The first time your baby cried was the moment he first started breathing. Ever since that moment, you may have been preoccupied with when he will take his next breath, you wonder whether his breathing rate is normal and you can't help but be concerned about those little squeaks he makes when he's sleeping. No amount of assurance will completely remove your instinct to watch over your infant, but learning about normal infant breathing rates will help you recognize when you should call for help.
Normal Breathing Rate
The normal breathing rate for most infants under age 1 is between 30 and 60 breaths per minute and between 24 and 40 breaths per minute for toddlers between ages 1 and 3, according to the New York State Department of Health. Your baby's breathing rate may be slightly higher if her nose is stuffy or if she has a viral infection, according to BabyZone.com.
Calculating Breathing Rate
To calculate your baby's breathing rate while he's awake, BabyZone.com recommends moving yourself and your baby into a comfortable position where you will easily see or hear his breathing. Also, be sure your baby doesn't have a fever and isn't agitated, because those factors may lead you to believe that his normal breathing rate is higher. Once you are in position, count how many breaths your infant takes within 30 seconds and multiply it by two to estimate how many breaths he would take per minute.
Irregular Breathing
An infant's natural breathing patterns may be somewhat irregular in her first few months of life. If she is excited or recently has been crying, her breathing pattern may even exceed 60 breaths per minute from time to time, according to the Nemours Foundation. You may even notice that she stops breathing for five to 10 seconds at a time, more often during sleep, then resume her regular breathing pattern. This is called periodic breathing and, within a few months, should develop into a more mature breathing pattern with a few intermittent sighs, according to BabyCentre.co.uk.
Breathing Difficulties
Newborns often have stuffy noses for multiple weeks and have chest congestion due to regurgitated milk and saliva which cause a "junky" sound, according to Dr. Sears online. If your newborn infant seems to have labored breathing and wheezing accompanied by a "caving in" chest and his symptoms don't improve with steam, sitting up or clapping of his chest and back, he may have a more serious condition that needs to be addressed. If your older infant has raspy and labored breaths with a hoarse sounding voice and a barking cough, he may have a respiratory illness called croup, according to Dr. Sears online. He may have asthma if he has labored breaths with squeaky or high pitched sounds that occur with exhalation and inhalation. Rapid breathing without a cough or wheezing may indicate pneumonia.
Emergency
If you believe that your infant isn't breathing, try to rouse her to get a response. If she doesn't respond, call 911. Also call for help if your baby's trunk turns blue. If you know how to perform infant CPR, ask another person to call for help and administer CPR until help arrives. If you're alone and you know how to administer CPR, BabyCenter.com recommends administering CPR for two minutes before you call 911.
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