A CHANCE glance at an information poster on a hospital wall days earlier proved the difference between life and death when Darren Ledbury's new-born son stopped breathing.

Little Nilsson, who had only been home less than a week because of a chest infection shortly after birth, started choking before a late-evening feed last Wednesday.

And when he started turning blue, with no sign of the requested ambulance arriving, Mr Ledbury realised he had to act fast.

"In a very short space of time he went from healthy to struggling for breath, and then he started going blue," said the 39-year-old accountant, who lives with wife Wendy (40) and son Reuben (seven), at Bishopdown.

An ambulance was called immediately, but Mr Ledbury said it took 45 minutes to arrive from Marlborough, while a doctor from Amesbury was at the scene after 20 minutes. But before then Nilsson, who was born on May 27, had gone from choking and struggling for air to completely stopping breathing.

A neighbour who works in the health profession was helping, while the 999 operator was giving advice over the phone.

"I could see him go I watched him draw his last breath," said Mr Ledbury. "You take it for granted that there will be an ambulance available but they were obviously stretched that night the driver said he'd been to Bath before Marlborough.

"It seemed like weeks and weeks. During that time I never thought he was going to make it. Fortunately, when I was waiting for Wendy to get the all-clear to bring him home I just happened to see on the wall a poster explaining how to resuscitate babies.

"Our neighbour was a great help but her experience is with adults. I just said: You hold the phone I know what to do'.

"I gave him mouth-to-mouth and saw the chest rise and got him spluttering."

"It's just such a traumatic situation that you pray will never happen. When you are put on the spot it's you or nobody and human nature takes over so that you just do what you can."

There are very different techniques for resuscitating babies in their first year from those used on adults.

"I think without that poster I would have struggled," added Mr Ledbury, who believes all parents should be taught the life-saving skills.

The problem was caused by Nilsson's reflux muscle, which regulates what goes between the oesophagus and stomach and does not normally develop fully until a child is six months old, failing to deal with the milk he had in his system which in turn blocked the boy's airways.

Nilsson spent another few days in hospital after the incident but has now returned home, while his parents have received full resuscitation courses.

A spokeswoman for Great Western Ambulance Service, which now covers Wiltshire, said they had been under "exceptional demand" that evening, but said they had done everything they could to attend to Nilsson.

However, she said the ambulance took 35 minutes to arrive, not 45 as Mr Ledbury claimed.

She said: "Although it took us 35 minutes to get there, we were aware we wouldn't get there in time so we contacted an out-of-hours doctor from Amesbury, who was on the scene in 20 minutes.

"Two ambulances covering that area is normally sufficient, but there was exceptional demand that evening, which is quite unusual for midweek.

"We did do our best and we are just pleased that the dad was able to save the baby, and we would encourage all parents that it is good practice to learn life-saving techniques."

Resuscitation techniques for infants under one-year-old*If the infant's airway is blocked, support it in a head-downwards position and perform back blows, using gravity to help clear obstructions.*If resuscitation is needed, give five initial rescue breaths before starting chest compressions, placing your mouth over the infant's mouth and nose, being careful not to over-extend its neck.*A lone rescuer should perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for approximately one minute before going for help.*Compress the chest by approximately one third of its depth, using two fingers.*Use a ratio of 30 compressions to two ventilations. There are also different resuscitation techniques for use on children aged between one year and puberty. Visit the Resuscitation Council (UK)'s website at www.resus.org.uk for more information.