED

Infant ratios mirror the child's and turn on rescuer count:

Ventilation must be gentle: deliver just enough air over about 1 second to produce visible chest rise. Over-aggressive breaths inflate the stomach (gastric insufflation), raise the risk of regurgitation and aspiration, and impede the diaphragm. If the chest does not rise, the most likely problem is airway position — reopen the airway with a head-tilt/chin-lift to a neutral "sniffing" position (an infant's large occiput tends to flex the neck) and try again. Do not simply squeeze the bag harder.

For a pulseless infant, the defibrillation priority order is: a manual defibrillator (preferred, set to 2 J/kg first dose), then an AED with a pediatric dose attenuator, and only if neither is available, a standard AED.

Rescue Breathing for an Infant With a Pulse

If an infant has a pulse but inadequate or absent breathing, give rescue breathing at 1 breath every 2 to 3 seconds (20 to 30 breaths per minute) — the rate raised in the 2020 AHA update from the older 12–20/min. Reassess the pulse and breathing at least every 2 minutes. This faster pediatric rate is a frequent test point: it is much faster than the adult rescue-breathing rate of 1 breath every 6 seconds (10/min), reflecting the infant's higher metabolic demand and the asphyxial nature of pediatric deterioration.

Scenario: an infant is pulseless and apneic with two rescuers present. One rescuer applies the two-thumb–encircling-hands technique at 15:2 while the other ventilates to chest rise; if a breath fails to move the chest, the airway is repositioned before the next attempt.

Skills Testing and the Mechanics That Get Graded

Infant CPR is a hands-on skill graded in the AHA BLS course, so questions often probe the precise mechanics an instructor watches for. For the two-thumb–encircling-hands technique, the thumbs sit side by side over the lower half of the sternum (stacked for a very small infant), the fingers wrap around the thorax to support the back, and the rescuer can gently squeeze the thorax with the encircling hands to augment each compression — while still allowing full recoil so the chest re-expands completely. With the one-hand technique, place the heel of one hand on the sternum and protect the abdomen and xiphoid from pressure.

The compression-depth target is at least one third of the chest’s anterior-posterior diameter, about 1.5 inches (4 cm), with complete recoil after each compression.

A practical detail that shows up in scenarios: when a lone rescuer moves to the head to ventilate after every 30 compressions, the airway is opened to a neutral or slightly extended "sniffing" position — over-extending an infant's neck can kink the soft trachea and obstruct the airway, while under-extension lets the tongue fall back. Both extremes produce a chest that will not rise.

Coordinating Two Rescuers and Avoiding Hyperventilation

With two rescuers, the compressor and ventilator coordinate the 15:2 cadence: the compressor pauses briefly after 15 compressions so the ventilator can deliver 2 breaths to chest rise, then compressions resume. The most common quality failure in pediatric resuscitation is over-ventilation — too many breaths or too much volume. This raises intrathoracic pressure, reduces venous return, and lowers cardiac output, and in an infant it also distends the small stomach and forces regurgitation. The fix is discipline: each breath is a gentle puff to visible chest rise over about 1 second, no more.

Rotating compressors every 2 minutes preserves depth, exactly as in adult and child CPR. A useful habit during any infant resuscitation is to count compressions aloud, so the partner can anticipate the pause for ventilations and so the rate does not drift below 100 or climb above 120 per minute, both of which reduce the blood flow each compression generates.