We are asked regularly what to do if their baby chokes as it is common for babies to choke on food, toys, small objects that they put into their mouth.

According to a survey by St John Ambulance, 40% of parents have witnessed their own baby choke, yet over 80% of these parents had no idea what to do in such a situation. This is an alarming statistic and highlights the need for parents to learn these skills.

The following is a comprehensive guide that should keep you and your baby safe.

A learning process Even though eating solids is natural and instinctive behaviour to us, it is – like walking – a process that babies must learn gradually. It can be helpful to remember that your baby is learning to regulate the amount of food they can chew and swallow at a time.

Choking occurs when food blocks the airway, rather than going down the oesophagus – it goes down the breathing tube, rather than the food one! Usually when we eat or drink and swallow – the epiglottis covers the top of the trachea (wind pipe) and stops food from entering it. Sometimes, particularly if talking, laughing or crying whilst eating, the flap of the epiglottis is unable to protect the trachea and enables food to enter.

The body’s reflex if this happens is to cough, to eject the food. However, if the airway becomes completely blocked the person is unable to cough and is silent. This is extremely serious and without help, they could die.

Puree or blend foods, especially at the beginning of the weaning process.

Discourage older children from sharing food with babies.

Supervise children and babies when eating together.

Cut small round foods (grapes, cherry tomatoes) into small pieces. Sticks or batons rather than circles is a good rule to follow.

Avoid hard foods such as raw carrot, apple, whole nuts and peanuts.

Ensure your baby is sitting up in their high chair and always supervise their meal times.

Babies have sensitive gag reflexes and often appear to struggle when trying new food textures and this can be frightening. The majority of the time they manage to clear the obstruction themselves, repositioning them with their head lower than their body can help.

Keep as calm as you can as babies quickly pick up on panic and this can make things worse. If they are able to cough, encourage them to do so. If they are quiet and struggling to breathe, help immediately.

If they are able to cough, reposition them to see if they can clear it themselves.

Have a quick look in the baby’s mouth and carefully remove anything obvious. NEVER blindly sweep inside the baby’s mouth with your fingers as it can cause damage and push the obstruction further down.

Lay the baby downwards across your forearm, supporting under their chin.

With your hand hit the baby up to 5 times firmly between their shoulder blades

Check after each back blow to see if the obstruction has cleared

If still choking; lay the baby on its back across your knees, head downwards. Place two fingers in the centre of their chest at the nipple line, and give up to?five, firm upward chest thrusts.

If the baby is still choking, call 999/112 and continue giving baby?five back blows, alternated with five chest thrusts, until help arrives

If the baby becomes unconscious start CPR immediately.

What To Do If Your Baby Chokes

Leisure Training Ireland is a Health, Safety & Aquatic training company based in Dublin, Ireland.

We deliver courses throughout Ireland in a number of industries.

We deliver health, safety & aquatic courses to a number of gyms & leisure centres throughout Ireland. Very few health & safety companies can offer health and safety as well as aquatic training courses to leisure centres which means we are a one stop shop for all of your training needs.

"Leisure" time is meant to be fun and time spent doing something other then work, we believe that students should look forward to their time on our courses, enjoy the course and have fun. This is why with every course we deliver we ensure that the students feel relaxed and have fun while learning this vital information, we believe when they have fun they also learn more.

The majority of our clients consist of companies within the leisure, hospitality and childcare industry including gyms, hotels, leisure centres, schools and childcare centres.

Although the majority of our clients fall into these industries we have experience training staff in all sectors including construction, retail, restaurants and more.

Above is a sample of our courses, we provide a wide range of courses and can also organise bespoke courses depending on your needs. See our full range of courses in our courses section on our website.

As we mentioned above, we like to deliver every course in a fun and relaxed environment to ensure maximum satisfaction in attending the course.

With every course we like to get some information from you including what industry you are in, what daily tasks you may do and potentially the injuries that are common in your workplace.

The reason we like to gather this information is because we like to tailor every course to be specific to your company.

For example for manual handling, childcare centres may need to concentrate on how to lift tables in the class, gyms may need to focus on lifting the weights and construction sites may need to look at how to carry heavy tools or push a wheel barrow.

In first aid, childcare centres would want to focus on injuries common with children, gyms may want to look closely at fainting and heat exhaustion during classes and construction sites may want to look at how to deal with lacerations from being injured with tools.

Every industry is different and we believe it is important that all our clients come out with as much information relevant to their industry as possible.

If you or your company are looking for a course simply contact us for a free quote. all we need to know is the amount of people looking to attend and the course you are looking for.

Even during level 5 we are offering course via zoom and practicals can still go ahead in certain occasions.

We focus more on group bookings however if you are looking for a course for yourself let us know as we have a small number of public courses throughout the year.

Who We Are

There’s something special about helping someone learn to swim — seeing their confidence grow, helping them feel at ease in the water, and knowing you’ve taught a vital life skill. 

If that sounds like something you’d love to be part of, becoming a swim teacher might be the right move for you.

Whether you’re considering a new direction or already work in a leisure setting, the 

Why Start with the Assistant Swim Teacher Course?

Swim teaching offers more than just flexible hours. It’s rewarding, varied, and people-focused. You’ll support a fully qualified teacher in delivering lessons and gain hands-on experience working with swimmers of all ages and stages.

Some of the reasons people choose swim teaching:

You get to make a real difference by teaching an essential life skill

It opens the door to further qualifications and teaching opportunities

It suits part-time or full-time schedules and complements other work

It helps build confidence, communication, and leadership skills

Once you’ve qualified, you’ll have the tools to support lessons and start building your style as a teacher. Here are a few things that help make someone great in the role:


Watch experienced teachers, listen to feedback, and treat every session as a chance to improve.


A calm, encouraging approach goes a long way—especially for nervous swimmers. Your tone sets the mood.


Everyone learns differently. Pay attention to their goals, hesitations, and progress.


Consider moving on to your full Swim Teacher qualification or attending CPD sessions to grow your confidence and skills.


Not all progress is fast or linear. Support each swimmer at their pace and celebrate the wins, big and small.

Starting as an Assistant Swim Teacher is a great way to step into a rewarding role. Whether you stay part-time or continue on to a full qualification, you’ll be doing meaningful work that builds skills and supports others.

To ask a question or book a place, email 

Thinking About Becoming a Swim Teacher? Here's What to Know

Health and Safety

Fire Safety

Upcoming Courses

E - Learning

Swimming Pool

Fitness Courses

First Aid

The NPLQ covers all elements of Pool Rescue Techniques, Lifeguarding Theory, First Aid and CPR. The course is physically demanding and will include swimming to set times, lifting casualties and diving to the deepest part of the swimming pool. Training and assessment for the NPLQ is in three sections and all must be successfully passed to attain the qualification.

Swimming Pool, Hazards and Control Measures

Rescue of a Casualty with a Suspected Spinal Injury

Every candidate attending a NPLQ course must be 16-years-old at the time of taking the NPLQ final assessment and be able to:

Swim 100 metres continuously on front and back in deep water

Climb out unaided without ladder/steps and where the pool design permits

Successful completion of the pool lifeguard course leads to an accredited national pool lifeguard certificate from the Royal Lifesaving Society which is valid for 2 years. A refresher pool lifeguard course (20 hours) is needed before your certificate goes out of date (Please see our pool lifeguard refresher course.

RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Qualification

The Well Being of the First Aid Responder

Successful completion of the first aid response course leads to an accredited certification. Recertification in First Aid Response is required every 2 years which takes 2 days in duration.

Our First Aid Response Recertification course is certified by Qualtec (PHECC recognised institution).

First Aid Response Recertification

The aim of this course is to provide learners with the knowledge and skills to be a First Aid Responder.

At the completion of this First Aid Response course learners will be able to:

• deal with life threatening or potentially life threatening conditions in the pre-hospital environment until arrival of emergency medical services.
• provide First Aid Response for conditions not thought to be life-threatening but are necessary to prevent further harm before the emergency medical services arrive.
• provide pre-hospital First Aid Response in a wide range of environments including home and recreational settings.
• display the requisite personal skills including composure, competence and self-confidence while understanding their limitations.
• recognise and be able to cope with the additional challenges provided by “Special Circumstances” for which additional training must be completed
• deal with life threatening or potentially life threatening conditions in the pre-hospital environment until arrival of emergency medical services.
• provide First Aid Response for conditions not thought to be life-threatening but are necessary to prevent further harm before the emergency medical services arrive.
• provide pre-hospital First Aid Response in a wide range of environments including home and recreational settings.
• display the requisite personal skills including composure, competence and self-confidence while understanding their limitations.
• recognise and be able to cope with the additional challenges provided by “Special Circumstances” for which additional training must be completed.

To ensure the greatest opportunity for successful participation in our programmes, learners are required to have a good command of English in terms of reading, writing and speaking.

This standard of proficiency is indicated by achieving or exceeding the standard of CEFR B2+ Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Learners who have achieved a passing grade in English at Junior Certificate level will be deemed to meet this criterion. However, learners for whom English is not their first language, are required to advise Qualtec, and may be required to provide evidence of proficiency. This could include completing a standardised CEFR test or equivalent.

Training, Administrative, Technical Support and Reasonable Accommodation:

Qualtec will endeavour to provide any reasonable support to ensure that students complete this course successfully. Reasonable Accommodation can be requested in advance of the course by sending an email to info@qualtec.ie. This is detailed in full in the 

. The instructor will be available to discuss any needs or issues on breaks on a one to one basis or collectively. Administrative or Technical support is available via phone, Zoom or email from 9 am to 5 pm. This can be requested by sending an email to info@qualtec.ie or ringing 01 6289374. Full details are available in our 

Qualtec may offer Recognition of Prior Learning towards this certification. To apply for this please complete the 

 and return it be email to info@qualtec.ie. Click here for full details on our Recognition Policy and Procedure in our 

You will be required to complete a 20 questions MCQ on the final Day. Allow 4 hours for the revision of your notes in preparation for this.

Preparation for FAR Skill (s) assessment. Your FAR and CFR skills will be assessed on the final day of the course. You will need to revise your FAR and CFR skills in advance of being assessed. Allow 2 hours for this preparation.

On completion of this course, learners can progress onto thePHECC CFR Instructor Course or the PHECC FAR Instructor Course.

Our First Aid Response course is certified by Qualtec (PHECC recognised institution).

First Aid Response

Must have a RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Award still in date by the      end of the course. 

 of full RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Course to revalidate certificate.

Successful completion of the pool lifeguard course leads to an accredited national pool lifeguard certificate from the Royal Lifesaving Society which is valid for 2 years. A refresher pool lifeguard course (20 hours) is needed before your certificate goes out of date.

NPLQ Pool Lifeguard Revalidation Course RLSS.

Thinking About Becoming a Swim Teacher? Here's What to Know

Why Start with the Assistant Swim Teacher Course?

What Makes a Great Swim Teacher?

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