Fast breathing in baby - can it be normal?

[ivanapoo]

My 2 week old DS breathes regularly at more than 70 breaths per minute, for extended periods of time. I know that occasional bouts iffast breathing is normal but he breathes this fast a lot - I notice as his breathing especially at night is often quite noisy.

Has anyone else had this and was it just a case of having a fast breather? I've mentioned to the midwife and took him to the doctor but they were both quite dismissive of it (he is v mucusy too so doc recommended saline drops & paracetamol). I have also noticed retractions and nasal flaring but it was only very transient/ when he was distressed and crying or had hiccups.

He seems to be feeding well (v often but short feeds) putting on weight and producing a decent amount of wet nappies. He doesn't sleep well at night at all as that's when the mucus seems at its worst. He also has wind or possibly reflux - something that pains him after feeding - but am guessing this is not related.

Am I being neurotic PFB?

Only a small point but when you say mucusy do you mean his nose is snotty? If it is and he's struggling to breathe through his nostrils, you could try using a bogey sucker to clear them out.

In case you don't know what I mean by bogey sucker ... something like this

If you have any cobcerns see a doc - your babe is still v little.

Only observation would be that babies do tend to breathe fast and irregularly when they are in REM sleep - you csn tell by the exorcist flickering eyes under the eyelids!!!

Poor sleep v normal at this age - 2 hour stretches or less normal but crippling for you!

Snottiness can be normal in infants as they have small nasal passages. However, IME bunged-upness can also go hand in hand with reflux or allergies.

Retractions I think need checking out. I would go back to GP.

DS was v much like this & it turned out to be two things. The mucous was as a result was an allergy to cows milk proteins which also caused his reflux. I am dairy & soy free as BFing and it went with in a month. Now I know if I've accidentally eaten dairy or soy as DS gets mucous again.

His fast breathing, which he had from birth, turned out to be from a hole in his heart. They do have very irregular breathing in the beginning though. If it doesn't settled down I would mention it at the 6-8 week check.

Thanks for your replies, we went back to GP (a different one) who just told us it was normal. His breath tonight has got to 100 per minute at times, sure that's not right.

Funnily enough I had a feeling the mucus might be related to cows milk allergy so stopped eating milk/soy yesterday apart from the salt & vinegar crisps I had which it turns out have lactose in, WTF?

Will see if it makes any difference.

Don't worry, lactose is a milk sugar and probably there are only trace amounts of protein in it :)

Glad you went back to the GP. If you're unhappy, keep going back until you're happy. But here's hoping that cutting out milk/ soy does the trick. If you're going to do this long-term you prob need dietician advice on replacing calcium and lost nutrients tho.

Thanks narmada - I'm worried that the GP is going to think I'm just a neurotic mum and be even more dismissive if I go back again. DS has been a bit off his feeds the past 24 hours which is only adding to the worry...

Seriously how is your DS now and how long did they take to diagnose his hole in the heart? That sounds terrifying...

He's absolutely fine thanks, sounds much worse than it is.

His heart mummer was found at 6 weeks. Apparently it's quite common for them to be missed at the initial health check. The pressure in the lungs is so high in the beginning the blood flows over the hole (if its not a significant one) & the mummer can't be heard. Once their breathing settles down a bit, the pressure drops & you can hear the blood flow more clearly and mummers appears.

We were kept in hospital as it was persistently high at birth, 80 ish. After that DS would often be 100 which worried me too. It was always only temporary and would settle down again after 5 mins or so though. By 4-5 weeks it happened less & less.

Just to add lots of skin to skin helps regulate their breathing, plus it's really lovely - I miss those snuggles!