If you look at a child and do not understand the details, you might think that this tiny creature is no different from an adult: it breathes, looks, listens, and so on. But in reality, everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Any medical specialist understands and will tell you that a newborn has significant differences from an adult and in a given situation they need to be taken into account.

Each baby has its own physiological characteristics that must be taken into account during treatment and prevention. It is very important that parents have at least a little knowledge about the child’s body. How properly the baby will be cared for will depend on this.

Particular attention should be paid to the respiratory organs, because everyone knows: without breathing a person cannot live for more than six minutes. The same applies to a newborn child. The respiratory system is responsible for saturating the body with oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, which harms our organs.

The functioning of the respiratory system in a newborn baby

The work of the human respiratory system can be divided into several stages.

1. First stage- this is the passage of air through the upper respiratory tract, namely the nasopharynx, trachea, bronchi). Through them, air enters the lungs, into the alveoli, where the process of gas exchange directly occurs. The blood is saturated with oxygen and carries it to all cells of the body, and gives off carbon dioxide, which goes outside.


2. Second stage- This is the process of gas exchange itself. In the blood vessels, which are found in large quantities in our body, there is very little oxygen and a lot of carbon dioxide. After the gas exchange process is over, the situation will be somewhat different: now there will be a sufficient amount of oxygen in the blood for the full functioning of the body.

In newborn children, the respiratory system performs the same functions as in an adult. At the same time, she has some characteristics and a predisposition to many diseases that can easily begin to develop at such an early age.

What are the features of the respiratory system of a newborn baby?

In young children, the mucous membranes have much more secretion than is produced in an adult. This can cause swelling, which is why many newborn babies have difficulty breathing. If the baby’s breathing is not all right, this will affect the baby’s lifestyle. There will be big problems with adequate feeding, and sleep will be too restless. This is due to the fact that a child with nasal congestion cannot breathe independently through his mouth, as adults do.

Particular attention should be paid to the child's larynx. If your baby is overweight, there is a high risk of edema. Formula-fed newborns are also at risk. If a child has swelling of the larynx, then you need to immediately call an ambulance, otherwise everything can end very sadly.

Anatomical features include narrow bronchi and trachea. If a child begins to develop an inflammatory process in this area, then immediate treatment must also be started. Otherwise, the child will constantly cry and, in addition to breathing problems, he may experience severe pain.

You also need to understand that any disease, even a cold, can appear on the baby’s ears and cause inflammation of the middle ear or otitis media. This turn of events occurs due to the fact that the Eustachian tube, which connects the nasopharynx and middle ear, has a large lumen, but at the same time its length is much shorter than that of an adult.

Some babies are born with a problem such as shortness of breath. In some cases, this phenomenon may appear somewhat later (1-2 months after birth). However, this disease cannot be ignored; it is important to determine the factors influencing the appearance of such a pathology.

Many different factors can cause respiratory syndrome in a newborn. It often occurs in premature babies or those who have problems with immune function. Accordingly, during the newborn period, the reasons that caused shortness of breath in a baby may be:

Treatment of shortness of breath in a newborn should begin by determining the cause.

• ARVI and other respiratory diseases. This usually happens with nasal congestion, cough, and sore throat. All this does not allow the child to breathe normally. Elevated temperature can similarly cause shortness of breath in a newborn, accompanying a cold;
• the influence of viruses on the infant’s still immature body. If they penetrate the internal organs, including the lungs, this is accompanied by a lack of oxygen, so an additional load falls on the lungs;
• bronchial asthma and allergic reactions can also cause difficulty breathing in a child under one year old. These phenomena must be diagnosed;
• immaturity of the cardiovascular system (heart defects and other congenital problems);
• shortness of breath in a newborn during feeding may be associated with nasal congestion or the so-called physiological runny nose;
• shortness of breath in a newborn after cesarean section indicates developing pneumonia of the lungs, as well as the fact that meconium has entered the amniotic fluid;
• a foreign body has entered the respiratory tract, which is accompanied by specific wheezing.

Children say! Andreika says:
- Mom, I don’t want you to go to your training, but when I grow up, then you will mind your own business.

Having determined the source that caused shortness of breath in a newborn, it is necessary to check all the accompanying signs.

How to recognize shortness of breath in a newborn: symptoms

Dyspnea in newborns is easily determined at home - it is frequent or difficult breathing. However, in order to accurately understand and identify breathing problems in a child, you should know the rate of inhalation and exhalation for each age.

To check for wheezing in newborns, place your baby on a flat surface and place a warm hand on his chest.

For babies from 0 to 6 months, the number of inhalations and exhalations per minute should be no more than 60 times, and infants older than six months and up to a year should normally take 50 inhalations and exhalations per minute. Using these indicators, you can calculate whether the newborn is suffering from shortness of breath. To determine, you need to place your palm on the baby's chest, prepare a stopwatch and note the time, while simultaneously counting the number of breaths.

This video explains why shortness of breath occurs in a newborn.

Pay attention! It is necessary to check for shortness of breath in a newborn only when the child is sleeping. It is best to do this with a warm hand, otherwise the baby may be disturbed, and then the breathing rhythm will be disrupted.

Parents can also suspect shortness of breath in a newborn based on the following signs:

• noticeable difficulty or rapid breathing;
• the baby tries to gasp for air;
• attacks of suffocation and causeless cough may occur;
• sometimes there is wheezing in the throat (especially if the baby has choked on a foreign body);
• the baby may be frightened.

Once they are convinced that their newborn is developing shortness of breath, parents should immediately take him to specialists for assistance.

You can check shortness of breath in newborns at home, just listen to their breathing

Treatment of shortness of breath in a newborn

Having called a doctor to your home if your child has symptoms of difficulty breathing, you need to take some measures to alleviate the baby’s condition. Be sure to open the window in the room where the child is (access to fresh air is necessary), remove clothes that restrict movement from the baby, and wash with cool water. To make the baby less nervous and thereby not provoke attacks of rapid breathing, you should try to calm him down.

Children say! Vika (4.5 years):
- Daddy, sit down to eat, please, my dear little man!!!
And to me:
- Mom, this is how you should talk when you get married.

After the doctor arrives, the cause of shortness of breath in the newborn is determined and treatment is prescribed. In a hospital setting, the baby must undergo a full diagnosis in order to eliminate the consequences of an unpleasant phenomenon.

When there is an infectious effect on the baby’s body, difficulty breathing is usually treated with antibiotics. When observing a complication such as swelling of the tissues of the respiratory system, doctors prescribe steroid drugs (Albuterol) to the child. Ipratropium Bromide in the form of an inhaler may be used to reduce mucus production in the system.

Before starting treatment for shortness of breath in newborns, it is necessary to check the organs of the respiratory system with an ultrasound.

If shortness of breath in a newborn is associated with underdeveloped lungs (intrauterine pneumonia) or the baby was born premature, breathing support with a special apparatus may be required. As soon as the lungs begin to function fully, difficulty breathing will disappear. It is not recommended to use folk remedies in such situations, since immediate assistance is important, and this can only be achieved with the use of medications.

Pay attention! When a newborn has shortness of breath, the baby’s body needs a large amount of oxygen. Depending on the cause of difficulty breathing, different means can be used for this: a mask, breathing tubes, special devices.

Risk of complications due to shortness of breath in infants

A very dangerous consequence that can occur when a newborn is short of breath is respiratory arrest. This often occurs in the case of swelling of the tissues of the respiratory system, as well as during intense work of the lungs for several hours.

Shortness of breath in newborns can cause a complication such as asphyxia.

Dyspnea in newborns can be an accompaniment, but with proper treatment, the disease disappears without a trace, of course, if the cause is not a congenital pathology.

Be sure to watch the video about shortness of breath in a newborn and what factors may cause it.

It only takes a few seconds for a newborn to “emerge” from the aquatic environment, readjust itself and begin to breathe air. A short cry - the baby took air into his chest - and now he is breathing on his own, switching to pulmonary breathing. But it may take another couple of weeks until the baby fully adapts to the new conditions. During this period, he experiences some alarming symptoms for inexperienced parents, such as sudden breathing pauses, blue lips, rapid pulse, and some strange heart tones. As a rule, this is not a cause for serious concern: frightening phenomena are explained by the fact that the baby’s blood circulation must adapt to completely different conditions of “extrauterine” life.
IN first weeks of life newborn completely occupied with adapting to new living conditions. He has not yet understood how day differs from night. Of the 24 hours that make up a day, he can sleep a total of 18 to 20 hours. Sleep is a baby’s means of “self-defense.” In order not to be overloaded by numerous environmental factors, his system simply turns off.

When the baby is looking for the nipple of the mother's breast, you just need to touch his cheek or touch his lips with your finger, and he begins to make sucking movements. These are manifestations of an innate reflex. The grasping reflex fades away after three to four months. Other reflexes remain for life: blinking, breathing, swallowing, coughing, sneezing.

The baby cannot yet change its position on its own. Just lying on his stomach, he tries to overcome the powerful force of gravity: at least for a couple of seconds, but raise his head.

A newborn can see, hear, feel, and smell, although his senses do not work the same as those of an adult. A baby can see very clearly by about six months. At this age, it is best for him to view objects from a distance of twenty-five centimeters. But now the child is able to identify people’s voices and distinguish them from other sources of noise. When a baby hears the familiar voice of his mother or father, he begins to show increased attention and is not interested in other acoustic noises.

• Feeding on demand is the most appropriate during this period. The baby wakes up every two to three hours, and sometimes even more often.
• In the first weeks, try to be more discreet with the pacifier. This will benefit breastfeeding. Help the child, bring his hand to his mouth, let him suck his fist better - this is a wonderful way of comforting him.
• You don't have to tiptoe around all the time. This is unusual for both you and the baby, making it more difficult for you to fall asleep and stay asleep.
• Baby baths are too big for the baby at first. Be careful! It is better to bathe in a round basin. To prevent your baby from slipping, place a soft towel on the bottom.

A newborn's heart beats quickly, making 110-150 beats per minute (in adults, 70-80 beats are considered normal). It beats at such a speed because it is small and, accordingly, the volume of blood it pumps in the body is still small. Since the heart beats quickly, the baby breathes quickly.

In the first weeks of life, a baby can take up to 50 breaths per minute, which are also irregular and noisy. Some also sigh heavily, snore, and sniffle loudly. And only in the deep sleep phase do they breathe silently, which again worries parents very much. Adapting to a new environment is hard work for a baby, so short pauses in the breathing process are normal. Sometimes a whole second passes - an eternity! - while the baby takes his next breath.

You need to sound the alarm if the child suddenly turns pale or blue during this breathing pause - then urgent medical intervention is necessary.

When a baby cries loudly, he can also turn blue, because when he screams, the breathing rhythm is disrupted, and the waste blood, not sufficiently enriched with oxygen, returns to the circulatory system. As soon as the child is picked up, held in his arms and calmed down, the skin returns to its normal pink color.

Yellowing of the skin in a newborn is also associated with the restructuring of the body. Since the baby is already breathing on his own, he now needs fewer red blood cells than during his stay in the mother’s womb. Their excess is processed in the liver, resulting in the formation of bilirubin, which turns the skin yellow. Three quarters of newborns have jaundice, but after a few days there is no trace of it.

There is another important problem - heat conservation: the child must constantly maintain a slightly elevated temperature in his body - from 37 to 37.5? C. Hypothermia is dangerous for him, because in this case the body requires more oxygen to retain heat. In this situation, it is useful to put a hat on the newborn; it protects him well, because the heat mainly goes “through the head.” Cold hands or feet are not yet an indication that the baby is hypothermic. Clothes for newborns should not be too warm and irritating. In the first days, it will be enough to swaddle the baby and you should not immediately dress him in rompers and overalls. It is better to touch the skin on the back and tummy; it should be pleasantly warm, but not sweaty - this symptom shows that the baby is feeling well.

For unstable blood circulation, a cold bed is also a big burden. Cold means extra work for the heart - it needs to make more efforts to replenish the missing heat. Therefore, before putting your baby in the crib, be sure to warm the bed, for example, by placing a heating pad or a bottle of hot water in it (the bottle should then be removed or placed so that the baby cannot accidentally touch it).

The newborn period is a particularly difficult time for a child. This is a period of adaptation to environmental conditions - existence outside the womb. The functions of all organs and systems are being restructured: respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, excretory, immune, etc. Many problems and many questions may arise for mom and dad during this difficult period. Therefore, the baby must be under constant medical supervision - starting from the maternity hospital, and then in the clinic at the place of residence. The child undergoes the first examination immediately after birth. Before he was even born, the first marks were already being put. Doctors evaluate the baby's health by testing him using the Apgar score. The heartbeat, breathing, skin color, muscle tension are monitored, and innate reflexes are checked. Most kids get seven or eight points. They take a closer look at the results of this “exam” when some delay in the child’s development appears.

The doctor listens to his heart, lungs, feels his head, tummy, limbs; checks sucking, grasping, plantar and other important functions characteristic of a newborn. In the maternity hospital, the child will receive the first vaccinations: the first hepatitis B vaccination is carried out within 24 hours; On the third to seventh day of life, a healthy newborn is vaccinated against tuberculosis (BCG).

Then, on the first or second day, a doctor from the children's clinic comes to your home. He gets to know the mother, the living conditions of the family, and finds out the peculiarities of the course of pregnancy and childbirth. After a detailed interview and a thorough examination of the child, the doctor should tell the mother about the features of the adaptation period: explain why the baby loses weight in the first days, what a sexual crisis is in girls and boys (swelling of the mammary glands, bleeding in girls and swelling of the scrotum in boys) . The doctor and local nurse teach the mother to treat the umbilical wound with brilliant green or a solution of potassium permanganate until complete healing. This is important because the umbilical wound can become an open door for infection. Advice on feeding, bathing and caring for a newborn is also given.

During the first month of life, the doctor visits the child three times. When the baby is one month old, mother and child are invited to the children's clinic for an appointment. Weighing is carried out, height and chest and head circumference are measured. The doctor checks whether the child is developing properly, gives nutritional recommendations, and explains the benefits of breastfeeding. Children are often prescribed vitamin D to prevent rickets. At one month of age, the child receives a second vaccination against hepatitis B. In addition, the mother and baby should have an appointment with specialists: a neurologist, an ophthalmologist, or an orthopedist.

Early diagnosis of abnormalities in the child’s health helps timely and successful treatment.

Newborn babies spend a long time adapting to life outside their mother’s tummy. Their organs and systems are not fully developed and continue to form, so in some cases parents notice changes in the condition of their babies and begin to panic. In particular, infants' breathing can cause anxiety. Mothers notice that it is radically different from their own breath and suspect something is wrong. However, you shouldn’t immediately sound the alarm; first, you should figure out why babies breathe differently than we do.

Features of the respiratory system

Infants do not know how to fully control even their innate instincts, because they are just beginning to master them. In addition, the organs are not fully formed and continue to develop. This is also reflected in breathing. The newborn can take very deep breaths - as if the child is trying to capture as much oxygen as possible. This happens because the babies’ respiratory organs are not yet fully developed. They have the following features:

• the upper and lower airways are too small, which prevents deep breathing;
• narrow nasal passages and nasopharynx;
• narrow lumen of the larynx.

All these features make babies vulnerable to even such a small thing as household dust. Microscopic particles can settle on the mucous membranes, causing swelling and hypersecretion, which leads to disruption of normal breathing.

Babies cannot breathe fully, but parental help will quickly improve this process. The best prevention against diseases and a means to stabilize breathing will be massage and gymnastics.

How do babies breathe?

If a newborn breathes frequently during sleep, and no symptoms of pathology appear, this is the absolute norm. This happens due to the physiological immaturity of the upper and lower respiratory tract. The baby’s body must be fully saturated with oxygen, but the baby cannot take a deep breath. Rapid breathing is a compensatory function that newborns use. Due to the fact that the air supply has not yet been fully adjusted, small children may breathe unevenly.

The breathing rate is also different from that of an adult. Most often, babies take two or three short breaths, and then one long one. This process is normal for children from birth to one year; over time, the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation will become more even.

The absence of signs such as wheezing, an open mouth, muscle tension and moaning during sleep is a sign of a completely normal baby.

Finding out your breathing rate

A newborn can breathe quite frequently when calm. It is difficult for parents to determine whether such a condition is within the normal range or beyond it. To confirm or refute irregularities in the child’s breathing rate, it must be measured. This is done using a phonendoscope. Its membrane is preheated with your hands and applied to the baby’s chest. If you don’t have a special device, you can simply put your hand on the baby’s chest and monitor the number of times it rises for one minute.

In pediatrics, there are regulated respiratory rate indicators for children of different ages:

• from birth to two weeks of age - the norm is 40-60 breaths per 1 minute;
• at the age of two weeks to three months, the norm is 40-45 breaths;
• from four to six months - 35-40 breaths;
• from seven months to one year - 30-36 breaths.

If the indicators are within the normal range, the child has no signs of infectious or inflammatory diseases, he is steadily gaining weight, you don’t have to worry about his breathing. Over time, all organs and systems begin to function correctly, breathing becomes uniform and less frequent.

Learning to determine type

Not only the frequency of inhalation and exhalation can become an indicator of the baby’s health, but also the type of breathing itself. It determines how well the lungs and upper respiratory tract will be ventilated, what the quality of gas exchange in the tissues will be, and how quickly the brain cells will be saturated with oxygen.

To find out your child's breathing type, just look at which parts of his body are movable during inhalations and exhalations.

In total, it is customary to distinguish three main types:

• The first is the chest, we can talk about it if, when inhaling air, the baby’s chest actively works, it rises and falls rhythmically. This type results in insufficient ventilation of the lower part of the lungs.
• If movement of the abdominal wall and diaphragm is observed, then the child has abdominal breathing. When it occurs, the upper respiratory organs experience a lack of oxygen.
• If both the diaphragm and the chest work simultaneously, this indicates mixed breathing. This type is the most useful and allows you to completely saturate the body with oxygen.

Learning to recognize pathologies

A baby's rapid breathing during sleep can be a sign of many serious pathologies, so it is important that parents know how to correctly recognize them. If you notice that your baby has deviations from the norm, you should closely monitor him. The problem may indicate the following pathologies:

Normal for kids

The breathing of newborn babies can become more frequent for completely harmless reasons. If you do not see any changes in the child’s condition, then there is no reason to panic. Sometimes a disruption in the rhythm of breathing can occur due to the baby choking on something. Also, mothers can often hear bubbling in the baby’s throat, this happens if he does not have time to swallow saliva. This condition resolves over time and should not cause undue concern.

Temporary cessation of breathing also often occurs in newborns. If it does not exceed 10 seconds, then the baby’s condition is normal. The disorder goes away on its own when the baby reaches six months of age.

Also, the breathing rate can be influenced by the environment; try installing a humidifier in the nursery and maintaining the humidity at 60-70%, and the air temperature at 18-21 ° C, this will significantly reduce the load on the child’s respiratory system and contribute to the normal saturation of the body with oxygen.

In conclusion

The infant's respiratory system is an imperfect and very vulnerable mechanism that cannot function normally. Rapid breathing during sleep is normal for newborns and should not cause concern to parents. However, if the baby’s condition worsens sharply and other symptoms appear, you should consult a doctor.

It is important to notice disorders in time, since in children they progress very quickly. Keep an eye on your children and seek professional help in a timely manner.

A newborn breathes frequently - this is due to the anatomy and physiology of the baby. The breathing rate of a healthy child is much higher than that of adults, and this is normal. But there are a number of signs that may indicate that in certain cases this is a sign of the disease.

Peculiarities of infant breathing

In the first days, the newborn’s body adapts to new living conditions, incl. to independent breathing. The baby’s entire body is still imperfect; it is far from physiological and anatomical maturity. Features of the respiratory system of a newborn are:

• very short nasal passages and nasopharynx compared to adults;
• narrow air passages;
• undeveloped weak respiratory muscles;
• insufficient chest volume.

To provide the body with a sufficient amount of oxygen, adults take rarer and deeper breaths, but a baby, due to an insufficiently developed respiratory system, cannot inhale deeply, so a newborn child breathes often to inhale the amount of oxygen necessary for normal life.

If an adult makes a maximum of 20 breathing movements per minute, then a baby up to one month of age should make up to 60 such movements during the same time to ensure good ventilation of the lungs.

In addition to frequency, the breathing of a newborn is characterized by:

• curtness;
• shortness of breath;
• irregularity;
• superficiality;
• tension.

A newborn may experience difficulty breathing through the nose with the slightest cold: the body instantly turns on a defense mechanism, and the nasal mucosa swells. Due to hyperemia, the already narrow lumen of the nasal passages narrows even more. These changes can make breastfeeding difficult because the baby must release the breast to breathe through the mouth.

Increased secretion of nasal mucus can also be caused by ordinary dust particles, pollen and other small foreign particles inhaled with air. In this case, the protective reaction is sneezing. To prevent your baby from experiencing difficulties, you need to regularly clean his nose with a cotton swab or other gentle methods.

Pace

In the first days of life, a newborn breathes very unevenly; he takes one deep (relatively) breath for every two or three frequent ones. This pace will last the baby up to 3-4 months. As they grow, the pace will gradually even out, and by the age of one year the baby is already breathing smoothly, rhythmically, evenly and without interruption. The development of rhythmic breathing may be slightly delayed in children born prematurely or with low birth weight.

Newborns may hold their breath while sleeping. This condition should be distinguished from apnea syndrome (temporary stoppage of breathing). The delay can last up to 10 seconds, after which everything is restored. If there are no breathing movements for more than 10 seconds and the chest remains in a sunken state, the newborn should be awakened and raised, then placed on its side and turned over every hour.

If this condition occurs frequently, you should consult a doctor. Apnea most often occurs in premature and weak infants.

The organs involved in the respiratory process are fully formed in children by the age of 6-7 years.

Frequency

The frequency is calculated by the number of respiratory movements (inhalation and exhalation) produced by the newborn at rest. The easiest way to count inhalations and exhalations is by the movement of your chest and tummy. During the waking period, the baby breathes more often: it is noted that the newborn often breathes like a dog in those moments when he experiences positive emotions (play, affection, new impressions, sensations, etc.).

Respiratory frequency (RR) is the value necessary to determine the type, depth and rhythm. By calculating this value, the pediatrician can analyze the functioning of the respiratory organs, chest and abdominal wall, as well as the cardiovascular system. For parents, the data given in the table (this is the norm for the corresponding ages) must be compared with their own calculations: deviations from the indicated values ​​may indicate the development of diseases or pathological processes.

Breathing increases significantly in cases where the newborn is very hot (heated room, wrapped up too warmly) or the room where he sleeps is poorly ventilated. When overheated, the baby may breathe frequently like a dog, with his mouth open, which may also indicate that the air in the room is dry.

Breathing type

There are three types of breathing:

• chest;
• abdominal;
• mixed.

In the chest type, air enters the lungs due to the expansion of the chest, while in the abdominal type, its volume increases due to the movement of the diaphragm. In both cases, there is a risk of developing congestion in the upper (abdominal type) or lower (thoracic) parts of the lungs due to insufficient pulmonary ventilation.

Mixed breathing is optimal for a child, when both the abdominal wall and the chest participate in the respiratory movements. At the same time, all lobes of the lung are evenly filled and well ventilated.

Norm

Rapid breathing in newborns is called tachypnea. Smooth and clean breathing is considered normal. Cleanliness means the absence of:

• wheezing;
• hissing;
• strained whistling sounds when breathing through the nose.

Normally, a newborn breathes through his nose, while his mouth is closed, although in the very first days nasal breathing may alternate with mouth breathing. If later the child begins to breathe through the mouth, this means that the nasal passages are blocked either due to a narrowing of the lumen due to swelling of the mucous membrane, or due to a foreign body entering the nose.

Warning signs include moaning, flaring of the nose, changes in complexion, and heavy and loud breathing. But the sounds that periodically accompany a child’s sleep (gurgling, snoring, grunting, etc.) should not frighten parents: this is a normal phenomenon caused by the still imperfect structure of the respiratory tract. By the age of one and a half years, children usually outgrow this. If, after one and a half years, the child continues to make sounds at night, this is a sign of abnormalities or diseases of the respiratory or cardiovascular system.

Causes and consequences

The baby often breathes in his sleep and while awake; this functional feature of his body is due to the imperfection of systems and organs. This is a normal phenomenon, and the norm corresponds to a certain number (frequency) of respiratory movements per minute for each age. As the child grows, the volume of the lungs will increase, and for sufficient ventilation of this organ, fewer breathing movements will be sufficient.

If a newborn breathes quickly and heavily, breathing is accompanied by strange sounds and movements (he may twitch, throw back his head, take unnatural positions), this indicates the development of the disease. In this case, you should immediately seek medical help.

Diseases that cause rapid breathing

If the child is breathing too quickly, and along with this there are other alarming signs, this indicates that the baby is sick.

Rapid breathing can be caused by:

• colds;
• rhinitis, incl. allergic;
• bronchitis;
• bronchial asthma;
• pneumonia;
• tuberculosis.

Uneven breathing accompanies hysterical and stressful conditions (severe fear, unusual surroundings, strangers, etc.). In diseases of the cardiovascular system, the respiratory rate is also impaired.

Symptoms

In acute respiratory diseases, rapid breathing is accompanied by hoarseness, runny nose, the temperature rises to low-grade, the newborn is weak and lethargic. Later a cough appears and the voice becomes hoarse. An untreated cold can develop into bronchitis or pneumonia.

1. A harbinger of an asthma attack is increased breathing during sleep.
2. Rhinitis, which appears without other cold symptoms, may be an allergic reaction, in severe cases with the addition of an asthmatic component. At the same time, the baby begins to sigh frequently and strangely; he lacks oxygen.
3. The main symptom of bronchitis is a cough; when the disease is chronic, it is persistent (up to 2 months), with copious sputum upon waking. The child is breathing loudly and heavily.
4. Pneumonia is dangerous for newborns because its symptoms are not clearly expressed: the temperature rises slightly, the child coughs, breathes unevenly, and has difficulty breathing.
5. With tuberculosis, the newborn is weakened, the temperature may not rise or rise slightly. Noisy breathing is accompanied by constant coughing.
6. Cardiovascular diseases are characterized by rapid breathing during sleep, and the newborn suffers from shortness of breath. In severe cases, a so-called cardiac cough develops; lips, nails, and wings of the nose become bluish.

If a child has a hysterical attack or a stress reaction, breathing becomes rapid, uneven, may freeze, and be accompanied by strange sounds.

How to teach a child to breathe correctly - methods

You can teach a child to breathe correctly only when he grows up a little and will not unconsciously imitate, but meaningfully repeat someone else’s actions. With a newborn baby, you can do strengthening gymnastics, which promotes the development of the muscular system and stimulates lung ventilation.

Mom can do this exercise to improve breathing on her own, or maybe with someone’s help. The newborn should be placed on his back, his arms should be spread to the sides, then brought to the chest. Alternate these movements with bending and straightening your legs, pressing your knees to your stomach. This exercise is more effective if done with four hands: the arms are spread apart, at this time the knees are brought to the stomach, after which the legs are lowered, and the arms are brought to the chest at this time.

When your child gets a little older, you can practice breathing yoga with him. Even one-year-old babies can lie on their tummy, resting on their bent arms, at the command of an adult, rise on their elbows, inhale deeply, and then exhale sharply when mom or dad counts to three. An exercise that stimulates lung ventilation: invite the child to imagine that he is smelling a flower, and after a deep breath, exhale strongly.

To make the exercises more interesting, you can cut out butterflies from colored paper, place them on the table and let the child blow so that the butterfly flies as far as possible.

Pediatricians' opinion

A newborn baby must breathe frequently, and adults must create all the conditions for healthy breathing.

The breathing rate of a newborn is affected not only by the anatomical and physiological imperfection of its functional systems. Other factors can affect respiratory activity:

• overheating of the baby;
• insufficient oxygen content in the room;
• dry air;
• tight, uncomfortable clothes;
• uncomfortable bed.

Temperature conditions of 18-22°C and humidity of about 50% are considered comfortable for a newborn. The room should be well ventilated, there should be no foreign strong odors (perfume, tobacco, etc.). Little ones' clothes should be soft and spacious, made from natural materials. The bed should not be too soft, and the correct way to sleep is on your side.

If your newborn begins to have breathing problems, he breathes too quickly and heavily, or long periods of breath holding have developed, you should contact your pediatrician.

Frequent breathing of newborns is a physiologically normal phenomenon caused by imperfections in the respiratory tract. As you grow, your breathing rate decreases and your breaths become deeper. Deviations (fast, heavy and loud breathing) can be symptoms of diseases; if they appear, you must consult a doctor.