Becoming a first-time parent can be an exciting and anxious time. Parenting an infant can be challenging and rewarding, but it can also be stressful. Babies can’t talk, so they can’t tell you when something is wrong – if they’re too cold or hot, or if their stomach hurts and they’re in pain.
Becoming a parent for the first time can be a big change for any family dynamic, and it is important that you are prepared. The first few months are the hardest for new parents, but with a little planning and preparation, you can ease your way into the medical challenges parenthood will throw at you. You will learn more about your child and yourself and establish routines with each passing day. You will have to adjust to different sleep patterns, routines, and parenting responsibilities regardless of whether you are solo or co-parenting.
The first few months of parenthood are the hardest. Every pulled face, a cry of anguish, and a hiccup will induce paranoia and fear for any parent – particularly if you don’t have much knowledge of First Aid. This can cause parents to overreact to common childhood ailments and injuries normal things, but sometimes fail to act on more serious issues. Save yourself the guilt load and take the time to do a First Aid course at Coast to Coast First Aid and Aquatics.
First Aid training for parents
From recognizing when your child is unwell to dealing with common bumps, bruises, cuts, and scrapes toddlers naturally accrue, you need basic First Aid skills. Applying a Band-aid, using antiseptic creams, lotions, and liquids, sterilizing products, giving gripe water, and correct medication dosages, the list of skills required to be a parent is endless.
Toddlers learning to walk always bump into things, headbutting the edges of tables and potentially suffering cuts and gashes. They can also trip over rugs and face plant the ground, injuring their head or face or getting a black eyes. And as it happens, house pets unintentionally (or jealously) cause a significant number of broken bones and injuries in children – walking over them, pushing them over, or biting. Knowing how to assess and treat all these situations correctly is essential. Knowing when to treat a situation in-home, when to take the child to a doctor, or when to call 000 is also vital. Make sure you have a basic First Aid understanding, allowing you to react appropriately and calmly to the situation.
Who Provides Childcare First Aid Courses?
First Aid is the skills and knowledge needed in the event of an accident or a medical emergency. As a first-time parent, you can take an essential online first aid course that covers CPR, meaning you’ll be equipped with the skills you need as a parent to assess and treat your child at home. You will also learn to determine when the situation has progressed beyond the home and requires professional medical attention from a doctor.
To work professionally in childcare, however, you’ll need to be certified in Childcare First Aid.
First Aid training for Childcare workers
As quick search online will show, there are a number of organizations with Australia that can offer both standard First Aid courses and training for teachers and childcare workers. A number of reputable RTOs (Registered Training Organisations) such as First Aid Pro and First Aid Course Experts offer the HLTAID012 Provide First Aid in an education and care setting training module. This certifies you to work with children in a home daycare or school daycare setting if you intend to look after other people’s children as a sideline business.
The course covers a range of basic First Aid skills and processes, as well as responding to common infant and childhood ailments like febrile convulsions, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration, asthma and anaphylaxis, and more.
Many of these organizations operate nationally, so if you’re in any capital city you’ve got a range of locations on offer. So if you’re on the Gold Coast, for example, it’s just a matter of deciding if you’d rather do your training in Maroochydore or Wurtulla.
Why Do First-Time Parents Need To Have First Aid Skills?
You’ve created a precious new human being who is utterly dependent on you for it’s every need! That is a mammoth undertaking and one that people who are not parents will always straggle to fully understand. When you look down into the eyes of your child, a parent’s natural instinct is to want to protect them from harm, no matter what form that takes. Often young children are at the mercy of viruses as their immune systems are still developing. As a new parent, you require basic knowledge and understanding of what normal behavior for your child is, and when things seem to be a bit off – when they are acting in a way you feel is abnormal. Instinct can never be ignored. Gut feelings that something is wrong should always be acted upon by visiting your doctor. With children, things can escalate quickly, so time can be critical in some cases.
Some of the most common situations that require First Aid in the home for children under six (6) are:
- Choking: on food, button batteries or anything they can fit into their mouths, even the rubber end of a pacifier (dummy) that separates from the main body of the pacifier.
- Temperature spikes: Febrile fevers caused by viruses. Overheated children with too many layers of clothing, or conversely hypothermic children with not enough clothing for the conditions. Small bodies regulate heat differently from adults, so you need to pay close attention to young children and watch overheating.
- Teething pain
- Colic
- Drowning
Conclusion
There are many benefits to becoming First Aid certified. Both personally and professionally, especially if you have never taken any kind of CPR or First Aid course and you are a first-time parent.
If you got the next step and choose to do a Childcare First Aid course, you could be opening the door to a field of work that is incredibly rewarding and can make a real difference in a child’s life. There are many additional benefits to becoming a qualified Childcare First Aid provider as your child grows. It may offer you an avenue of income if you decide to become a stay-at-home parent and look after other people’s children in your home. There are several lucrative businesses that cater to in-home child care, daycare, out of hours school care (OOSC), to name a few.
As little as four hours is all it takes to learn lifesaving skills that could potentially save anyone’s life. CPR and basic First Aid are the entry-level skills every loving parent requires before bringing a new life into this world. If you are not already First Aid certified, or you need to update your skills due to changing medical practices over the years, now is the perfect time to turn off the TV and invest the time in learning First Aid skills. Become a smarter, better prepared version of yourself – who knows what challenges life has in store for you and your child?