Could be doing more harm than good. CPR on human babies are known to cause rib fractures.
When I was taught, for use on humans, broken ribs were expected and without them 'you're probably not pushing hard enough'. Worst that could happen is one punctures a lung, but they're going to need medical attention if you get a pulse back anyway, that can be dealt with.
It should be clear - in an ideal scenario you'd have direct access to massage (or shock) the heart, chest compressions are approximating that through flesh, skin, and bone... The ribs' job is to protect the heart from the sort of thing you're trying to do!
"If you haven't heard a crack you are not pumping hard enough" was the rule he went by although they are mostly talking about the sternum but if you hear/feel a rib crack you don't stop. You keep on pumping until a paramedic arrives if you can. A few minutes doing CPR on someone is exhausting. I did 5 minutes on the dummy and after I felt like I was going to pass out.
Thankfully I've never had to use it.
Did a first aid certification 15 years ago in France.
At the end of the course, they told us that based on French law, it is your legal duty if you have the certification to perform first aid when the situation requires it. That is, once you have the certification, if you do not perform a somewhat correct first aid procedure in case of need, you could be charged for "non assistance à personne en danger" (disregarding assistance to endangered person).
It dreads me to this day that I could have to perform such procedure and not remember it.
Luckily I never had to.
It was to compel French citizens to help injured German soldiers.
I've been in this situation recently: I had first aid certification in 2004 and then a bad situation happened. Ancient "training" kicked-in and I took charge of the situation with some mistakes due to adrenaline and having to manage panicked people around me.
probability of rib fracture increases with age.
sufficiently old and it approaches 100%.
babies are the most flexible, I don’t know if their ribs even can break, below a certain age.
edit: clarifying, I’ve never not broken ribs, but my youngest patient was middle age.
Because a stopped heart is infinitely more serious and urgent than broken bones.
A proper CPR often fracture ribs at all ages.