heart murmur in a newborn

Hi! My nephew was born just yesturday and the docs say he has a heart murmur! What exactly is this and how do they treat it? Has anyone else had a child with this? The docs haven't told my brother and his wife a lot just yet...

[momm2b]

i was born with one and it was never treated. It is basically a hole in the heart it all depends on the size to determine the severity

[AndiJ78]

Both of my boys have heart murmurs. my first had a ventral septal defect (hole in the heart) and like most, it close don its own by 6 months. My youngest never had the VSD, but is still left with a murmur. It is amazing what they can tell just by listening with a stethescope. If they are still concerned, they will order an EKG, chest x-ray, and/or a cardiac echo to see what the cause is. Heart murmurs are the most common birth defect and most often are harmless.

Andi

[Tamara551]

I could be nothing or it could be something.  My daughter was born with a heart murmur and she ended up having two holes in her heart.  Fortunaly hers were small enough and she did not have to have surgery.  I had a friend whos daughter had the same thing and she ended up having to have open heart surgery.  They will probably refer them to a pediactic heart specialest where they will do an echocardiagram (sonogram on the heart) to see whats going on and what they need to do about it.  I know how scary this time can be.  Good luck and I hope all works out.

[lib and jrs mom]

heart murmurs are something you hear a lot when a new baby comes.  there could be many different causes.  sometimes it's a hole in the heart, sometimes the valves don't close correctly.  you have to remember, while in the womb the baby's circulatory system is backwards.  once she's born and takes her first breath of air the valves, the heart, everything has to reverse.  sometimes this is a little slow to happen.
i have mitral valve prolapse, another type of murmur.  my mitral valve doesn't close correctly each time my heart pumps blood.  never needed surgery.  just antibiotics before going to the dentist and surgery to protect my heart from bacteria.
hope this helped.  good luck to your family.

[amand221]

I was born with a heart murmur that I still have it today (I'm 29 years old).  The only thing I have to do b/c of it is take pennicilun (sp?) before going to the dentist.  Something about risk of infection... but it's not a big deal at all.

This is what I just found on google:  Hope it helps
~Amanda

What causes heart murmurs?

Heart murmurs are most often caused by defective heart valves. A stenotic (sten-OT'ik) heart valve has a smaller-than-normal opening and can't open completely. A valve may also be unable to close completely. This leads to regurgitation, which is blood leaking backward through the valve when it should be closed.

Murmurs also can be caused by conditions such as pregnancy, fever, thyrotoxicosis (thi"ro-toks"ih-KO'sis) (a diseased condition resulting from an overactive thyroid gland) or anemia.

A diastolic (di"as-TOL'ik) murmur occurs when the heart muscle relaxes between beats. A systolic (sis-TOL'ik) murmur occurs when the heart muscle contracts. Systolic murmurs are graded by intensity (loudness) from one to six. A grade 1/6 is very faint, heard only with a special effort. A grade 6/6 is extremely loud. It's heard with a stethoscope slightly removed from the chest.

[tiff27]

thanks everyone for all the information, it's really helped. We are still waiting to hear from the doc.

[SkepticSIS]

My first daughter had a small murmur which was detected at my 18 week U/S.  We had an echo done 1 week after birth and the Dr said it would close up on its own. We were told to treat her as a normal child, and we have. She is now 4 years old and completely healthy.  Because of our great advances in technology, murmurs are easily detected.  Many of the minor ones do not require any special care or intervention.  Don't worry to much.  It happens more than you think.

[tiff27]

update!! My nephew is doing fine and they don't hear the murmur any more.yeah. Thanks for all help