Is your child's heart rate healthy? How to check and understand your child's pulse

Your child's heart rate (also called pulse) can vary wildly throughout the day. Heart rate is the number of times the heart beats each minute. Daily activities can change how fast or slow the rate fluctuates – from a slow, steady beat while resting or sleeping to a higher rate during exercise.

"There's a wide variation in what a normal heart rate can be depending on the age of the child as well as the biological make-up of that individual child," says Colin Kane, M.D., pediatric cardiologist at Children's Health℠ and Director of the Cardiology Outreach Program. "Even kids who are the same age can have different resting heart rates."