Mouth-to-Mouth Respiration

In this method of rescue breathing, you inflate the victim's lungs with air from your lungs. This can be accomplished by blowing air into the person's mouth. Mouth-to-Mouth Rescue Breathing is performed as follows:

1. Open Airway
• Place your hand on his forehead, and pinch his nostrils together with the thumb and index finger of the same hand
• Exert pressure on the victim's forehead to maintain a backward tilt to the head, and an open airway
• With your other hand, keep your fingertips on the bony part of the lower jaw near the chin and lift gently
2. Administer Rescue Breaths
• Take a deep breath and place your mouth (ideally, in as much of an airtight seal as possible) around the victim's mouth. If the injured person is a child, or very small, cover both his nose and mouth with your mouth, sealing your lips against the skin of his face as much as possible.
• Blow two full breaths into the victim's mouth (1 to 1½ seconds per breath), taking a breath of fresh air each time before you blow - 10 to 12 breats per minute.
• Watch out of the corner of your eye for the victim's chest to rise.
• If the chest rises, sufficient air is getting into the victim's lungs. Proceed as described in the section "Check Pulse".

If the chest does not rise, do the following—ventilate again.

• Take corrective action immediately by reestablishing the airway.
• Make sure that air is not leaking from around your mouth or out of the casualty's pinched nose.
• Reattempt to ventilate—If chest still does not rise; take the necessary action to open an obstructed airway (see above).

IMPORTANT! If the initial attempt to ventilate the casualty is unsuccessful, reposition the casualty's head and repeat rescue breathing.

• Improper chin and head positioning is the most common cause of difficulty with ventilation.
• If the casualty cannot be ventilated after repositioning the head, proceed with foreign body airway obstruction maneuvers. [see: Airway Obstructions].