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My child has chest pain or a racing heartbeat - is it their heart?

Emergency numbers: 108 ambulance · 112 national emergency · Poison centre (AIIMS, 24x7): 1800-116-117

Quick answer: First, the reassurance the AAP leads with: chest pain in children is rarely due to the heart - most of it comes from the muscles and bones of the chest wall. The patterns that do need urgent evaluation: chest pain during exercise, pain with a racing or irregular heartbeat, pain with fainting or dizziness, or a family history of sudden death at a young age.

🟢 GREEN - Usually harmless when

  • A sharp, pinching pain that lasts seconds, comes and goes, and your child can point to with one finger - often a chest-wall muscle spasm (doctors call one common type precordial catch). It is not dangerous.
  • A sore spot that hurts when you press it or when your child twists or breathes deeply - that is muscle and bone, not heart.
  • Your child is otherwise completely well: playing, running, eating, no breathlessness.
  • These settle on their own; your doctor may suggest a simple pain medicine like ibuprofen for a sore chest wall.

🟡 YELLOW - Call your paediatrician today if

  • Chest pain keeps coming back, even if each episode seems mild.
  • Chest pain with fever, a cough, or after a recent viral illness.
  • A racing heartbeat episode that stopped on its own - worth describing to your doctor even if your child is fine now.
  • Chest pain with frequent anxiety or panic feelings.

🔴 RED - Seek emergency care NOW if

  • Chest pain that starts during exercise or running, or stops your child from continuing play.
  • Chest pain with a racing, pounding or irregular heartbeat, or a racing heart that does not settle.
  • Chest pain with fainting, near-fainting or dizziness (see our fainting guide).
  • Pain with breathlessness, blue lips, sweating, or your child looking seriously unwell.
  • A family history of sudden death at a young age or early heart disease - mention it to the doctors immediately.

🆘 SOS - What to do right now

  • Stop all activity and let your child rest in the position they find comfortable.
  • Count their pulse for a full minute if you can, and note whether it feels regular or jumping - the doctors will ask.
  • Keep your child calm - fear makes both pain and heartbeat feel worse. Breathe slowly with them.
  • If your child is breathless, blue, or has fainted, call 108 rather than driving yourself.
  • Write down what your child was doing when it started, how long it lasted, and exactly where the pain was.

❌ DO NOT

  • Do not let your child push through chest pain to finish a game or a race.
  • Do not give adult heart or blood-pressure medicines - not even a relative's "just in case" tablet.
  • Do not ignore recurring episodes because each one passes - patterns are what doctors diagnose from.
  • Do not panic in front of your child: most childhood chest pain is harmless, and your calm helps their heart rate settle.

What is happening and why

A child's chest hurts for grown-up reasons far less often than parents fear. The chest wall - muscles, cartilage, nerves - is the usual source: pain that is sharp, brief, localized, or reproducible by pressing or twisting almost never comes from the heart. Heart causes do exist in children, and the AAP's guidance points parents to the specific red flags that separate them: pain with exertion, pain with palpitations, pain with fainting, and family history of sudden young death.

A racing heart that starts and stops suddenly can be a rhythm issue worth an ECG - ideally recorded during an episode, which is why noting the time and circumstances helps your doctor far more than a description days later.

This page is for first-aid education and does not replace examination by a doctor. In an emergency, call 108 or 112.

Sources (last checked 13 Sep 2026)

Approved for publication by Dr Anjana Alekhya, MD (Paediatrics) · Based only on AAP/IAP guidance · Published 13 September 2026