Background There are a number of infant mannequins available for teaching newborn and infant bag mask ventilation (BMV) skills. These include the NeoNatalie newborn mannequin and the Baby Anne^TM infant mannequin (both Laerdal Medical Foundation, Stavanger, Norway).

Objectives To examine user preference and user ability to perform effective BMV with these mannequin models.

Methods Each participant was randomised to use the Baby Anne^TM infant mannequin (BA) and the NeoNatalie mannequin fully filled with air (NNA), fully filled with water (NNW) and filled with 50% air and 50% water (NNAW), each for a 30 second period. Participants were asked to rate the level of fidelity of the mannequins to a “real baby” on a 5-point likert scale in terms of appearance, weight, feel, tone and realism of ventilation.

Results 20 participants completed this study (10 doctors, 10 nurse/midwives).

Fidelity: BA was similar to NNWA in terms of appearance and similar to NNW in terms of weight. However, in terms of touch, muscle tone and realism of ventilation, NNW and NNWA were similar and greatly exceeded BA and NNA.

Breaths: Although all configurations were generally comparable, NNW had the most effective breaths delivered.

Discussion The NNW and NNAW were both shown to have the highest level of fidelity to a “real baby” and had the highest number of effective ventilations delivered. The NNA was disliked in terms of fidelity, and the most difficult to bag due to the difficulty in positioning the airway. This study suggests that NeoNatalie configurations that contain water are the easiest to provide BMV.