First aid is something that has been ever-present in my life; from my childhood days of Brownies and Guides, to adulthood and a spell as the first aider for my employer, a big city bank.  I had quite a few dramas to deal with there, including the aftermath of a couple of colleagues caught in a train crash who, whilst physically fine, had gone on auto-pilot and continued to work but after being given the once over by me, they were promptly sent home to get over the shock. More recently I have dealt with my own children’s bumps and grazes (and having raised three boisterous boys, there were plenty of them) with only the knowledge I had brought from years gone by. I am fortunate that no particular incident prompted me to take this course but the more I worked with families and babies, the more I felt it was important that I got up to speed with the latest advice and attended a course with the lovely Lell at Mini First Aid South East London. Lell very kindly offered me a place on one of her 2-hour courses that are run all over Bexley, I was really looking forward to refreshing my memory so if anything happened I would be better equipped to deal with the situation. 
We met in Geddes Place – a really great community centre very local to me.  The course I attended is aimed at parents of babies and young children. We started with the scary stuff, getting CPR “out the way” and I’ll be honest, it is scary. However, with Lell’s fun and calm nature, we soon felt confident that we would know what do to in this situation, should it ever arise. Lell was quick to point out that we were unlikely to need to do this but if were, we would know what to do. We repeated the exercises several times, using both baby and child mannequins and I feel confident now that if needed to, I could do this. 
We went on to cover burns, choking, cuts and bad bleeds. We practiced things like the Heimlich manoeuvre (again, scary but this, I feel, is more likely to be needed with small children). We also discussed ways to prevent choking, which was really helpful.
Lell is fun and friendly and gets carried away with her passion for the topic but this is a positive and massive credit to her. Classes are well-9thought out, paced just right and full of opportunities to check everyone’s understanding of the topics covered which I found it extremely useful.
I purchased one of her first aid kits at the end (really handy to have in the glove box) and some instant bump cool pads. These are things I might need when I am photographing your little one (although I have never needed to use one before I hasten to add!)
Courses run at various locations in South East London and Dartford. They cost £25 per person and private classes for groups of family, friends or perhaps NCT/antenatal groups are offered on request.
Course cover emergency first aid, how to deal with a conscious/unconscious casualty, including practical CPR & choking techniques. It also covers injuries from minor to major bleeds, head bumps, febrile seizures, burns and signs and symptoms for meningitis awareness.  If you are interested please contact:

Lell@minifirstaid.co.uk
07912368821
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Facebook.com/minifirstaidsoutheastlondon