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Heart Murmurs in Babies: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

6 min read
Heart Murmurs in Babies: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Are you worried about that extra sound in your baby's heartbeat? Don't hesitate to have it checked.

What is a heart murmur in babies – is it a cause for alarm?

Doctors normally hear a simple rhythm when listening to a child’s heart: “lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub…” Occasionally, they’ll hear an extra sound in between the lub and the dub. That extra sound is called a heart murmur.

Heart murmur in babies is quite common, despite their unpleasant name. Usually, they sound like a whooshing or swishing noise as blood is pumped through the heart chambers, valves, and arteries. Not often that they’ll need to be checked by an expert to rule out any issues.

Table of Contents

  • What Is Heart Murmur in Babies
  • When Do Heart Murmurs Occur
  • What Causes Heart Murmur in Babies
  • Symptoms of Heart Murmur in Babies
  • Heart Murmur in Babies: Treatment
  • When to Worry About Heart Murmur in Babies

What Is Heart Murmur in Babies

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a heart murmur in babies is just a noise heard between heartbeats. Heart murmur in babies are fairly common and are usually “innocent” or normal, despite the fact that they can be frightening for parents.

Types of murmurs include:

  • Systolic murmur. A heart murmur occurs when the heart contracts.
  • Diastolic murmur. A heart murmur occurs when the heart relaxes.
  • Continuous murmur. A heart murmur occurs throughout. the heartbeat.

Innocent heart murmurs in babies (also known as functional or physiologic murmurs) are completely harmless, and a large percentage of youngsters will have experienced them at some point in their lives. A healthy heart pumps blood normally, resulting in these murmurs.

If your child has such a murmur, it will most likely be noticed during a regular examination when they are between the ages of 1 and 5. By listening to a murmur with a stethoscope, your child’s doctor can typically detect if it’s normal.

Heart Murmurs in Babies: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Is it normal for babies to have heart murmurs?

Parents may be concerned if their child is diagnosed with a heart murmur. Heart murmur in babies, on the other hand, are fairly common, and many children are discovered to have one at some point. The majority of murmurs are harmless and have no impact on a child’s health.

When Do Heart Murmurs Occur

According to AAP, heart murmurs are a concern when they occur very early at birth or during the first 6 months of life. These murmurs, common in premature babies, are not innocent, and most likely will require the attention of a paediatric cardiologist immediately.

By the time your child is in preschool and school-aged, heart murmurs are almost always not a concern.

It’s possible that innocent murmurs will subside and then reappear. Murmurs may become louder or softer as a child’s heart rate fluctuates, such as when they are delighted or terrified. When a child has a fever or is anaemic, murmurs can be heard.

By the middle of adolescence, most typical heart murmurs have disappeared. Your child will not require any restrictions on diet or activities. He or she can be just like any other regular, healthy, and active child.

heart murmur in babies

Image from Shutterstock

What Causes Heart Murmur in Babies

Normal, healthy children may have heart murmurs also called innocent murmurs. A child may be born with a cardiac defect that generates a murmur in some situations. These are referred to as pathologic. Murmurs can also be caused by:

  • Infection
  • Fever
  • Low hematocrit (the number of red blood cells in the body) (anaemia)
  • A thyroid gland that is overactive (hyperthyroidism)
  • Valve disease of the heart

Symptoms of Heart Murmur in Babies

Babies with innocent murmurs have no other symptoms aside from abnormal heart sounds. In the case of children having pathological heart murmurs, one or more of the following symptoms may be present. They differ based on the issue.

  • Poor nutrition, eating habits, or weight gain
  • Shortness of breath or breathing fast
  • Enlarged neck veins
  • Heavy sweating with little or no activity
  • Sweating
  • Chest pain
  • Feeling dizzy or faint (syncope)
  • Skin that is bluish, especially around the lips and fingertips
  • Cough
  • Oedema (swelling) of the lower legs, ankles, and feet, as well as the belly (abdomen), liver, and neck veins

The symptoms of a cardiac murmur can be similar to those of other illnesses. Make an appointment for your child to see his or her doctor for a diagnosis.

Your doctor and a paediatric cardiologist can evaluate if the murmur is innocent (meaning your child is healthy) or if there is a specific heart problem. If an issue arises, the paediatric cardiologist will know how to effectively address it.

Tests for heart murmur in babies

If your doctor is concerned about your child’s heart murmur, an ECG and a chest X-ray may be ordered.

Your child’s doctor may also recommend him or her to a cardiologist, who will do echocardiography.

Heart Murmur in Babies: Treatment

baby getting a checkup

Image Source: Shutterstock

Innocent murmurs don’t need any treatment. Your paediatrician and paediatric cardiologist will discuss whether treatment is necessary if your kid has a pathologic murmur.

Medicine, treatments, or surgery may be used to treat the condition. Note that treatment will also be determined by the symptoms, age, and overall health of your child. It will also be determined by the severity of the ailment.

Treatment options vary depending on the severity of the problem and may include the following:

  • Keeping an eye on your child for signs and symptoms
  • Medicines
  • Non-surgical treatments for repairing the heart’s blood vessels
  • Reconstructive surgery for the heart

Medications and follow-up care, as well as referral to a pediatric cardiac surgeon, may be required depending on the type of pathologic murmur your kid has.

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If the heart murmur is caused by a problem, it will normally fade or disappear once the issue is treated.

When to Worry About Heart Murmur in Babies

Call your child’s healthcare provider if your child has any symptoms of heart disease such as:

  • Trouble feeding or eating
  • Doesn’t gain weight normally
  • Trouble breathing
  • Fainting
  • Rapid breathing or blue lips
  • Blue legs or feet
  • Passing out
  • Tiredness or trouble exercising
  • Chest pain

To rule out the possibility of a problem, a paediatric cardiologist will do a thorough examination, which may involve heart tests such as an ECG or echocardiography. Because a murmur can be the only symptom of structural heart disease, it’s crucial to get a complete examination.

Keep in mind that healthy children and teenagers often have cardiac murmurs. The majority of them aren’t reflective of a heart problem, are harmless, and will go away on their own.

Should you have any concerns about any symptoms that your newborn is having, don’t hesitate to consult with your child’s paediatrician right away.

This article was written by Matt Doctor and republished with permission from theAsianparent Philippines.

HealthyChildren, EEHealth, StandfordChildrens, Mayo Clinic

  Here at theAsianparent Singapore, it’s important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn’t serve as an alternative for medical advice or medical treatment. theAsianparent Singapore is not responsible for those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend consulting your doctor for clearer information.

Got a parenting concern? Read articles or ask away and get instant answers on our app. Download theAsianparent Community on iOS or Android now!

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We are the modern parent's website for raising happy, confident kids from a cultural and global perspective. Our articles are well-researched, backed by facts and local knowledge. Every single article is also written by mothers. We also have health and parenting experts contributing their knowledge and advise to inform many articles.

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