Respiratory Distress in Babies and Toddlers

Signs to look out for include:

grunting noise when your child breathes

flaring of the nostrils as your child breathes

the trachea pulling in as your child breathes (look at the soft spot above the breast-bone)

the ribs looking more prominent as your child breathes

the abdomen (tummy) pushing out as your child breathes out

lips looking blue or dusky in color

wheeze (a whistling noise as your child breathes out)

stridor (a whistling noise as your child breathes in)

breathless or sweating with feeding in a baby

When there is difficulty breathing, the pulse and the respiratory rate (breaths per minute) will be higher than normal. To read about normal values for age for pulse and breathing rates, click here.

• viral infections. Viral respiratory tract infections are one of the most frequent causes of difficulty breathing in infants and toddlers.
  Read about Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.
• cough. Cough is one of the commonest reasons children see doctors. Read more on causes of cough and also on how to stop a cough in a child.
• croup. This causes children to have a hoarse croaky voice, a barking cough and stridor. It is usually caused by a virus.
• wheeze - transient or viral induced.This commonly occurs, especially in infants less than 24 months of age. Infants have narrow airways to begin with and they get narrower with a virus, causing obstruction to air flow and wheeze (a whistling noise as your child breathes out) often accompanied by other signs of respiratory distress as well.
• asthma. Commonly, this runs in families. Children get respiratory distress and wheeze. A common trigger for an attack is a viral infection, like a cold. You can also read about medications used in asthma.
• bronchiolitis. This occurs in epidemics in the winter months and affects babies, causing respiratory distress and difficulty feeding.
• pneumonia. If your child is unwell with a fever and has difficulty breathing, she may have pneumonia, which may be bacterial or viral. If your child is very unwell, see your doctor.
• congenital heart disease. If you have a baby who is getting breathless and sweaty with feeds, she may have congenital heart disease. This would be especially true if she occasionally looks blue or dusky around the lips or is not gaining weight. See your doctor.

• your child is struggling hard for breath
• your child is having difficulty feeding because of breathlessness
• your child is going blue or dusky, especially around the lips
• your child is not as responsive as normal
• your child is breathing faster than 60 breaths per minute
• your child has stridor (a whistling noise as your child breathes in) and is struggling for breath
• your child has wheeze (a whistling noise as your child breathes out) and is struggling for breath
• your child is not growing and has signs of difficulty breathing sometimes
• you are really worried about your child's breathing