Teaching parents how to help a choking baby

Parents told us that over 40% of them have witnessed their own baby choke. When we quizzed them on first aid, we found that almost four-fifths don’t know what to do in this situation.

We know parents have their hands full, so we've made a short memorable video, The Chokeables. The video shows people how to help a choking baby using first aid. It features the voices of David Walliams, David Mitchell, Johnny Vegas and Sir John Hurt.

In The Chokeables, the celebrities take on the characters of animated objects that could potentially choke babies. For example, a small princess toy, a pen lid, a jelly baby, and a peanut. They've joined together because they've had enough and want to show how easy it is to save a choking baby's life.

We hope people love the video and share it with their friends and family, so that as many people as possible know some first aid. 

Teaching baby CPR with a memorable musical twist

We’ve launched Nursery Rhymes Inc. a campaign that teaches parents and the wider public how to help a baby who’s stopped breathing. New research shows that this is the first aid emergency parents are most worried about, yet only one in four know how to help.*

Nursery Rhymes Inc. teaches baby CPR in a short, clear, and reassuring way to help parents remember what to do in an emergency.

The campaign video

The campaign features everyone’s favourite nursery rhyme characters. They come together to create a memorable rhyme to explain how to do baby CPR. Incy Wincy Spider, Humpty Dumpty, Jack & Jill, and the Cat & the Fiddle feature in the video struggling to write the rhyme. They have more luck in the longer online version where they make baby CPR truly unforgettable in just two minutes with a catchy song.

Nursery Rhymes Inc. follows on from last year’s award winning The Chokeables, which taught parents how to help a choking baby. Since its launch, The Chokeables is credited with saving the lives of 46 children. The video, which has had over 10 million views online, forms part of our vision that everyone should know first aid.

Our new research shows:

• An unconscious and not breathing child is the most frightening scenario for three out of four parents (74%)
• Yet only one in four parents (26%) would know how to correctly administer baby CPR
• Most parents who know first aid (62%) learned it through a workplace first aid course – yet baby CPR is different to adult CPR (for example, you need to cover the baby’s nose and mouth when doing puffs, and you use two fingers to give pumps to the chest)
• Only one in four (26%) parents have learnt first aid specifically for babies

‘The Chokeables was a real step forward for us and the response was amazing. We’ve listened to parents and we know that they want to learn first aid skills in a way that’s easy and memorable. That’s what inspired us to create Nursery Rhymes Inc.

We know that a major barrier to parents learning is that baby CPR frightens them, so we’ve removed the fear factor and made it reassuring and as easy as possible to learn. 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.’

- Sue Killen, CEO at St John Ambulance

*research conducted by OnePoll on behalf of St John Ambulance of 2000 parents with 0-16 years olds in the UK, December 2015.

Urging parents to learn first aid

Children across the country will be jumping for joy today as the vast majority of schools shut their gates for the summer holidays.

Their excitement however might be short-lived. New research reveals that nearly half of mums (43%) would be unlikely to let their children go on a cycle ride with friends.

To help change this, we launched our spoof film ‘Safety Suit’. It aims to urge millions of parents across the country not to wrap their children in cotton wool this summer, but to learn first aid instead.

According to our research, most parents (98%) think learning first aid is important. However, only 51% have actually done anything about learning it.

We want to make it as simple and easy as possible for every parent to learn first aid so they have the skills and the confidence to act if their children’s adventurous activities end up in tears.

Enjoying a safe summer holiday

Our CEO, Sue Killen, said: ‘Safety Suit is a funny film with a serious message: you don’t need to wrap your children in cotton wool to protect them.

‘Parents who learn first aid gain the peace of mind to let their children enjoy everything childhood has to offer, as well as the knowledge to look after them, whatever happens.

‘Young people should be able to enjoy an exciting, carefree summer – just taking a few minutes to learn some skills on our website will help make that a reality.’

Be a hero and download our life saving app

In Celebrate Like a Hero, a life saver celebrates as though he’s just scored the winner in a cup final. Meanwhile, famous football commentator Martin Tyler comments on the action.

If you’re not first aid trained you might think you can’t help, but you can by using our app.

Fabrice Muamba supports our campaign

Retired Bolton Wanders footballer, Fabrice Muamba, is supporting our campaign because first aid saved his life. Fabrice went into cardiac arrest during a televised FA Cup match in March 2012.

Fabrice said: ‘After my cardiac arrest, I received first aid for over an hour. I was lucky to get quick attention from people who knew the vital skills of CPR and how to use an AED, which gave me a second chance. First aid is a skill anyone can learn - I’m living proof that it can save lives.’

Spreading the message

We want to reach as many fans as possible with this vital message. We’re working with the Premier League and Football League so that our film will be shown on the big screens at matches. Football clubs will feature life saving advice in match day programmes and encourage fans to post their best celebration selfie on social media, using the hashtag #celebrationface.

We need your help too. Once you’ve watched the film and downloaded our app, share the campaign with your friends - and help us build a nation of first aiders.

Or learn life saving skills by watching our first aid advice videos.

Sir David Hempleman-Adams sailed over 5000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness of St John Ambulance.

After 44 days at sea on a 43-foot yacht, David overcame many obstacles and setbacks along the way. He hopes his epic journey has inspired people to push their boundaries, and get out of their comfort zones to try something new.

As a novice sailor, the explorer's limits were tested by many challenges. These included, sleep deprivation, difficulties with technology, terrifying storms, and resulting damage to the boat.

Due to some ongoing technical glitches that nearly risked him ending his challenge, he took a pit stop in Spain. Nonetheless, David was determined to continue to the USA. For the rest of his journey he was joined by friend and highly skilled sailor, Nick Davey.

‘This was one of the biggest tests of my life, and I hope that seeing me overcome the challenges we faced and push myself completely into the unknown has inspired those who’ve followed our journey, especially young people, to try something new.'

- Sir David Hempleman-Adams

Supporting St John Ambulance

Sir David has been an advocate for St John Ambulance for more than 25 years and a trustee since 2012.

‘We’re very proud of Sir David’s incredible achievement and hope that it will have inspired many across the generations to seek a new adventure. We are fortunate to have such a determined and inspiring individual as an ambassador for our charity.’

- Martin Houghton-Brown, Chief Executive

Go on your own Voyage of Discovery

You can try something new and go on your own Voyage of Discovery with St John Ambulance.

You can join up as a volunteer to learn new skills, meet new people, and gain new experiences. You can also take on one of our fundraising challenges to help us put our first aid trainers in schools, equip our volunteers, and run our ambulances.

Image by Felix Kunze.

First aid to be added to the school curriculum

From 2020 onwards, all state-funded schools in England will be required to teach first aid as part of health education. This will include basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Young people in secondary schools will be taught further first aid. For example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.

To find out more, you can read the government’s proposals.

Thank you for your help in creating a new generation of life savers!

We welcome these proposals, which follow many years of campaigning to make first aid a priority in the classroom.

Recently, the Department for Education ran a ‘call for evidence’ on PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic) education. As part of this, we and our campaign partners submitted a report to the Department for Education asking for first aid to be made a mandatory part of statutory PSHE. We also asked you to submit your views and evidence. To the hundreds of supporters who called on the government to get first aid teaching into schools - thank you!

‘Lives will be saved, and young people will benefit from developing skills that will build their character and strengthen community resilience. Thank you to all of our supporters whose campaigning has paved the way for a new generation of life savers. We look forward to working with the Department for Education and with schools up and down the country to ensure that young people’s health takes its important place on the curriculum.’

- Martin Houghton-Brown, Chief Executive

In the meantime…

Don’t wait until 2020, if you’re a teacher or youth leader, you could start teaching your pupils first aid now.

We have lots of free teaching resources available to help teachers bring first aid into the classroom.

The Chokeables are back

Our recent video, The Chokeables, has notched up over 29 million views and been credited with saving over 30 babies’ lives. Now, The Chokeables are back starring in our new free picture e-book, The Pen That Lost His Lid. The illustrated story is aimed at 3-7 year olds but has an important life saving message for parents, plus it’s free to download.

The story of Pen and his lid

The Pen That Lost His Lid aims to help children and parents learn first aid together.

Pen goes on an epic journey in search of his beloved lid, making lots of new friends along the way - Princess, Jelly Baby, and Peanut. This is a tale of friendship and adventure. Will Pen ever find his lid? Will Princess stop being so snooty? Will you discover how to help a choking baby? Find out in The Pen That Lost His Lid.

Why we made The Pen That Lost His Lid

We developed The Chokeables campaign after parents told us that babies choking was the first aid skill they were most worried about.

We surveyed over 4,000 parents and found that 40% of them had seen their baby choke. And of those who said they knew the right first aid technique to help them, nearly three-quarters of parents (71%) selected the wrong answer.

This new e-book is the next chapter in our life saving campaign. With your help, we hope that The Pen That Lost His Lid will save even more young lives.

Share the e-book and help save lives

We want as many people as possible to read the e-book and share it with their friends.

Read The Pen That Lost His Lid

Ask Me was a brand campaign we launched in June 2021. It was designed to increase your understanding of our charity. It invited you to ask us about our work, which we showcased through real-life stories.

We promoted the stories across 2,000 billboards on bus shelters and high streets nationwide. Social media and digital ads went live on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. You might have heard Ask Me Radio ads on Smooth, Heart, Capital and YouTube.

The campaign helped more people notice our charity and visit our website.

Save a Life September

When we launched Save a Life September in 2024, we set out to teach 50,000 people how to save a life from choking, severe bleeding or cardiac arrest. Thanks to your help, we surpassed our target by a massive 400%, teaching more than 200,000 people life-saving skills.

Our volunteers held free demonstrations across England in September, teaching members of the public vital first aid advice. In total, nearly 4,000 people attended, leaving with practical knowledge that will help in real life situations.

We also sent out 1,947 free first aid pocket guides containing bitesized advice on dealing with different life-threatening emergencies.

Our online first aid guidance was viewed by over 218,000 people, helping our vision of a world where everyone is first aid confident.

Couldn’t make it to a demo this year? We’ll see you in 2025!

The CPR Bra - busting the taboo

After our research found that women are less likely to receive CPR in public than men, we launched the CPR Bra - the world's first educational bra. Featuring the message, 'It's OK to Save My Life' on the front, the bra was created to reassure people that taking fast action is the right thing to do to save a life.

We believe every 'body' who has a cardiac arrest should be given the best chance of survival regardless of gender.

Switch on to Spiking

Switch on to Spiking aimed to teach 15,000 young people how to be alert when out at night with friends. 

Although spiking can happen to anyone, research shows that it disproportionately affects young people, with nearly a quarter of Gen Z and Millennials claiming to have been spiked.

Throughout December 2025, we taught over 156,000 people how to recognise the signs of spiking and what to do someone had been spiked. 

23% of Gen Z and Millennials have been spiked