Infant with congenital heart defects

With 1 in 85 babies born in the U.S. alone diagnosed with congenital heart defects, one might suspect that there are common reasons for infants to have congenital heart defects. Research shows many factors for these defects to occur. 

If a mother gives birth to an infant with congenital heart defects, she might think she did something wrong during her pregnancy to cause the problem. But most of the time physicians don‘t know why there are infants with congenital heart defects. 

Heredity might play a part in some defects. For example, a mother who has a heart defects may be more likely to give birth to an infant with congenital heart defects. In rare cases, more than one child in a family is born with a defect.

Kids who have a genetic disorder like Down’s syndrome are also more likely to be infants with congenital heart defects. In fact, all babies born with Down’s syndrome also have a congenital heart defect. In my book, “Matters of the Heart,“ there is one story about a little boy with Down’s syndrome who is also an infant with congenital heart defects.

Smoking during pregnancy also has been connected to various heart defects.

We are lucky that scientists are trying to find a more common reason why infants with congenital heart defects are being born.

Learn more about infants with congenital heart defects in Matters of the Heart.