An emotional video inspired by a heartbroken Derby couple showing how to perform life-saving CPR on a newborn baby is claimed to have had almost 30,000 views on social media alone. Derby resident Rachel Pepper features in the video and tells how she lost her baby boy Rowan after he stopped breathing at their home in October 2022.
Despite NHS staff trying to save him, he sadly died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) a week later. Rowan lost his life at just 14 days old. Rachel and her husband Christian Pepper have since been campaigning both locally and nationally for wider baby CPR awareness.
The pair say they did not know what to do when Rowan first encountered breathing difficulties. They said they didn’t want other families to suffer the same heart-breaking trauma as they have done, so they decided to launch the “Rowan’s Rule” campaign.
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In Rowan’s memory, the Pepper family have worked with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust and Derby City Council’s Derby Family Hub, to create an educational video that tells Rowan’s story and raises awareness of baby CPR in simple steps.
The national guidance for post-natal care does not currently include offering basic training for infant CPR – which has different techniques to performing CPR for older children and adults.
The three-minute video was filmed by Lo & Behold Creative and includes a step-by-step guide on what to do if a baby stops breathing and shows a midwife demonstrating each of the key steps.
Rachel said: “When our beautiful boy stopped breathing, we didn’t know what to do, we felt helpless and we want to stop anyone else from experiencing that. We hope you never need to perform CPR on a baby or infant, but we firmly believe that knowledge is power, and we want to spread this video far and wide and by sharing Rowan’s story, we hope to demonstrate the importance of knowing what to do in an emergency.
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“We are very much at peace with knowing that we couldn’t have saved Rowan that night, but feel comforted that through Rowan’s Rule and this video, his memory lives on and his legacy could potentially save another life.”
An update on the Rowan’s Rule Facebook page on December 31 said the video had been seen on Facebook almost 30,000 times. Rachel described this number as “mind blowing” in the post. It can be seen here.
The Rowan’s Rule infant CPR video will be played in maternity waiting areas at Royal Derby Hospital and is now part of an educational package that is shared during the pregnancy journey. Both Rachel and Christian now want to increase the awareness of baby CPR to other areas across the country.
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