hi, ive just got back from the dr's where my 3&1/2 year old daughter had a routine checkup, when he listened to her heart he said that she has a murmur:( . he said it can be quite common in children as their heart rates can be alot faster than ours, and thats all he said about it. sureley she should go back in a while just to check it? is there any signs i should watch out for? im just in a blind panic now and i dont know what to do :(

As your doctor suggested, a heart murmur is very common in children. It is just a noise that the doctor hears of the blood flowing in a normal child's heart since it is so close to the child's chest wall. In the majority of cases they are harmless and they are referred to as "innocent murmurs" and they pose no risk or limitation for the child whatsoever. They usually outgrow it as they get older. There are some cases where where the murmur can be due to a hole in the heart, leak or valve problem. If the doctor suspects such a problem, he will recommend a cardioloigist checkup.

My daughter was diagnosed with an "innocent" heart murmur when she was an infant. She is a healthy 30 year old now and has lived her whole life with no heart issues whatsoever. :)

I understand how you feel. My son's doctor would always say "he has a heart murmur." I tried asking questions but got nothing besides it was nothing to worry about. When he was 3 or 4 we was making a visit to the doctor for a routine child illness and he said it again. I kept asking what that meant and he said he didnt know, but it was a signicant murmur. I left his office and made an appointment with another doctor just down the road.....I told him everything, and he set us up to go to childrens hospital in Birmingham the same week. We get there to find it IS indeed a hole in his heart, but not one that will cause him any problems. He was instructed to take antibioitcs before any dental work and so forth.....

Heres the thing: If you are like me....a simple "It's just a murmur" isn't enough. Tell your doctor you want to find out what is causing the murmur. It IS just a sound...but common sense tells you SOMETHING is causing the sound. It's probably as benign as our case was......put your mind at ease and find out!
Mileena

hi, thankyou for your replies,
i had to go get my 4 month old son weighed today so while i was there i asked the health visitor about it, and explained that i was freaking out over it.
she said to me that it probably is an innocent murmur, like nosa said and as long as she doesnt show any danger signs then everything is normally ok. she said to watch out for things like , breathlessness and blue lips especially when resting.
mileena, did your son show any other signs?
the doctor didnt say anything about a further checkup or whatnot but should i just make one in a few months anyway?
Mia goes to nursery 3 times a week so im going to mention this to them and ask them to keep an eye out for any of the signs, i may be overreacting but id rather be safe than sorry especially when its my babies health.

It is understandable how frightening this can be for you. My son was diagnosed with a heart murmur at 5 years old. It was actually the intern that picked it up at a routine visit to the pediatrician. His doctor referred him to a pediatric cardiologist who did an echo and electrocardiogram. He has mitral valve prolapse but very minor. I take him once a year to repeat the tests. So far (he is now 10, soon to be 11) there has been no changes. He does have to be premedicated before dental visits etc. however, so that was good to know. It wouldn't hurt to take your daughter to see a pediatric cardiologist. The information may provide you with peace about her murmur.

To answer your questions: No signs, no symptoms, he is 20now and we visit the cardio every 5 years...(kind of funny because we went last year and still used the pediatric cardio, and he didn't know until we saw the little chair and tables in the waiting room! hehe!) Anyway, he said no change, if any at all his hole had gotten smaller, but he doesn't believe at my sons age it will ever close on it's own. Another 5 years and I told him he could pick who he went too, since he will be 25 and his responsibility then!
;)
Mileena