What parents do during and throughout pregnancy can have a substantial impact on the child’s heart, according to Dr. Omolola Lamina-Alaaya, a consultant paediatric cardiologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
According to Dr. Lamina-Alaaya, a kid’s heart health begins in childhood, and poor health choices made during and throughout pregnancy can put a child at risk for adult heart attacks, diabetes, and other cardiovascular disorders.
Congenital heart disease, according to experts, affects a baby’s heart while it is still developing.
The baby’s heart starts to build just after conception and is finished by the eighth week of gestation, according to the online resource Heart.
The heart is made up of heart and heart valves once the heart is first formed as a tube-shaped structure that bends and divides.The heart frequently develops a congenital cardiac abnormality because it does not divide or twist correctly.Some women ponder whether their child’s cardiac condition was caused by drugs, alcohol, or pharmaceuticals. Most of the time, we are unsure of the causes of these flaws.However, some cardiac conditions can run in families or be linked to a condition the mother has, like diabetes, for instance.
Mild to very severe congenital cardiac abnormalities exist. Some may resolve on their own over time, while others may need surgical correction at the newborn stage, according to Heart.
The majority of the time, there is no clear cause of congenital cardiac disease, according to the National Health Service of the United Kingdom.
The NHS cautions that certain factors, such as Down’s syndrome, certain infections, such as rubella during pregnancy, certain medications, such as statins and some acne medications, smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy, poorly controlled type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or other chromosome defects, where genes may be altered from one generation to the next, are known to increase the risk of the condition.
Congenital heart defects are the most prevalent types of birth defects, according to March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that strives to improve the health of mothers and newborns in the United States.
Critical congenital heart abnormalities, or critical CHDs, are the most severe types of congenital heart problems.
“Within the first year of life, babies with significant CHDs require surgery or other treatments. Critical CHDs can be fatal if untreated, according to March of Dimes.
The nonprofit organization continues, “Don’t smoke or drink alcohol if you’re pregnant or trying to get pregnant. By doing these activities, you run a higher risk of your child developing CHD.
According to the specialist, other substances that are known to have an impact on the heart’s structure include alcohol, pharmaceuticals like vitamin A, and antimalarials.
In essence, heart issues begin even before the infant is born. The heart begins to form during the first month of pregnancy, usually three weeks before the mother misses her first period, and certain problems begin at that time.We strongly advise moms to avoid anything that might have an impact on the development of the heart.Therefore, being ready for the pregnancy is necessary. The mother is encouraged to visit her Obstetrics & Gynecology doctor as soon as she becomes aware that she is pregnant for a medical checkup, a thorough history, and monitoring of both the mother and the unborn child.

“It is also known that alcohol, medications containing vitamin A, and antimalarial treatments might damage the structure of the heart. We advise the mother to abstain from using any herbal remedies since you never know which one can influence the structure of the heart.Other times, a mother’s uncontrolled diabetes can have an impact on the unborn child. Mothers must be in good general health both before and during pregnancy, and they must control what they eat, the expert advised.
She continued by saying that a mother’s history of abortion or a family member’s history of heart disease could predispose an unborn child to heart disease.
The mother must continue to have a healthy lifestyle. She should consume nutritious foods and take her daily vitamins as directed, Lamina-Alaaya said.
According to her, acquired heart disorders arise from other factors that may arise after birth, such as infections, diet, and the child’s weight, but congenital heart problems begin when the heart is developing in the womb.
She mentioned that a child may not have heart problems until their first or second decade.
The problems you find with the heart begin from inside the womb when the heart is growing, and congenital heart illnesses are frequently referred to as a “hole in the heart.”However, there is an additional component that we refer to as “acquired heart disease.” These are the problems that may arise following a kid’s birth, and they may begin as soon as the child is born.
“Congenital heart illnesses affect the way the heart develops, its structure, and the different holes that can exist in the heart but do not cause symptoms before birth.Some exhibit the moment the child is born, while others might not appear for a month or six weeks after the child is born.If a child is obese, which we are starting to see these days because many people believe that the more they feed their child or the chubbier the child looks, the society will accept that the child is healthy, acquired cardiac disorders can result from diet, how the child is fed, or if the child is overweight.However, these problems also have an impact on the heart, and they worsen over time. The clinical manifestation will first show in the child’s first or second decade of life when they start to exhibit major symptoms.
According to Lamina-Alaaya, congenital heart problems can also run in families.
Cardiomyopathy refers to a set of disorders that are genetic but don’t manifest symptoms until much later in life.The mother must inform the doctor if a family member has a specific heart condition so that the child can be screened. Although the disease may not show symptoms as early as possible, if we catch it early, we can start to monitor and treat the patient and ensure that the disease does not advance as quickly as possible.
“Before the mother gets pregnant, if she knows there is a family history of heart disease, she has previously had a child who died, or she had a history of abortion, she needs to inform her doctors so that the person knows what to do,” she said.
According to the pediatric cardiologist, a doctor examines the newborn to determine his or her health status.
“The child can go on regular breastfeeding, no need for medication, just regular feeding, not overfeeding or underfeeding, and the regular immunizations,” if the child is confirmed to be healthy and without any signs of a cardiac defect.When a baby is born, if the doctor performing the examination notices anything unusual with the heart, the infant will be sent to a pediatric cardiologist who will perform the standard examination and investigation.
If there are cardiac defects, therapy will start right away to prevent more serious ones from developing. The child will be taken for the proper treatment if there are severe ones that need it.Parents need to be aware that some heart conditions might manifest as early as during pregnancy.
“Once the infant is born, he must also be examined. If a pediatrician has given the child a clean bill of health, make sure he or she is properly fed and not overweight or underweight because all of these things might lead to the development of acquired cardiac disorders, according to Lamina-Alaaya.