Coping with the heart problems that affect our children

To a parent, nothing is more sacred than the health of their child, which is why when an infant is born with a heart defect it can be an extremely worrying time. Thankfully though, through treatment and surgery most conditions can be managed and a high percentage of children affected can go on to lead healthy, active lives. 

Paediatric cardiology departments treat both heart problems acquired by infants and the congenital defects that they possess at birth, although the latter is much more common. Since most heart problems in children are congenital, beyond avoiding risk factors like alcohol and drugs during pregnancy, there is no real prevention as yet. 

Defects can be treated with medicine, interventional procedures or surgery and with continued medical monitoring you can set about helping your child manage a condition. The severity of conditions ranging from tachycardia (when the heart beats abnormally fast) to atrial and ventricular septal defects (holes in the heart) will obviously differ but following general rules can help. 

Regular exercise and activities are important for all children in maintaining their fitness. The same goes for children with congenital heart defects. Depending on specific conditions and the success of corrective procedures, they are often able to enjoy just as much physical exertion as their peers. Of course, awareness of ones limitations and liaising with your paediatric cardiology consultant is important too. 

While the physical aspects of coping with congenital heart defects are a big consideration, the social aspects should not be overlooked. Dietary considerations, like a need for increased calories at an infant stage, are later replaced by the concerns of living with a condition as they grow up. 

Explanation and acceptance go hand in hand when helping young people adapt to life with a heart defect. Support groups exist where the emphasis is on meeting people with similar experiences and can be very rewarding. 

As parents, understanding your child’s condition should translate into helping them deal with it. Instilling into them the responsibility of taking charge of their condition is a helpful way to increase the ‘normality’ of growing up. From childhood scrapbooks to the therapeutic affects of diarisingthoughts and feelings into their teenage years, there are many ways for both children and parents to cope. 

Coping with the heart problems that affect our children becomes second nature to parents and with continued dialogue and discussion; we can ease their journey into healthy adulthood.