How to check your child's heart rate

Although an adult's normal heart rate remains relatively consistent with age, a child's heart rate changes significantly between birth and age ten. Checking your child's pulse, along with his respiration and blood pressure, is an integral part of assessing his health.

Things You'll Need

• Time
• Patience

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Instructions

Preparation

• 1

  Your child must be at rest for at least 10 minutes before you check his pulse. This will ensure the accuracy of your test.

• 2

  To check your child's heart rate, place your index and middle finger on the inside of his wrist, at the base of the thumb. Hold firmly until you feel a pulse. You can also check heart rate at the neck by placing your index and middle finger to one side of his Adams apple. Once you find a pulse, count the beats for one full minute.

• 3

  According to the Cleveland Clinic and Medline Plus, the normal resting heart rate range for a newborn infant is 100 to 160 beats per minute. For a child between the ages of 1 to 10 years, it is 70 to 120 beats per minute. For children over 10 years of age, the normal resting heart rate range is 60 to 100 beats per minute.

• 4

  According to Medline Plus, resting heart rates that are consistently too fast or too slow may indicate underlying conditions. Resting heart rates that are hard to feel may indicate blockages in the artery, whereas a very firm pulse may indicate a fever, anxiety or an overactive thyroid. An irregular pulse may indicate an abnormal heart valve or an electrolyte abnormality in the blood.