Heart Health In Children
1) What is the right age for children to have heart tests?
Not all babies need a routine heart exam. Children should have regular checkups with their pediatrician, and if the pediatrician suspects a child’s heart disease, they are referred to a pediatric cardiologist. The pediatric cardiologist will then evaluate the child in detail and perform an echocardiogram to diagnose heart defects and begin treatment.
The most common heart defect in children is a congenital heart defect, which is what a baby is born with.
2) What are some signs that a child needs attention for heart health?
Some babies and children will have blue lips, tongues,s, and fingernails when crying. Older children may develop recurrent pneumonia, become fatigued, and become dyspneic on exertion.
3) Do you often see children reporting heart problems?
Heart disease in children is not related to lifestyle, unlike in adults. So kids don’t get heart disease because of any mistake they or their parents make. And for this, patients should consult a pediatric cardiac specialist and follow the medical advice given.
Unfortunately, even today we see children diagnosed with a hole in the heart at an early age and suggested early surgery, and parents not bringing the child for surgery because they believe the heart disease will resolve itself or that the child is too young for cardiac surgery. And with this delay, the child develops late complications such as pulmonary hypertension and may even become ineffective.
5) What amount of exercise should children do every day? Is there an age breakdown? Toddler, pre-teen, teen, etc
No minimum or maximum hours or amounts of exercise are recommended, but 1-2 hours of daily outdoor activity is helpful in building and encouraging a healthy lifestyle early in life.
6) What is a heart-healthy diet? Are there any foods that babies should eat every day (or often)?
It recommends that a child’s diet contain food variety with foods from a variety of food groups, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean protein, nuts, legumes, and vegetable-based oils. Such a diet helps maintain a healthy weight and stable metabolism while providing all the nutrients to meet a child’s daily needs as per RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance).
Heart Health In Children
