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What to do if someone is choking

If a choking person can cough, encourage them to keep coughing. If they cannot cough, speak or breathe, act at once: five back blows, then five thrusts, and repeat. Choking kills in minutes, but most choking is cleared by the people in the room.

This guide does not replace a first aid course. Learn these skills hands-on from a trained instructor.

Is it mild or severe?

Ask: "Are you choking?"

• Mild: the person can answer, cough or breathe. The airway is only partly blocked.
• Severe: the person cannot speak, cough or breathe. They may clutch their throat or nod, and their face may turn red, then blue or grey.

Mild choking

• Encourage the person to keep coughing. Their own cough is stronger than anything you can do.
• Do not slap their back while they are coughing well, and do not give water or bread.
• Stay with them. If they can no longer cough, speak or breathe, treat it as severe.

Severe choking in an adult or child

Shout for someone to call 112 or 10177, but do not leave the person.

Back blows

1. Stand behind and slightly to one side.
2. Support the chest with one hand and lean the person well forward.
3. Give up to five sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
4. Check after each blow whether the blockage has cleared.

Abdominal thrusts, if back blows have not worked

1. Stand behind the person and put both arms round their waist.
2. Make a fist and place it between the navel and the bottom of the breastbone.
3. Grasp the fist with your other hand.
4. Pull sharply inwards and upwards, up to five times, checking after each thrust.

Repeat five back blows and five thrusts until the object comes out or the person becomes unconscious.

For a small child, kneel behind them and use less force. For a visibly pregnant woman, or someone you cannot reach around, give chest thrusts instead, with your fist on the centre of the breastbone.

Anyone who has had abdominal thrusts must see a doctor afterwards, even if they feel fine.

A baby under one year

Abdominal thrusts can injure a baby. Use back blows and chest thrusts.

1. Lay the baby face down along your forearm, resting on your thigh, with the head lower than the body. Support the head by holding the jaw, not the throat.
2. Give up to five sharp back blows between the shoulder blades, checking after each.
3. Turn the baby face up along your other forearm, with the head still low.
4. Press on the centre of the chest, just below the nipple line, and give up to five sharp chest thrusts. Guidelines published in 2025 use the heel of one hand for this, where older courses taught two fingertips. Follow what your first aid instructor teaches.
5. Repeat, and get someone to call for help.

Never hold a baby upside down and shake it. Never put your fingers blindly into the mouth. Remove an object only if you can see it and pick it out easily.

If the person becomes unconscious

Lower them to the floor, make sure an ambulance has been called, and start CPR. Each time you open the airway, look in the mouth and remove anything you can see easily.

If you are alone and choking

Cough hard. Call 112 if you can, even if you cannot speak. Give yourself abdominal thrusts, or press your upper abdomen sharply against the back of a firm chair. Go to where you can be seen.

Preventing choking in children

• Cut grapes, cherry tomatoes and sausages lengthways into quarters.
• Give no whole nuts, popcorn or hard sweets to children under five.
• Have children sit down to eat, with an adult watching.
• Keep coins, beads, balloon pieces and especially button batteries out of reach.

This guide is based on Chapter 4 of First Aid for Families.