How to Handle a Babysitting Emergency

As parents know, infants and toddlers are exposed to many dangers in their everyday lives once they are old enough to walk or crawl. Babysitters are sometimes unfamiliar with the habits and tendencies of the children and so need to exercise extra vigilance in caring for them.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Learn the medical history of the child from the parents before you begin to care for the child. Find out whether the child is taking any medications and whether she has any history of medical conditions that might cause an emergency. If the child requires special care--such as insulin shots for diabetes--make sure that you are very familiar with the condition and any side effects that might present themselves.

2. Assess the cause or circumstance of injury as soon as you are aware of the situation. An effective way to handle a babysitting emergency is to first spend a few seconds determining what might have caused the emergency. You might smell gas or notice a broken swing set or see blood on the child's leg. All of these observations are helpful to the paramedics and doctors.

3. Determine the child's pulse, blood pressure, temperature and respiratory rate if you have training in taking these measurements and have the necessary tools available. This will also help the medical team by allowing them to determine trends in the condition of the child.

4. Call 911 as soon as you have concluded that the condition could be life threatening in any way. If the child is crying and holding his elbow, for example, you can probably determine that condition is not an immediate emergency. But if the child is unconscious for any reason at all, call 911 right away.

5. Stay with the child throughout the emergency until it has been resolved. Children benefit from being comforted by familiar people, and it will also be helpful to the parents when you explain what happened and how it was resolved.

Tips & Warnings

• The best way to handle a babysitting emergency is for the babysitter to have knowledge of first aid and emergency medical response. At the very least, knowing how to perform CPR can make difference between life and death for the infant or child. CPR courses are taught in hospitals and schools around the country on a regular basis and the techniques can be learned in only a few hours of instruction.
• Do not attempt to give treatment in a medical emergency unless you know exactly what you are doing. It is all too easy to make a treatable medical problem worse by trying to resolve an issue without proper knowledge.

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