to call an ambulance...

[DijonFijon]

Don't really think I need to call an ambulance but am never sure what to believe when it comes to babies.

I have a 4 week old beautiful boy. Was reading a leaflet given to me by midwife re signs to never ignore.

It says 'call 999 if more than 60 breaths per minute in child under 1 years old'

Timed my boy out of curiosity. He's asleep and has a breathing rate of 79 per minute.

He seems absolutely fine other than a bit colicky. I wouldn't have even thought about it if I hadn't read the leaflet.

I'm waiting for a callback from the health visitor who didn't seem concerned - so I don't actually need to call 999?

[Quartz2208]

I imagine the HV is assuming you have measured wrongly as yes that type of fast breathing should not be ignored - particularly as a sleeping child should have slower breathing that an awake one.

[Arnoldthecat]

Only read the first page..Ambulances are for real life or death situations. Anything else? depending on severity ring 111 , go to GP, if you feel its an a&e thing call a cab or get someone to drive you there..

Ambulances are for facilitating the transportation of life saving skills (paramedic) swiftly to the point of need i.e a HA victim,a road crash etc.

[Tellthemnothing]

Hope baby is ok. Were you somewhat concerned somewhere to make you count his breaths or was it just mere idle curiosity?

[Bluetrews25]

One of the first signs of something going seriously wrong is increased respiratory rate! (Certainly when already in hospital) So really reasonable to keep a close eye on baby currently.
Hope all is ok with OP as it is way after 1100 now and no update.

[DijonFijon]

Thanks all.

He's absolutely fine. Normal heart rate, lungs sound fine, temperature normal and breathing settles to 65 breaths per minute which can be normal apparently (especially as he's been a bit colicky).

Advised to keep an eye. HV called my GP who has said if any problems just turn up/call and they'll squeeze me in (they always do this for babies apparently)

HV said to call her or GP before 111 but of course to call 111 if neither available.

Phew!

[allhdghd]

OP explained why in her previous comments. RTFT

I did.

[DijonFijon]

Was reading a leaflet given to me by midwife re signs to never ignore.

It says 'call 999 if more than 60 breaths per minute in child under 1 years old'

Timed my boy out of curiosity.

^ how you could miss that I don't know...

[allhdghd]

I didn't miss it, I just wondered what made you do it? I understood you were curious, I was asking why.

Much rude.

[WrongSideOfHistory]

In our case I timing breathing because I noticed it was fast.

[DijonFijon]

@allhdghd I timed it out of curiosity.

[AamdC]

Ime Gp,s and even A and E are always happy to see a child that young they dont like to take any chances with such a small baby i hope it all settles down O0 .

[Heartofglass21]

I'd rather send a baby to A&E on the off chance he/she might be really unwell, than tell the parents to watch and wait. I'm a HCP and babies can present as happy and healthy then suddenly they're not.

[LondonLassInTheCountry]

Babies can go down hill very fast.

I certainly would not trust a HV.
Lots of bad experiences

[QueenofmyPrinces]

Since when did HV have stethoscopes and be trained to listen to chests?!

[AamdC]

Health visitors are trained nurses they will no how how to do respiration rates properly , im sure if they were atvsll concerned they would phonr annambulance and advise the Op tp do rhe same .

[DijonFijon]

@QueenofmyPrinces my HV is a trained midwife. Unless she was winging it she seemed to know what she was doing!

[Heartofglass21]

Health Visitors are qualified nurses. I would think they can safely assess the health of a baby.

[Talkingfrog]

Glad baby is OK. In the circumstances, it seems to me getting the health visitor to call was the sensible way forward.

Dd was a few weeks and seemed to stop breathing (for a short while, but was OK when her chest was gently nudged). Both dh and I could see a blue tinge to her lips. I phoned the midwife who was at the surgery anyway and she said to take her down. Surgery is only a mile and a half away, but by the time we got there she was fine. She was checked by a gp too. I think we were more in edge by it because at the time she had a small hole in her heart. Our surgery is great with little ones too, there may be a wait but they will for them in.

Is it any wonder new parents doubt themselves though. People mean well but on this thread the op has been told not to trust health visitor's judgement and that it is not worth bothering to phone 111, which would mean baby needs to go to A&E. On other posts people get told not to call 999 or go to A&E and just wait to see gp (when sometimes A&E, or 998 are justified ) . Seems like you can't win whatever you do as someone will say you were wrong.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

I know they’re nurses. I worked in a HV Team for 3 years alongside seven HV and two of my very good friends are HV. Regardless of their clinical experience they are not covered/allowed to walk around with stethoscopes and listen to baby’s chests. We weren’t even allowed to take temperatures!!

In a non-clinical job role we were told we were not covered to and not allowed to be assessing and diagnosing/clearing unwell babies and that they should always be sent to either the GP or A&E.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

This obviously may be different from County to County so I’m not saying it’s a widespread rule - I was just explaining why I was questioning the stethoscope use I.e based on my own experiences of working with health visitors.

[WidowTwonky]

I’d have gone to gp as first port of call

[Violindilemma]

I had this with my youngest (88 breaths per minute one morning). I had a hospital appointment that afternoon anyway for her so waited for that and got a proper telling off for waiting! She was admitted for a short while under suspicion of sepsis but eventually diagnosed with a hole in her heart. TBH if her respiratory rate is above 60 still I would ring your GP to see if you can bring her down this afternoon

[StressedToTheMaxx]

My ds had a very fast breathing rate due to troat problems.
My gp also said other symptoms of struggling is the baby sucking in their ribs to far- hard to explain but it is easy to spot when you see it happen.
And also sucking in between their collar bond at the bottom of there throat.

It's always best to get them checked.
So glad everything is okay. But like someone else said baby's can change so fast.

[uppi]

I had this with my first and he was also diagnosed with a hole in his heart at 5 weeks. Not a serious one thankfully, never needed anything other than monitoring.

I would see the gp so they can have a listen. Murmurs don't always show up at the neonatal check as the pressure is too high in the lungs at birth.

[3in4years]

Is he ok? I had this with my 11 day old. Called 111 who sent an ambulance. They declared her ok but said go to A&E if you want to be sure. We did. She was taken to resuscitation, put on oxygen and a drip, and was monitored for 24 hours during which time she slept and didn't move at all. It was touch and go. Luckily she was ok in the end but don't take chances with newborns please.