Warning Signs of Difficult Breathing

If your child has any of the symptoms below, follow your emergency medicine plan. If these symptoms are not relieved within 30 minutes or your child's symptoms worsens take your child to the hospital.

  • Skin in chest is pulling in with each breath. (you may see this between and below the ribs, at the throat or at the shoulder blades).
  • Nose flares with each breath.
  • Cannot finish sentence without extra breath.
  • Hunching his/her shoulders upward with each breath.
  • Infant is unable to nurse or take a bottle.
  • Breathing is fast or shallow.
  • Your child appears unusually scared due to his/her difficulty breathing.

If your child has any of the symptoms below call 911.

  • Lips or nail beds are gray or blue.
  • Difficult to walk or talk.
  • Cannot stop coughing.
  • Extreme difficulty breathing.