Heart Mumur

[Missy]

Hi ladies

I was wondering if anyones babies have had a heart murmur. My son is almost 1 and was told last thursday that he has a heart murmur. We are off the the childrens hospital in March. Would be nice to hear if anyones babies have had this and was ok. Just abit worried.

Thanks

[Trillian]

Hi Missy, my second child Erin was born wit a small VSD (hole in her heart) and becaause of that she had a heart murmur. She has since grown out of both conditions and is a perfectly healthy 4 yo. Most heart murmurs are innocent and most children will get one at some stage in their childhood, and are common to get one during bad chest colds apparently. All the murmur refers to is the sounds the blood makes as it is going through the heart - like a whoosing sound. Erin's Paediatrician likened it to the sound water makes in a small stream running over rocks. I even have a heart murmur myself and the only thing I have to be aware of is taking antibiotics before dental treatment in case of the million to one chance I get a blood infection.

So 99% of the time there is nothing to worry about with them. This will just be a precautionary checkup I'm guessing - if there was a real problem with his heart and the murmur wasn't innocent, then you would have picked it up by now.

I will ask MistyFying (Christine) to pop in to talk to you too.

[Lucy]

Missy, my son Charlie has a tiny VSD.....it was diagnosed at his 6 week check by our peadiatricician and like you I was really worried. Since then we have been to the cardiology dept at our Women and Childrens hosp to have him checked out and the pead.cardiologist checked him again and didn't want to see us for another 12 months as it was so small. He also indicated that it would not impact Charlie in any way, and it hasn't at all.

The final check up was a few months ago and the VSD has disappeared/grwon over.......which is very common apparently.......

Best of luck.....

[Missy]

Hi ladies

Thank you so much for the coments. Im sure he will be fine. I just hate this waiting. Im going to ring to see if I can get in earlier.

Once again thanks

[MistyFying]

HI Missy

Since your gorgeous boy is almost 1, I'm sure it won't turn out to be too serious. If it was serious, it would have been picked up way before now as he wouldn't have thrived, would have been extremely lethargic, would have had trouble breathing etc etc.

It will probably turn out as Lucy said... they may just ask to see him in another twelve months to monitor that it's closing nicely itself.

All the best, I know waiting is really hard

[Tobily]

My DS was also diagnosed with a murmur at his 6 week check.
His pead said the same as everyone here - it's nothing serious because he is thriving, they just have a listen at every check up appointment to see if it's still there, and if he still has it at 1 year he can maybe go to a cardiologist but it probably won't be necessary.
He has his 4 month check on Wednesday so I'm curious as to whether he still has it.
I also have one that is only audible when I'm pregnant (to do with increased blood volume which makes it louder).
Try not stress your little man will be fine

[Missy]

Thanks so much everyone

Flea just me know how you go at the doc.

Good luck hun

[Aranah]

My son is 8 and was found to have a heart mumur by accident last year, he was getting chest pains after having a nasty flu, which was the lining around his heart got inflamed. I freaked because it wasn't picked up earlier and I knew it was a bad sign that at his age he still had one as they usually grow out of it by then if it's an okay one.

We got off straight to the paed card who did some tests and after a bit of a wait, we found out it was one of the good mumur's he'll probably have for the rest of his life but won't cause problems.

The paed card said heaps of children have mumur's in their younger years and usually grow out of them. They are harmless he said and very common. Some are picked up when they are babies, some arent' (I didn't have very good medical care when DS was young, I was isolated). The biggest sign that my DS was okay was the fact he didnt' want to sleep all day and was a normal active child.

I'm sure your little man will be fine...it's apparently very common and rarely means anything nasty.

I know how you feel though, it can be quite a scare!

Let us know how you and him go

[lovemybubs]

Abby has/had one. It was picked up at 4 days old. We had follow up appointments with her pead and he says he cant hear it anymore. She had another scan at 9 months, but wouldnt sit still enough for it to be of any use. Her pead has asked to have another listen and then send her for another scan when she is old enough to sit still. The information we got at the start was that it would most likely close over, look out for breathing problems and her not being a normal healthy baby.

Shes a perfectly healthy baby and it didnt do her any harm at all.

Good luck

[Lucy]

I forgot to ask, has Callum always taken milk feeds well? Is he thriving in all other ways?

Both my pead and the cardiologist asked me loads of questions in relation to Charlie's overall feeding habits ("viracious boob feeder who has a lusty suck..." was my response, LOL!) as apparently if there is a problem with a VSD, a babies feeding will be impacted. I think. I hope I got that right...........

[Tobily]

I forgot to ask, has Callum always taken milk feeds well? Is he thriving in all other ways?

Both my pead and the cardiologist asked me loads of questions in relation to Charlie's overall feeding habits ("viracious boob feeder who has a lusty suck..." was my response, LOL!) as apparently if there is a problem with a VSD, a babies feeding will be impacted. I think. I hope I got that right...........

Yes Lucy I believe that if there's a problem they get very fatigued when feeding, it wears them out and they don't feed for long.
Toby is also a "viracious boob feeder with a lusty suck" love that - so I'm not too worried about him. He's also 85th percentile for weight so I guess you'd say he's thriving!
Will let you know if we can still hear it on Wednesday though Missy

[MistyFying]

Yep, spot on Lucy. If the VSD is big, they're most likely not able to suck at all. It consumes too much energy.

[Ambah]

Moving to Childrens Medical Conditions forum.

[Tobily]

Thanks so much everyone

Flea just me know how you go at the doc.

Good luck hun

We just got back from Toby's 4mth appointment and his doctor said the murmur is disappearing It is now very, very faint and he expects by his six month check up it will be gone.....YAY :biggrin:
Hoping for the same for your little man Missy.

[Missy]

Hi and thanks all for the coments. Callum is doing well and has always taken and loved his milk. He has been on cows milk 4 about 1 month now. always been a good eater as well untill now. Lunch is hard some time.

Flea well done that is wonderful news. good luck for 6 months

[Missy]

Forgot to say that he is abit ahead with all other things like walking , waving etc. Doing very well!!!

[Sana]

My son has a murmur which was picked up by the GP when he was about 7 months old. Drs can't hear it with a stethoscope at birth, they have to be older to hear it. After a cardiac ultrasound, we found out that he has an atrial septal defect. He will need an operation to close the hole in his heart when he is about 2. Apparently a lot of people don't know they have this murmer until they are adults. It doesn't cause symptoms until you are about 45 years old. As it is large enough to cause problems later in life, it will need an operation, and I will be glad when it's over. What scares me, is that the Dr said it will be day surgery! They just go up through an artery in the leg, to plug up the hole, and once the tissue grows over the plug, it will be like he never had a problem. Still, I wish he would stay in hospital overnight, just in case.

Missy good luck. From what I hear, most murmers fix themselves.

[Missy]

Susannah you must have been so worried. A girl friend of mine, her son had a hole in his heart and had a major op at 6 months. Ribs open and all. It was so horrible to see him hooked up to all the machines and just broke everyones heart seeing him that way. He is 2 now and has still got a little but doing ok. Cause of that and being a mother you cant help but worry. Thanks for shearing your story. Glad all is ok with you!!!