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My child's lips or face look blue - what do I do right now?

Emergency numbers: 108 ambulance · 112 national emergency · Poison centre (AIIMS, 24x7): 1800-116-117

Quick answer: Blue or grey lips, tongue or face mean your child's blood is not carrying enough oxygen - call 108 now. Do not wait to see if the colour comes back on its own. While help comes, sit your child upright, loosen tight clothing, keep them calm, and be ready to start CPR if they stop breathing normally.

🟢 GREEN - The one common harmless pattern

  • A newborn's hands and feet can look bluish when cold and turn pink again when warmed - while the lips, tongue and face stay pink and the baby is feeding, moving and sleeping normally. This is common in the first days and settles.
  • Even here: if the blueness reaches the lips, tongue or face, or comes with any breathing or feeding change, treat it as red.

🔴 RED - Call 108 NOW if

  • Lips, tongue, gums or face look blue, purple or grey - at any age. The AAP lists this among its call-an-ambulance signs.
  • Blueness comes with fast, hard or noisy breathing, the chest sucking in between the ribs, or grunting (see our guide on breathing difficulty).
  • Blueness comes with choking - on food, milk or an object (see our choking guide and start choking first aid).
  • Your child is drowsy, limp, or not responding along with the colour change.
  • A baby turns blue during a feed, or has episodes of going blue and going limp.

🆘 SOS - What to do while help comes

  • Call 108 first, then sit your child upright in the position they find easiest - do not lay them flat if they are struggling to breathe.
  • Loosen anything tight around the neck and chest. Keep your child calm - crying and struggling use up oxygen faster.
  • If your child is choking, start choking first aid immediately (back blows and chest thrusts for a baby, abdominal thrusts for an older child - steps in our choking guide).
  • If your child becomes unresponsive and stops breathing normally, start CPR and tell the 108 operator.
  • Note when the colour changed and what your child was doing - feeding, sleeping, playing, crying - the doctors will need it.

❌ DO NOT

  • Do not wait for the colour to correct itself - blue lips mean act now, not watch.
  • Do not put your child flat on their back if they are fighting to breathe - let them stay upright.
  • Do not give food, milk or water to a blue or breathless child.
  • Do not drive yourself if your child is very blue or drowsy - an ambulance team can start oxygen on the way.

What is happening and why

Blood turns from red to blue-purple when it runs short of oxygen, and it shows first where the skin is thin - the lips, tongue and face. In children the common causes are a blocked airway (choking), a struggling lung (severe asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis), or, in newborns, a heart that was formed differently. All of them share one feature: they can worsen within minutes, which is why this colour change is an ambulance call, not a wait-and-see.

Hands and feet are the exception that confuses parents: a newborn's circulation is still maturing, and chilly blue hands and feet with a pink face and a feeding, active baby are usually just that - immature circulation, not low oxygen.

This page is for first-aid education and does not replace examination by a doctor. In an emergency, call 108 or 112.

Sources (last checked 13 Sep 2026)

Approved for publication by Dr Anjana Alekhya, MD (Paediatrics) · Based only on AAP/IAP guidance · Published 13 September 2026