Heart Murmur

[tellytubby]

Hey all,
A friend of mine has just discovered her 10 week old daughter has a heart murmur. She is a perfectly healthy baby, putting on weight, breastfred and absolutely beautiful. My friend is freaking out! The dr said 1 in 10 babies have this, and its nothing to be concerned about?? But naturally, she is very concerned and is thinking about flying to brisbane to see a heart specialist.

Just wondering if anyone else's children have this, and what does it mean?

thanks

[ubba82]

Hi telly, My DS has a heart murmur. The Dr is right, it is nothing to worry about and should correct itself by the time he is 10 (in my sons case). I didnt get any further testing done and he hasnt shown any other problems. He is a very active 3 nearly 4 year old.

This was discovered when he was 18 months old.

[STARRYSKY]

hi,
I was born with a heart murmur, it was picked up at birth and I was monitored 3monthly at the wch in adelaide (mind u this was almost 30 yrs ago!) by the time I was 5 it was declared to be closed.
if it hadnt by that stage, I would have needed heart surgery to close it, but that is a worst case scenario, I never had any problems. The docs just told my mum to keep an eye on my colour (make sur I never went blue) and breathing. I was healthy as a horse!
the only prob I have now is that in pregnancy, it is possible for it to re open, but I had an echo and an ecg to check it all last year and all is fine.
also my nephew has one as well, my sil was quite freaked about it, as every time she went to the docs they would comment on it when listening to his heart, but he is a happy healthy boy and they have told her its not a problem until it becomes a problem.
meaning, I think that if it hasnt closed up fully by age 5-10.
hth somewhat!

[diannescruffy]

When DD was 6wks old she was in hospital with bronchiolitis and I was told she had a heart murmur and totally freaked. She is nearly 8 and has never had any heart problems and was not seen by a specialist.

Regards,
Dianne

[CrystalBoo]

Another one here! Doc noticed it at about 6m but neither she nor the paed were at all worried. At check-ups since then, no-one can even hear it anymore. To be honest, I'd forgotten all about it.

[Mother Goose]

Both my siblings have heart mumours which were found at birth. Both are fine and lead normal lives. The only catch is that they have to have yearly check ups with a cardiologist. My sister did have open heart surgery before her 1st birthday though. But honestly, both are fine, no problems as a result of the murmours...

[~Stoked~]

Hi Telly!!!

Both DD and I both have had a heart murmur detected. When DD's was heard, she had a virus, and I was told that this was the likely cause. Was your friends baby unwell at the time??

Both myself and DD have never had any problems resulting from our heart murmurs.

x x

[~clover~]

My DD2 also has a murmer.
It was discovered at a pead appointment at 8 weeks. He was going to send us to Sydney to check it out closer, as she'd been a sick bub, but the next time we were in there he didn't hear it, so all was fine. He said she should grow out of it.
When she was 2 though, my mum found out she had a heart condition, so I had DD listened to again by a gp & found out the murmer was in the mitral area - where mum's issues are.
So off to the paed for reassurance again.
Tests were done & we were referred to a cardiologist. This was a different murmer than the first one. He baisically did an ultrasound & found no problems at all.
Some babies tubes in their hearts are just slightly narrower, or the bends are slightly sharper & this causes a whooshing sound as the heart pumps the blood through. That's the murmer. In most cases everything is perfectly fine.
I have faith in the cardiologists answer, but I do still wonder about DD. She is developing & growing ok, but she seems to have a lowered immune system. Not by a huge amount, but she has always gotten everything, & gotten it worse than the other kids.
She had colic, 2 chest infections by 8 weeks, stomach bug, rota virus, chicken pox, & numerous flu's in the first 6 months. I don't know if it has anything to do with her heart or not, I just hope as she gets older she doesn't develope mum's condition.

[tellytubby]

Thanks ladies,
i'll print these out and pass them on to her,
i keep telling her to get bellybelly, but i think she's too busy atm

thank you again

[ubba82]

i keep telling her to get bellybelly, but i think she's too busy atm

What.....too busy for BB - no way!!