Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Instructions

Your healthcare provider has asked you to check your child’s blood pressure at home. They will tell you how often to check your child’s blood pressure and how to record it. Please follow the steps below.

Patient instructions:

Choose a home blood pressure monitor

• Purchase a monitor that works on the upper arm. Wrist and finger monitors are less accurate.

• Choose a monitor that has been proven to provide accurate readings. Check the websites below for lists of accurate blood pressure monitors.

  • Validate BP

  • Stride BP

• If your child is too young or too small for the listed monitors, your healthcare provider will suggest the best monitor for your child.

• Make sure the cuff fits. Use the cuff size your healthcare provider recommended for your child. Only use the cuff designed for your specific monitor.

Prepare to take the blood pressure.

• For 30 minutes before taking blood pressure, your child should avoid:

  • Exercise

  • Stimulant medicines

  • Caffeine

• Take your child’s blood pressure:

  • While they are calm, quiet, and relaxed.

  • In a comfortable environment.

  • At about the same time each day.

  • On the same arm each time.

Position your child correctly.

• Use a chair that supports your child’s back, with feet flat on the floor and legs uncrossed.

• Support the arm on a flat surface, keeping it at heart level.

Apply the cuff.

• Stretch out your child’s arm with their palm facing up.

• Wrap the cuff around their bare upper arm, just above the bend of the elbow. Do not place over their sleeve.

• Secure the cuff on the arm. Ensure it is snug but not too tight. You should be able to slip two fingers under the cuff.

 Take the blood pressure.

• Turn on the machine. Most have an on/off button.

• Follow the directions on the screen.

• Keep your child still and ask them not to talk until the reading is complete.

• Write down the blood pressure, date, and time.

Contact your CHOP healthcare team with questions, concerns or if: 

• Your child’s blood pressure reading is out of range. Your provider will tell you the normal, high, and low ranges for your child’s blood pressure and when to call them.

• Your child has the symptoms below, even if their blood pressure reading is normal.

  • Headache

  • Nausea

  • Vomiting

  • Dizziness

  • Blurred vision

• Your child is lightheaded, dizzy or drowsy. Your child’s blood pressure may go too low if they are on medicine for high blood pressure.

Reviewed December 2024 by JoAnn Panus BSN, RN, CPN, and Selasie Goka, MD