Growth, Development & Age-Specific Vital Signs

Normal vital signs shift significantly across childhood, and a value that would be alarming in an adult can be completely normal in an infant — a heart rate of 130 bpm is expected in a newborn but would signal tachycardia in a school-age child, and a respiratory rate of 40 breaths/min is normal for an infant but abnormal in an adolescent. As a general pattern, heart rate and respiratory rate trend down with age while blood pressure trends up, and a nurse must always interpret a child's vitals against the norms for their specific age group rather than adult reference ranges. Developmental milestones follow a predictable sequence — for example, by 6 months an infant typically sits with support and babbles, by 12 months many take first steps and say a few words, and by 2 years a toddler can typically run and combine two words — and screening against these milestones at routine visits catches delays early, when intervention is most effective.