Dr. Cheng Demonstrates Infant First Aid Knowledge
“What should you do if a baby chokes on milk? How to perform first aid in a critical moment?” On camera, Dr. Cheng Jiwen from the Children’s Healthcare Department of Xiangyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital holds an infant model, meticulously demonstrating the infant version of the Heimlich maneuver, with clear explanations and standard movements. This educational short video garnered nearly 4 million views on Douyin, with tens of thousands of parents commenting “learned it.”
Cheng Jiwen joined the Children’s Healthcare Department of Xiangyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital in 2016, initially responsible for writing popular science articles. As public reading habits shifted towards mobile devices, he keenly realized that the format of science communication needed to keep pace with the times. In August 2024, he decided to “go online” and start creating educational short videos.
For his first shoot, Cheng sat stiffly with a rigid expression, spending an entire day to edit one satisfactory video. For the first month or so, he persisted with daily updates, but video view counts remained stuck in the double digits, leading him to consider giving up. “But then I thought about the original intention: to help more parents master scientific parenting knowledge. Even if only one person benefits, it’s worth persevering,” Cheng Jiwen said.
A turning point quietly arrived three months later. A short video on the “infant version of the Heimlich maneuver” unexpectedly went viral, surpassing a million views and receiving over 15,000 likes. Since then, focusing on parenting pain points, his “children’s first aid knowledge” videos have garnered nearly ten million views. His follower count jumped from a few hundred to tens of thousands, with many parents from other cities seeking consultations after seeing his videos.
Cheng Jiwen said his father is a community doctor in Shengkang Town, Gucheng County. “Word of mouth spread in the town, and many people sought him out.” His father’s approach to practicing medicine deeply influenced him: “To be a doctor, you first need to make people trust you, then you can help them better.”
Cheng Jiwen explained that the characteristic of the Children’s Healthcare Department is “preventive treatment.” He hopes that through short videos, he can raise parents’ awareness of early childhood development to avoid growth abnormalities caused by neglecting intervention.
Dedication to professionalism is the real “traffic secret.” Over the past year, Cheng has focused on parenting pain points and social hot topics, using AI to assist in expanding directions, and repeatedly refining content combined with professional knowledge. He uses his rest time to plan, shoot, and edit, always adhering to the original intention of “disseminating scientific knowledge,” not pursuing monetization of traffic.
To date, Cheng Jiwen has released 370 short videos, with total views exceeding ten million, cumulatively helping hundreds of parents of sick children from inside and outside the province, and even receiving inquiries from netizens abroad. “The most gratifying thing is that knowledge can truly help children.”
