Baby Heart Murmurs : Causes, Signs & Cure

Baby heart murmurs or infant heart murmurs are the sound of an extra noise that the blood makes while flowing through the heart.

What Is Heart Murmurs?

Usually, the heartbeat is an oscillation of the lub-dub sound indicating the closing of the valves as the blood flows in and out of the heart. However, there might be an added or extra whooshing, swishing, gurgling or humming noise which is called a heart murmur.

Sign Of Heart Murmurs

Most heart murmurs are called ‘innocent’ or ‘functional’ because they do not indicate a heart problem or require any medical attention. In fact, it is estimated that almost ninety percent of kids between the age group of 4-7 can have heart murmurs that are very normal.

Heart murmur symptoms thus include the extra sound that can be heard either normally or by doctors through the stethoscope. Heart murmur in babies symptoms are the same, where you may feel your baby’s heart beating too fast or differently.

Also Read: How To Reduce The Risk Of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Heart Murmurs Cause

Innocent heart murmurs are not abnormal and mean a proper normal functioning heart. However, abnormal murmurs may also occur in babies and children and are caused by congenital heart diseases.

The cause of abnormal or non-innocent heart murmur may be because of a congenital heart disease, or a heart defect that occurs due to something not developing fully at birth, such as, a hole in the heart, narrow artery or leaky valve. The doctor will know through observation if the heart murmur is normal or abnormal. Heart murmurs treatment depends on heart murmur diagnosis. For a normal heart murmur no treatment is required since there is no malfunctioning in the working of the heart. However, in case of abnormal heart murmur the doctors will prescribe various treatments and tests depending on the seriousness and intensity of the heart defect.

How To Cure Heart Murmur

For non-innocent heart murmurs, the doctors usually prescribe a chest X-ray, an EKG or an echocardiogram. Your child will be treated by a pediatric cardiologist and in some cases, if there are minor structural defects the child may not require any treatment. However, some other defects include septal defects, valve abnormalities and muscle disorder, which are best treated by the pediatric cardiologist.

For congenital heart diseases, abnormal heart murmurs are one of the signs or symptoms. Other symptoms may include, rapid breathing, blueness in lips, feeding difficulty, chest pain or extreme tiredness. Also, pregnant women diagnosed with rubella or badly controlled diabetes have a greater risk of having babies born with heart defects.

Infant heart murmurs are mostly innocent murmurs that do not indicate any defect or problem in the functioning of the heart. The child is at no risk and in time the murmur may not be heard or vanishes with growth. If you are concerned with the extra sound that you hear in your child’s heartbeat, consult your doctor. The chances are that your baby is healthy unless there are congenital heart disorders where the doctors will provide the best possible solution for the health and wellbeing of your child.

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