What causes your baby's heart to beat fast

baby's heart beat
Most mom's get excited their baby learn new things every single day. But lately they notice that sometimes baby's heart beats much faster although she does not seem tired or restless.

You are worried that your baby will develop heart disease although it doesn’t really run in your family. Why does baby’s heart beat fast?

Age is an important factor that affects heart rate or the number of heart beats per minute. As a person grows older its heart rate decreases thus the heart beats slower. If your baby’s heart rate is within the range of 20 – 40 bpm or beats per minute, then it is in the normal range. The average heart rate of one-year old infant is 120 bpm which is faster than the average heart rate of adults that is 80 bpm with a range of 60 – 100.

The heart beat of one year old baby may seemed to be faster than your heart beat but it has actually decreased already as she reached her first year. The newborns have an average heart rate of 130 bpm.

Now, to answer the question why your baby heart beats faster you have to imagine your baby's small heart. This heart is a vital organ which pumps the blood that circulates her body. As its size is small the blood circulation is much faster, thus the pumping of the heart increases its pace making the heart beats faster.

However it is important to be cautious about this. If heart beat exceed the normal range, you should see the physician as soon as possible. Although there are heart diseases that are hereditary, heart diseases can also develop due to other factors.

There are several types of heart diseases that manifest themselves in babies and young children. One of these is the congenital type, which develops even before the baby is born. These include heart malformations, such as the presence of holes between the chambers, the fusion of chambers, the absence of a chamber or valve, or the meshing of the arteries, which therefore prevent proper functioning of the heart. Congenital heart defects may become apparent shortly after birth, but some are not detected until much later.

Statistics show that eight out of every one thousand babies are afflicted with a congenital heart problem, ranging from mild to severe cases. Many times, the likelihood of having a baby with a congenital heart disease cannot be assessed with any certainty. Although the probability seems to be higher when there is already a case of this problem in the family.

Even healthy parents can have babies with this disorder. Although the assumption is that congenital heart disease is of a genetic origin, research has identified very few genes that are decidedly associated with heart disorders. There is some evidence that this condition may also be caused by drugs taken by the mother or infections contracted while pregnant.There are also heart diseases in children that are not congenital. These are usually those caused by an illness that the baby or child has, such as rheumatic fever.

Rheumatic fever can cause inflammations in the heart that can permanently damage proper heart functioning. Arrhythmia, or the irregular beating of the heart, may be congenital or acquired.Heart abnormalities in the newborn are often associated with cases of blue babies. These can also affect the normal development of the child, who may at times have difficulty in breathing, poor appetite, and slow growth. It is best recommended that you consult a doctor to prevent your child from serious cases.

source: mdinfo

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