CPR and Choking First Aid: What to Do When Someone Stops Breathing (2026)

If someone chokes, do five back blows, then five abdominal thrusts, repeated until the object comes out. If someone collapses and is not breathing, start compressions: push hard and fast in the center of the chest, 100 to 120 times a minute, until help arrives. Those two sequences are the whole course in one sentence; the details below are why they work. Read this now while you are calm, and keep it somewhere you can grab it when you are not.

Every minute a cardiac arrest goes without compressions cuts survival by roughly 7 to 10 percent. Most real-world CPR happens in a kitchen, done by a family member. The version you memorize matters more than gear you can buy.

Choking: The Five-and-Five for Adults and Older Kids

A choking person cannot speak and often grabs their throat with both hands, the universal sign. The only question that matters is: "Can you speak?" If they can, they are not fully blocked; let their coughing do the work.

If they cannot speak or breathe:

1. Five back blows. Stand to the side, lean them forward, and hit firmly between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
2. Five abdominal thrusts. Stand behind them, make a fist just above the navel, and pull sharply inward and upward.
3. Alternate the two until the object comes out or they can breathe.

For pregnancy or a body too large to wrap your arms around, use chest thrusts, fist in the middle of the chest. Never use abdominal thrusts on a baby under 12 months.

If the person goes unconscious, lower them to the floor, call 911, and start CPR. Each time you open the airway for breaths, look in and sweep out the object only if you can see it. A blind finger sweep pushes it deeper.

Baby Choking (Under 12 Months): Back Blows, Not Abdominal Thrusts

Infants need a different sequence, because their airways are smaller and more delicate.

1. Lay the baby face-down along your forearm, head lower than the chest, supporting the head and jaw.
2. Give five back blows between the shoulder blades.
3. Turn them face-up on your other forearm and give five chest thrusts with two fingers in the middle of the chest.
4. Alternate until the object comes out or the baby goes limp.

If the baby becomes unresponsive, start infant CPR and have someone call 911. Practice this on a doll; it looks nothing like the adult version and panic will wipe it out.

Cardiac Arrest: Call, Then Compress

Choking has a quick fix. Cardiac arrest has a clock. When someone collapses, will not respond, and is not breathing normally (agonal gasping, those occasional noisy breaths, still counts as not breathing):

1. Confirm unresponsiveness — tap and shout, check breathing for no more than 10 seconds.
2. Call 911 and put it on speaker. If someone else is there, send them for the nearest AED while you start.
3. Start compressions. The two common failures are starting too late and pressing too softly.

For adults, compression-only CPR works, and a 911 dispatcher will talk you through it. Push in the center of the chest, at least 2 inches deep, at 100 to 120 compressions a minute (the tempo of "Stayin' Alive" if you need a beat). Let the chest fully recoil between pushes, because that recoil refills the heart. Do not stop except for an AED shock or to trade off with another rescuer every 2 minutes or so.

Ribs will crack. Expect it and keep going: a cracked rib heals, a stopped heart does not, and quitting over a crack is the most common reason rescuers stop.

Adding Breaths: The 30:2 Ratio

If you are trained and comfortable with rescue breaths, use 30 compressions to 2 breaths: tilt the head back, lift the chin, pinch the nose, and give just enough air to see the chest rise. Breaths matter most for drowning victims and children, whose arrests are usually respiratory first; for a sudden adult collapse, hands-only compressions are a complete response. For an infant, use two fingers, about 1.5 inches deep, at the same rate, with breaths that barely puff the chest.

The AED: Every Minute Until the Shock

An automated external defibrillator restarts a normal rhythm, and its benefit fades roughly 10 percent for every minute it sits unused. Once compressions are running, send someone for it, turn it on, and follow the voice prompts. It analyzes the rhythm, only shocks if one is needed, and is built for panicking bystanders.

The Gear That Holds the Rescue

No product performs CPR for you; that is a skill, and a free class is the best purchase in this article. What a first aid kit does is put gloves, a rescue mask, and a printed reminder in reach when the moment comes — and the printed reminder matters more than people think, because trained responders still freeze without one. The ACEP First Aid Manual (DK, 5th Edition) is the take-home version of the class: the American College of Emergency Physicians' illustrated manual, kept with the kit. Pick the kit that will actually be in the room:

Kit	Where it lives	Why it earns its spot
First Aid Only 298-Piece All-Purpose Kit	Home, ~$17	Nitrile gloves, a CPR mask, and 298 pieces; cheap enough to keep by the couch and in the car
Surviveware Large First Aid Kit	Kitchen, ~$81	Color-coded compartments you can find by feel; tape the class card inside the lid
Adventure Medical Kits Mountain Series Hiker	Daypacks, ~$34	About a pound with a printed first aid manual for the moment you're thinking on your feet

Gloves protect you from blood, and these scenes are often messy. A LSIKA-Z CPR Face Shield Keychains (10-Pack) removes the hesitation most people feel about mouth-to-mouth: the one-way valve keeps their breath on their side, and a keychain version rides on your keyring instead of living in a drawer. Neither replaces practicing the rates, but both remove small frictions that stall a rescue.

Quick Recommendations

• Choking, adult: five back blows, five abdominal thrusts, alternate. Chest thrusts for pregnancy or larger bodies.
• Choking, baby: back blows and chest thrusts only, never abdominal thrusts.
• Cardiac arrest: push hard and fast, 100 to 120 per minute, don't stop. "Stayin' Alive" is the tempo.
• Trained? Add breaths at 30:2. For babies, two fingers, about 1.5 inches deep.
• Send someone for the AED the moment compressions start.
• Ribs cracking means you're doing it right. Keep going.

Spurting blood is a different emergency; our severe bleeding guide covers the tourniquet steps. Choking and cardiac arrest are the other half of that "seconds count" pair. Ten minutes of practice this weekend, on the rhythm, the five-and-five, and the baby version on a doll, is the cheapest life-saving training you can do, and it is the one part of the kit nobody can buy for you.