ASD, VSD, & PDA

My baby boy of 3 months has 1 each, asd, vsd, and pda. asd and vsd are small and pda is 1 mm. what are chances of these defercts healing by themselves?? my wife breast feeds so is there any foods she should avoid?? any answers would be greatly appreciated

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

Dear Nicky,

Without seeing your son myself, I cannot say for sure what the likelihood of spontaneous resolution of these defects is.  However, if these are considered by your pediatric cardiologist to be small defects, and the PDA is 1 mm, the likelihood of spontaneous closure of all of these defects is excellent.  That said, if they are small, they are also what we call, “hemodynamically insignificant,” which means that they should not cause any problems with growth, development, or exercise.

In regards to your wife’s intake, there are no restrictions on her food intake from a cardiac standpoint with regards to your son’s heart.