Heart murmur at 6 week check.

[AngelofTroy]

Has anyone else's baby had a heart murmur picked up? At her six week check my daughter's GP heard a slight heart murmur. The weird thing for me is she was monitored daily in NICU for a week after birth due to a severe infection/sepsis and respiratory distress, and noone picked up on it. Also we even went back into the children's hospital at 9 days old because despite the infection clearing her repair rate was still fast (72), she was monitored closely for 24 hours and released as she was stable and they suggest it was just residual from the infection.

Now my GP says he isn't worried because she is gaining weight and isn't 'breathless' but what is considered normal? In the NICU they were happy with a respiratory rate lower than 60, but now she's older I read different 'normal' rates.

We're waiting for an appointment for an echo cardiogram anyway. I just hoped someone might have been in our position.

 

[sethsmummy]

hey hun just posted on your other thread too. my son has a murmur caused by the valve not closing at birth properly. it should close itself and his echo showed no other issues at all so theyre not concerned with it at all. some doctors can pick it up and others cant so i think it depends seriously on how well they are trained. i have also been told that the murmur is easier to be picked up when they are poorly xx

 

[noon_child]

It is very common for 'murmurs' to be heard in children as their chest wall is so thin. I expect because she was in NICU and has had some breathing issues they want to check out her heart, but the murmur could still be nothing.

My LO went to a paediatrician age 3 and a half because of vitamin D deficiency and he picked up the murmur then, but said it might not be a true murmur because of the above. He called her back every 9months and because the murmur is still there 18months later he referred her for a scan. I think the fact that he blood oxygen was sticking at 98 this time rather than making it to 99/100 as it had previously, tipped him in favour of the scan too - although we have waited 5 months for an appointment and it has just been put back by 6weeks, so obviously no-one thinks it could be too serious!

 

[Mrs W 11]

My Newborn has a heart murmur which was picked up in the nicu and I agree it's odd that your babies wasn't but maybe it's very faint.

My los murmur is caused by 2 holes in the heart which sounds terrifying but the paediatric consultant who specialises in cardiology has reassured us that this is common and the holes will hopefully close up on their own before he is 2-3.

We were told to keep an eye on him when feeding in case he starts to sweat it becomes breathless.

 

[dani_tinks]

My baby doesn't have a murmur that i'm aware of however I was diagnosed with one when very young. It was just the one small hole and I had to have regular echos throughout my childhood, other than that I didn't even notice I had one. Mine didn't close until my first pregnancy. No idea why it happened then though!

 

[Loozle]

My daughter has a heart murmur but it wasn't picked up until she was 7 months old and in hospital for a different reason. It wasn't heard at her newborn check or her 6 week check. Since then, she's been seen by many different doctors and consultants( for an unrelated issue) and sometimes they can hear it, sometimes they can't. It is strange, but her echo was absolutely fine, it was just hard work keeping her still for it! I hope all is ok with your lo.

 

[Zephram]

My DS1 was checked by a paediatrician at 4 weeks and we were told he had a very faint heart murmur. LO's usual GP could not hear it. As he had no other health problems the paediatrician just recalled him at 5 months to check that it was gone and it was. As a PP mentioned, it is quite common for newborns to have heart murmurs that resolve themselves in the first few months of life.