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Children's health

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Baby heart murmur - 6 week check missed

7 replies

Jaffacake007 · 11/06/2021 00:08

Has anyone experienced their child being diagnosed with a heart murmur and it was missed at their 6 week check?

My one year old just went for an out of hours appointment for tonsillitis and the doctor seemed surprised that we weren't told earlier...

Anyone experiences similar?

OP posts:
Doyouwantanothercuppa · 11/06/2021 00:15

Our son went to A&E with a sickness bug age 4. The first doctor thought he could hear a heart murmur but the second doctor couldn’t hear one.
The first doctor had advised that heart murmurs are not uncommon and that it wasn’t cause for concern. Also that he might grow out of it.

nocoolnamesleft · 11/06/2021 00:19

May not have been there in the past. If he has tonsillitis, and has been running a temperature, his heart is probably beating a little harder. Than can make innocent murmurs appear, that aren't there at other times.

MargaretThursday · 11/06/2021 07:54

Ds had one picked up at 10 weeks. They said it isn't always apparent earlier on. It resolved itself without any intervention.

Friend's (adult) dc has one that's never resolved. She has yearly checks, but that's it-runs marathons and all sorts.

Catfox1 · 11/06/2021 08:03

If it helps my murmur wasn’t picked up until I was in my 20s and it was due to a whacking great hole in the heart from birth so things have improved 🤣

They are usually nothing to worry about ☺️

Jaffacake007 · 11/06/2021 09:06

Thanks so much everyone for the reassurance!

Was just a bit surprised when we went to the doctors for something totally different ☺️

OP posts:
Spry · 11/06/2021 11:11

Very similar thing was picked up for our daughter when she was a similar age and was being seen by GP for throat infection. He assured us it was very common in young children when they had a temperature.

We were advised to go back a few weeks later, once she was fully over the throat infection, to have it checked again. She still had the heart murmur then, so we totally panicked of course.

Our GP was hugely reassuring about how common this is in young children and is almost always fine, but we were referred for checks at the hospital. Whilst we waited for our appointment, we sought the advice of a cardiologist friend. He again told us that it is so common for children to have it, then it resolves by itself, that it is almost not considered an issue (he phrased it better than that).

Sure enough, by the time we had the hospital appointment, it was fully resolved - they couldn't detect any murmur at all. She's had absolutely no problem since. (She's now seven.)

By the way, have you tried putting your ear to your child's chest and listening yourself? Although I am not medically qualified, I could actually hear the issue quite distinctly when our daughter had the problem. I've occasionally checked since then, and never heard it again. Obviously, I'm not for a second suggesting that this should ever replace checks by medical people, but thought you might find it of interest anyway.

I sincerely hope things work out well and that you can put this behind you.

KelleyHIJkL · 11/06/2021 11:22

My DD had hers diagnosed the first time she went to the GP poorly. A few months old I think. She was under the care of a cardiologist until she was 5 when he signed her off.

They aren’t always picked up when children are well, it’s something to do with temperature and the heart having to work harder when they are ill. They are very common.

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