Heart defects - google has scared me so much

[Whirliwig72]

Ds2 is nearly one and gets really sweaty when he breast feeds - I don't mean slightly sweaty on his head, I mean dripping with soaking wet hair. It's been troubling me for a whole now so I googled it and an now freaking out as apparently it can be a sign of a heart problem as it can show the baby is having to work really hard when sucking. Ds2 has none of the other signs though - he's not under weight, not blue tinged at all but I did pick him up once recently and felt his little heart racing away which I thought was a bit odd.

I'll probably take him to the doctor just to be on the safe side but I just wanted reassurance - if he had a heart problem would it not have been picked up at birth or shortly afterwards?

Bump

Sorry that Dr Google has worried you whirliwig. It is correct that excessive sweating when feeding can be a sign of a heart defect - up until a baby is mobile, feeding is the most strenuous thing they do. Is he crawling yet? Does he sweat then? Is he otherwise well?

Most likely he's just fine, especially as you say he doesn't display any of the other symptoms but I would take him and get him checked if you're concerned.

Thanks Saggar - yes he's mobile (cruising or whatever it's called ) but no no sweating then, just when feeding and napping. He had high CPR levels shortly after birth prob due to meconium in the waters but recovered quickly and has been fine since other than the usual coughs and colds.

Hope this is not an obvious question, but has it always been the case since he was born, or is it only now that the temperature is warmer? When he is bf-ing, I assume you hold him close to your body.

Not obvious at all Blue - I've probably noticed it more this summer than previously but he'll do it at times when I'm quite cool myself which surprises me. I was feeding him at a friends recently and he was the only one of several bf babies to get this way.

He could just be sweaty

My dd2 has a mild heart defect which was picked up at her 6 week check. She has never really had symptoms other than the sound the defect makes when you listen to her heartbeat.

Your baby has grown well, has had I assume two ante-natal scans where the structure of the heart was looked at, was examined soon after birth by a doctor and then again at least once? I think it's unlikely there's anything to worry about but do get him checked by your GP to reassure you. In the meantime step away from Google. As soon as you put 'heart' and 'baby' in you get a world of trouble and worry back!

I would have thought that for a one year old baby, bf-ing should be efficient and effortless by now. I would expect crawling and walking to be more strenuous than bf-ing. Hence I asked whether or not it was the close physical contact of bf-ing that was causing the sweating.

FWIW, my dd was born with an enormous hole in her heart for which she needed surgical correction at 4 months old. She has never sweated while bf-ing or had any obvious symptoms (beyond low weight gain which was also due to her genetics - I am very small framed) but when the doctor opened her up, he could see her heart was congested and working very hard.

You should get it checked out by your GP just in case there is a problem. It is possible though unusual for a cardiac problem to go undetected but if otherwise well then hopefully this is not the case.

You will be worrying about this if you don't go to the doctor and if you are concerned about your baby then getting them checked out is always the right thing to do.

Good luck and let us know what the doctor says.