A heart murmur is an “other than normal” sound coming from the heart and can be minor or life threatening.
 
If you are told your child has a “normal” heart murmur, do not panic. Most children will have a murmur at one time or another. In most cases, a murmur is harmless, requires no treatment, and will eventually go away.
 
A harmless heat murmur is usually caused by a faster or higher amount of blood flow through the heart vessels. There are several causes such as fever, being anaemic, or having an overactive thyroid.
 
A child can also be born with an abnormality in the structure of the heart which can cause a murmur. In most instances, this abnormality will correct itself as the child grows and the murmur will go away.
 
Some instances of heart murmur are more serious and require medication attention. In cases of an abnormal murmur a child’s heart could have a structural abnormality that developed before birth but will not correct itself.
 
Additionally, a child could have developed a narrowed artery or a hole in the heart muscle. These types of murmurs usually require medical treatment which can consist of medication that will control the rhythm of the heart, or surgery to correct the defect.

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