PULSE AND RESPIRATION

The pulse may be watched at the anterior fontanelle or soft spot on top of the head while the child quietly sleeps and should record, at varying ages, as follows:

At birth	130 to 150
First month	120 to 140
One to six months	about 130
Six months to one year	about 120
One to two years	110 to 120
Two to four years	90 to 110

The above table is correct for the inactive normal child. Muscular activity, such as crying and sucking, increases the pulse rate from 10 to 20 beats per minute.

The respiration of the baby often gives us no small amount of real concern at the first. The baby may be limp and breathless for some few moments at birth, and this condition calls for quick action on the part of the nurse and doctor.

The utmost care to avoid the "sucking in" of any liquid or blood during its birth must be exercised, for this often seriously interferes with the breathing. Sometimes this condition is not relieved until a soft rubber catheter is placed in the throat and the mucus is removed by quick suction. When you are reasonably sure that there is no more mucus in the throat, then sudden blowing into the baby's lungs (its lips closely in touch with the lips of the nurse or physician) often starts respiration. Slapping it on the back also helps, while the quick dip into first hot then cold water seldom fails to give relief.

A quiet-sleeping infant breathes as shown below at varying ages. An increase of six to ten breaths per minute may be allowed for the time it is awake or otherwise active.

At birth and for the first two or three weeks	30 to 50
During the rest of the first year	25 to 35
One to two years	about 28
Two to four years	about 25