By Jane Elliott BBC Newsonline Writer

Should you cover a burn or put it under the cold tap? Put a child to sleep on its front or its back? And how would you deal with a nose bleed?

The answer to all these questions depends very much on when you learnt your first aid.

Advice on how to handle medical mishaps is constantly changing. For those who learnt their skills 20 or more years ago there is a world of difference.

This year the government announced that it was looking into making cash available for grandparents who take on the role of carer for their grandchildren, freeing up the parents to go back to work.

I just wanted to know what to do if something went wrong

Grandmother Dalia Relevy

Even before the announcement, spiralling child care costs had already cast many grandparents in the role of carer.

And many like Dalia Relevy, from Middlesex, are starting to learn first aid, or refresh rusty and outmoded techniques.

Life-saving skills

Mrs Relevy is a grandmother of six and although she does not look after the children full-time she is only too aware of the importance of learning life-saving for when they visit her.

"As you get older you get more aware of what can go wrong. When one of my daughters was small she used to have convulsions and the first time that happened I just panicked.

"I wish I had known what to do.

"I have the grandchildren to stay with me sometimes and I just wanted to know what to do if something went wrong.

"My daughter was signing up for a course and she asked me if I was interested in doing it as well, so I did."

And she said many grandparents like her are enrolling on first aid courses run privately or through groups like the St John Ambulance and Red Cross.

"I think it is very important because a lot of grandparents care for their grandchildren and it is important for their own peace of mind to know what to do.

"It is always very useful to have first aid knowledge because something can happen when you least expect it," she said.

Changing advice

Tina Lazarus, who runs the first aid safety courses "Safe and Sound", said she had been getting an increasing number of grandparents signing up for her courses.

"I think the reason these courses are becoming increasingly popular with the older generation is because they are looking after the children more while the parents go back to work."

But she said that medical advice had changed a great deal over the generations.

"They need to know what to do if something goes wrong.

"They are still holding the head back for a nose bleed and covering burns instead of putting it under the cold tap. That could mean the difference between a child needing a skin graft or not.

"And twenty years ago the advice was to put a child to sleep on its front, whereas now it is to put it to sleep on its back.

"Anyone who has not done a first aid course over the last three or four years is out of date and many of these have not learnt first aid for much longer."

She said one person had signed up for the course after seeing a child nearly choke on a sweet at a children's party.

Others had witnessed or heard about other terrifying incidents that demonstrated the gaps in their own first aid skills.