What is the recommended action for a conscious choking infant?

For a conscious choking infant, the recommended action is to provide a combination of back blows and chest thrusts, which is the method described in the second choice. This approach is specifically tailored for infants because they have different anatomical considerations than adults or older children.

Chest thrusts are applied to an infant in a more gentle manner than abdominal thrusts; this is crucial because infants are delicate, and performing abdominal thrusts can cause injury. The technique involves positioning the infant face down along the responder's forearm while providing back blows to dislodge the object causing the choking. If the object does not dislodge, the caregiver should then turn the infant over to give chest thrusts, which increases the chances of expelling the obstruction safely.

Encouraging an infant to cough may be appropriate in some scenarios but is not as effective as the combination of back blows and chest thrusts when immediate action is necessary to resolve choking. The Heimlich maneuver is also not suitable for infants due to their size and risk of injury from the force of the thrusts. Therefore, the method involving chest thrusts and back blows correctly accounts for the particular needs of choking infants in emergencies.