Heart Murmur in Infants or Newborn Babies

Abnormal sounds that are produced by heart are known as heart murmur. Don’t try to be panic on hearing this sound because it is found in every child once in the life time. It can be innocent or functional, congenital or heart defect in babies or infants. Breathe shortness, feeding problems and chest infections are the common symbols of this ailment.

Infants heart murmur causes

The common cause of newborn baby or  infant’s heart murmur is congenital heart disease which may occur when blood vessels or valves attached to the heart don’t get developed even before the child is born. Some children may get birth with heart defects. One in hundred children may be found with this type of birth disorder.

Most of the heart murmurs are found to be innocent. It can be caused by blood flowing through healthy heart valves and mostly don’t require any treatment. Some serious heart defects may be due to some illnesses like rheumatic fever, heart disease, heart attacks. It is due to heart defects in structural disorder of a baby’s heart. The defects may be of valve abnormalities, cardiomyopathy and septal which produce murmur. Cardiomyopathy is usually a heart disorder of muscle which can result in defective functioning of the heart.

Heart murmur symptoms in newborn babies

This heart murmur may not find any signs or symptoms of heart problem. These murmurs usually get resolved by the time the child become adult. The defective heart murmur may need to be tested to find out the real cause of it. The child with innocent murmur can live as healthy life as any other child of healthy heart. Pathological heart murmurs is a defect in the heart with a hole which may be there in the two chambers of the heart. The chest pain, rapid heart beat, bluish color or fingertips, shortness of breath, fainting, fatigue with exertion and signs of congestive heart failure are some of serious symptoms of this disease.

Treatment

The treatment of innocent murmur is not required at all. Congenital heart defects may be diagnosed after conducting laboratory tests. The parents should consult pediatric cardiologist after confirming the tests. The doctor will provide the suitable treatment to regulate the proper blood flow to the heart.

Some medications may solve the problem but in case of severity, the surgery can be conducted to treat the ailment. The mitral valve prolapsed may not require any treatment but only periodic checkups can be sufficient to be conducted. The doctor can prescribe some anti-biotic but medications should never be self prescribed which pose some serious problems.

The surgery may be conducted in serious types of cases. The anti-clotting medication, medications to put control on irregular heartbeat, palpitations and to open the blood vessels

Prevention

Heart murmurs in infants or babies can not be prevented but the blood pressure may be treated before the heart murmur gets developed. It is also advised to prevent rheumatic fever in the children to prevent heart murmurs. The regular check ups may be conducted to get to know the defects in advance to treat the ailment.