What are the symptoms of congenital heart defects?

Congenital heart defects cause a wide range of symptoms. Your baby may have only mild symptoms and tire easily, for example. He or she may have life-threatening symptoms, such as severe difficulty breathing. Or your baby may not have any symptoms that you notice at birth but may have them later as he or she grows.

Symptoms usually go away after the defect is corrected. A congenital heart defect that is repaired at the right time is less likely to permanently affect your child's growth and development.

Common symptoms include:

• Difficulty breathing. This often is noticed when your baby is active, such as during feeding or crying.
• Poor weight gain. When most of a baby's energy is spent pumping blood to the body, little is left for eating and growing. Your baby may tire when eating and may take longer than expected to finish feeding.
• Sweating, especially on the head. You may notice that your baby has damp hair and cool, moist skin.
• Fatigue and fussiness. Your baby may be too tired to play and may sleep most of the time.
• Dehydration. Signs of dehydration include having dry mouth and eyes and having dark and strong-smelling urine.
• Sudden weight gain or puffiness and swelling of the skin, seen most often around the eyes and in the hands and feet. These symptoms may be most noticeable when your baby first wakes up. The weight gain or puffiness can be caused by fluid retention that is related to poor blood circulation.

Symptoms of blood flow problems

Blood flow problems caused by heart defects can mean that your baby gets less oxygen. This happens mostly in children who have cyanotic heart defects ("blue babies").

If a baby has trouble getting oxygen or the heart is working extra hard, symptoms include:

• A bluish tint (cyanosis) to the skin, lips and nail beds. This becomes worse when your baby cries or eats.
• Slower-than-expected growth and development (with more severe congenital heart defects). Your baby may weigh less, be shorter and take longer than expected to learn skills such as standing and walking.

Many adults do not have symptoms from congenital heart defects until age 30 or 40. Common long-term problems include enlargement of the right side of the heart, rhythm problems, valve problems, heart failure, heart infection, and stroke. Many adults require surgery to fix their defects. Virtually all adults who live beyond the age of 60 with congenital heart defects become symptomatic, and if their condition is left untreated, the average survival rate beyond 40 or 50 years is 50%.