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Quick breathing in babies
Parents wonder: is it dangerous for my baby to breathe quickly? First, it is perfectly normal for babies to breathe faster than adults. In biology, the basic rule is that the smaller a mammal is, the faster it breates, the more often its heart beats.
A newborn breathes 30-50 times per minute, a baby until the first year of life 20-30 times, and that remains the same with toddlers. A teenager over 13 breathes only 12-20 times on average.
Fast breathing in babies beyond this average may indicate serious illnesses and signs of fever, bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
contents
- Cause: Bronchiolitis
- symptoms
- Difficult course?
- Home remedies for bronchiolitis
- Cause: pneumonia
- Breathing while sleeping
- fever
Cause: Bronchiolitis
Bronchioles refers to the ramifications of the bronchi. When these are inflamed and swollen, it is difficult to breathe. It is a common viral infection that affects every third baby in the first year of life. The trigger is usually RS viruses, rhinoviruses or adenoviruses. Such viruses also cause inflammation of the middle ear, pseudo-Krupp and pneumonia. Babies usually contract bronchiolar infections in the cold months - between October and March.
Quick breathing in babies indicates that there is a disease. Image: Jasmin Merdan - fotolia Fast breathing is an alarm signal for bronchiolitis. The symptoms usually correspond to a flu fever with a mild fever and go away after a week. However, if the inflammation progresses, it can endanger the baby's life.
The little ones get too little oxygen and breathe very quickly, they inhale their breath, and yet there is no breath sound at the lungs: there is an acute danger that the little ones will die of oxygen deficiency.
symptoms
The symptoms are a runny nose, a dry cough, a temperature around 39 degrees, lack of appetite. As the symptoms get worse, the coughing gets worse, the children breathe quickly, flatly and with great effort, and the heartbeat increases.
For laymen it is difficult to distinguish a bronchiolitis from a cold. If in doubt, go to your pediatrician or pediatrician. They measure the oxygen in the blood and decide if the baby has to go to the hospital. This is usually not the case. Only very rarely does bronchiolitis become dangerous.
Difficult course?
You can see for yourself if you have severe bronchiolitis: The baby drinks only half of the normal amount of milk in 24 hours; it dehydrates, the diapers stay dry, and mouth like lips dry out. The baby is permanently sleepy and apathetic. The fever rises well over 38 degrees. The baby is breathing very fast.
Breathing problems are the most dangerous symptom of severe bronchiolitis, and you should immediately call the ambulance if the baby is breathing while breathing, breathing sounds like a whistling or scratching, the skin "pulls in" between the ribs, collarbone or rib cage. moaning baby and pulling his abs together, the lips and / or fingernails take on a blue color.
There is a particular risk of a threatening form of bronchiolitis in babies born premature, less than three months old, having problems with the heart and lungs since birth, whose immune system is weakening, and previously artificially receiving oxygen.
Home remedies for bronchiolitis
It is a viral infection, and therefore you can watch the fight of the immune system against the infection, especially until it usually subsides by itself.
Above all, they can alleviate the symptoms, so that the baby suffers less: Give the child as often as possible the breast or water for his food. It should drink in many small sips, because it has difficulty breathing.
Give the baby ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but only if it is older than three months. Both reduce the fever and relieve sore throat, making it easier for the child to eat and drink.
1. Keeping the baby upright when eating makes the stuffy nose less problematic.
2. Raise the head of the baby, because then it gets better air.
3. Bathe the baby in warm water vapor.
Cause: pneumonia
Quick breath of the baby, so 50 times or more per minute can indicate pneumonia. It usually starts with fever, stuffy nose and cough. There are also abdominal and chest pains, vomiting and in bad cases blue fingers and lips.
If you have symptoms of pneumonia, you should quickly consult a doctor. The diagnosed, whether a bacterial infection or a virus is present. Babies with severe shortness of breath must go to the hospital.
Breathing while sleeping
Newborns breathe periodically, and that's completely normal. Sometimes they breathe quickly and deeply, then slowly and shallowly. This breathing pattern changes over the first few months.
For problems speaks when the pulse of the infant is over 100, he breathe after breathing, the nostrils puffing, has a barking cough, and tense his chest like his neck, breathing lasts more than ten seconds.
A clear warning is when the forehead, nose or lips turn bluish-purple. This shows that the blood gets too little oxygen.
fever
In case of fever the babies breathe faster. That's not dramatic, on the contrary. Fever means nothing more than that the immune system fights a pathogen. But breathing fast can also indicate an over-inflation of the lungs.
Fever should always be measured at the bottom of the toddler, because the values are reproduced there more accurately. Picture: ladysuzi - fotolia However, babies very rarely have a fever in the first few months. On the other hand, the temperature rises when the baby is dressed warm.
Increased temperature indicates that the metabolism works, attacking bacteria and viruses. Without further symptoms, fever is a good sign. However, feverish babies become restless, sleepy or screaming.
To 38.5 degrees, a fever is not a problem, at least if it is not accompanied by a basic disease. However, if your body temperature stays the same or even rises again, despite medication to lower your fever, you should go to the doctor with your baby and that's even if the fever lasts more than five days.
For infants under three months, however, if the child has a fever, go to the doctor. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)