Heart Murmur in 18 month old

mccall010105

I took Joel to his 18-month appt. the other day and the doctor discovered that he has a heart murmur. He wants Joel to go for an echo/EKG next week. I'm, of course, freaking out. The doc did say that many kids have a murmur at some point and they grow out of it, but he wants to make sure it's nothing serious. I'm trying to be positive, but I can't stop thinking worst case scenario. Has anyone experienced this? What was the outcome? Thanks.

Mrs Manners

DS had a heart murmur that was discovered at his 3 month appointment (but wasn't discovered when he was in the NICU for weeks). We've been under the care of a cardiologist for 15 months and were just release from his care two weeks ago when they did final tested and discovered the murmur is gone and the hole has closed. Heart murmur are really, really common. Our cardiologist plan was to just follow ds and make sure nothing changed...as long as he was healthy and the murmur wasn't taxing his heart or oxygen saturation, they wouldn't have done anything and he would have lived a long happy life with a heart murmur.

danielleg1280

Hi, I am mostly a lurker here on the boards, but wanted to let you know that when I took my son for his 12 mo. appointment, his Dr. discovered a heart murmur. 

Like your Dr., he said it was common for kids to have them and grow out of them, but it didn't stop me from freaking out that something was wrong!  He's been to the Dr. a couple times since and everything is fine (still has the murmur though).

Good luck and from what I hear, slight murmurs are very common...

Buckets of Moonbeams

I'm sure you guy's murmur is 100% benign.  If it was a serious, scary one it would have been discovered 18 months ago.  He was probably born with a very small hole.  It is now nearly closed, thus the louder murmur that was previously undetected. (Like a garden hose, a hole in the heart makes a louder noise the smaller it is- like when a hose is left to flow you can't hear it but as it is pinched closed, the sound of the water flowing is easily detected.)

My daughter had a serious, scary murmur that was discovered at birth.  She is fine now, but I won't bore you with all the details...suffice to say she had open heart surgery about 8 months ago.

EKGs are really easy...echos not so much.  Your son may be required to lay still for a looooooong time.  K totally blew her last echo because she wouldn't lay still.  I think I'll be drugging her into submission for her next one, lol.

racegirl723

I have a heart murmur and it's really no big deal.  Like your doctor said, most kids out grow it.  I didn't.  In fact, mine wasn't discovered until I was in my twenties.  I get an echo every five years or so to make sure it's not getting worse, which would indicate that my valve is deteriorating.  Worst case scenario is typically a valve replacement surgery but that generally isn't needed until you're a senior citizen.  Try not to worry about it b/c it's generally a very benign condition that people live with and have no ill effects from.

cookie04

I agree with Buckets.  It is most likely a very small hole that your dc will outgrow. 

My son had a murmur discovered at birth due to two "moderate" holes.  He is doing fine and one hole has already closed completly. The test are not invasive at all, but it is hard to keep little ones still. My tip for the Echo is to bring snacks if you can -- a few boxes of rasins have helped him to sit still.  A full tissue box that my ds could pull tissues from also did the trick one time. Good luck. I know it is scary, but it is pretty common.

MAprincess

I had a heart murmur when I was little and actually, they still occasionally hear it.  But it has had no effect on my life and the last time I had an echo, they said it was really nothing.  99.99999% of the time, this is the case.

lite-bright

At my DD's nine-month appointment, my pedi and another doc in her office thought they heard her heart galloping -- which could have been a sign of a potentially deadly bacterial infection around her heart. 

The tests they were able to do at their office were inconclusive, so they sent us straight from their office to a pediatric cardiologist at a local children's hospital where they did a 30 minute ultrasound of her heart. She got to watch a baby Einstein video which totally entranced her, and DH and I were right there with her. She did great. 

Ultimately, the cardiologist said everything was fine -- although she does have a bit of a murmur. I found out afterwards that my dad has had one his whole life and is completely healthy.

It was a horribly tense few hours. But I was very, very glad that my pedi was proactive and we could walk away at the end of the test knowing that DD was okay. 

The odds are hugely in your favor that it's only a harmless murmur. Good luck, I'm sure the waiting is so hard!  

vanillacourage

DS was diagnosed with a murmur at his...hm, either 3 or 6 month appt.  They sent him to have an echo done and said it's a harmless murmur, one he will most likely outgrow.

I know it's scary - we had to go the local childrens' hospital to get the test done, and it was frightening just to be inside there.

Mrs Manners

Oh...I wanted to suggest taking a sucker for his tests. We never let ds have sugar or candy but when he had to lie still for his test the doctor suggested giving him one (and had one on hand) and it worked like a charm!