Dr. Ashish Dolas (Consultant Cardiac, Paediatric Cardiac Surgron, Thoracic & Vascular Surgeon) discussed the Symptoms that indicate your child might have a heart problem.

We need to know that there are certain heart conditions with which children can be born, it is also called congenital heart disease. Most of the time, these types of heart conditions get neglected because of the symptoms. In infants, people unsure about these symptoms but later on in life, once the child gets older, it becomes more active. In case of severe symptoms, it may show early in childhood. This is the reason doctors do a complete physical examination of the newborn. It helps to detect these abnormalities as early as just after birth. Heart disorder can attack us at any age, but it can be especially tragic when it does occur in children.

Hence this raised awareness that the ‘’heart diseases’’ not only affect adults but also children.

Only parents who spend the entire day with the baby, can tell exact changes and abnormalities which need to be investigated.

The symptoms of heart disease vary and depend on the child’s age and behaviour. The following are the possible symptoms depending on the age of children:

Neonates and infants

This age group includes babies up until their first year of life. We should pay close attention to physical differences because they can be missed very easily. These symptoms include:

1. Even refusing feeds
2. Sweating unusually
3. Skin is turning blue
4. Hard time breathing
5. Breathing rapidly
6. Fails to thrive and does not have the required weight gain and growth pattern

These symptoms can be ignored easily. All of these indicate that there is possible underlying heart disease and you should think about having your baby checked by a doctor immediately.

Toddlers

This is the age group when the child starts walking and explore everything around them. If they do not perform activities like any other child in the same age group, then people get worried as to why their child cannot keep up. Some other reasons might are:

1. If you observe that child starts to tire quickly
2. Gets breathless after taking a few steps
3. Starts to sweat excessively when involved in some activity
4. If their lips or tongue goes blue while they are exerting themselves
5. If they have fainting spells as well as uncoordinated jerky movements These symptoms might indicate an underlying heart

In this age group, you have to always compare your child with other same age group children.

Older children and teenagers

The symptoms experienced by older children are:

1. Easy fatigability
2. Breathlessness
3. Fainting attacks

These might similar to the toddlers and infants but the difference is that older children and teenagers can communicate changes.

The most important thing is we should not avoid and pay attention if they told us anything or complaint about any symptom.

In congenital heart disease, many times it resolves on their own. But there might be more fatal conditions that need prompt attention and the correct mediation at the right time.

The most important thing is if your child is diagnosed with any heart condition, then you should take care of that the child, their mentors, maids and friends must aware of the warning signs of the conditions. In case of any of these signs, any prompt action taken on time can under control the condition and prevent greater damage from happening. for more information