Hartlepool hero backs baby lifesaving campaign

Danny Little, who saved a baby's life with CPR.

St John Ambulance today launches a new initiative to teach baby CPR to parents with a TV ad and internet campaign.

It is being backed by health care assistant Danny Little, who is originally from Hartlepool and who did his first aid training with St John Ambulance in town.

A new campaign aims to teach parents CPR for babies.

He used his skills to save a one-year-old boy in July 2013 when on holiday with his mum at Butlins in Skegness.

The boy, who Danny’s mum was fostering at the time and had undergone a tracheotomy to help him breathe, went blue and floppy after his heart stopped.

Luckily, Danny had taken a six-week St John Ambulance first aid course as a teenager at Dyke House school, and both he and his mum were given refresher training in CPR when they fostered the child.

“All the skills I’d learned came back to me,” said Danny, 23.

The nursery rhyme characters featured in St John Ambulance's new baby CPR ad campaign.

“I immediately took the baby off my mum and starting rubbing and giving small chest compressions.

“Within seconds, the CPR did the trick – his heart re-started, he was breathing again and his skin turned pink.

“Thankfully the little boy is still alive to this day, but if it wasn’t for mine and my mum’s fast thinking, he may have lost his life.”

Research shows only one in three parents in the North East would know what to do if their baby stopped breathing.

Danny, is now a first aider with St John Ambulance in Minehead, Somerset after moving to the South West in 2011.

St John Ambulance today launches Nursery Rhymes Inc, a campaign that teaches parents and the wider public how to help a baby who’s stopped breathing.

It features favourite nursery rhyme characters to teaches baby CPR using a catchy two-minute song to help parents remember what to do in an emergency.

Simon Dunn, Regional Director, St John Ambulance North East said: “We’ve listened to parents and we know that they want to learn first aid skills in a way that’s easy and memorable.

“We hope the song will stick in everyone’s heads. We’re asking everyone to share the video so that all parents, grandparents, and carers can learn what to do in those crucial minutes after a baby has stopped breathing.”

The advert will be screened during Coronation Street tonight and an extended version on St John Ambulance’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The first aid charity is also putting on special baby first aid courses for £25. To find your nearest course go to www.sja.org.uk/NurseryRhymesInc