Wiltshire mum’s CPR campaign after baby stopped breathing

A mum who saved her baby’s life when he suddenly stopped breathing is campaigning for infant CPR advice to be included in children’s “red books”.

Hayley Gardyj, from Melksham, Wiltshire, had to resuscitate her eight-week-old son Brodie when he “stopped crying and went limp” two years ago.

Now the mum-of-three is campaigning for QR codes to be printed in red books or personal child health records (PCHR), linking parents to a first aid training video.

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said Mrs Gardyj’s campaign has been passed on to the chair of the PCHR committee.

Brodie, who was born premature and spent six weeks in neonatal intensive care at the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath, was in the back of his mother’s car when he started a “forceful, painful cry”.

“I tried to settle him by shaking him, rocking him around a little bit. He just got worse and worse,” she said.

“I moved him outside of the car and to the shade, and he just stopped, he stopped crying.”

Mrs Gardyj ran into a nearby vet’s practice and started CPR, something she had learnt on a paediatric first aid course a few years before.

“I did two rescue breaths, and then I started compressions,” she said.

“I think I must have done about 10 or 15 but I just kept doing it, and nothing was happening.

“His life flashed before me. But it wasn’t just his life. It was my kids, my other two as well, and how they’re going to cope.”

Working with a vet, Mrs Gardyj eventually got Brodie’s heartbeat back, before emergency services arrived and he was taken to the RUH.

“I just collapsed on the floor and just completely broke down,” Mrs Gardyj said.

Medics later discovered Brodie had suffered a collapsed lung, caused by a viral infection.

After the “terrifying” incident, Mrs Gardyj began looking at what information was available to new parents about performing CPR.

The PCHR is given to parents or carers at a child’s birth to record their health and development.

“You’ve got the most simple form of information in front of mummies who sit there with their baby in their arm, flicking through the red book,” Mrs Gardyj said.

“But there’s nothing in there about CPR.”

Mrs Gardyj has been featured in a training video by the British Red Cross for CPR on babies, which she wants to link to via a QR code printed in the red books.

The content of the red book is overseen by a Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health panel.

A spokesperson told the BBC: “The committee makes recommendations regarding changes to the red book as a result of user-requested change, policy changes and design changes.

“The committee is open to considering all suggestions for content so Hayley’s campaign has been passed on to the chair of the committee.”

Mrs Gardyj added she would like it to be a legal requirement for all new parents to be CPR-trained.

“I won’t stop,” she added. “I won’t stop until I know that every parent is doing something, because it can be quite a scary thing to do.”