Signs and Symptoms of Congenital Heart Defects

The most common signs and symptoms of congenital heart defects are:

• A heart murmur
• A bluish tint to skin, lips, and fingernails ("blue baby")
• Fast breathing
• Shortness of breath
• Poor feeding, especially in infants because they tire easily while nursing
• Poor weight gain in infants
• Tiring easily during exercise or activity (older children)
• cyanosis
• chest pain
• syncope
• sweating
• respiratory infections
• under developing of limbs and muscles,

The signs and symptoms that a child has depend on:

• The number and types of defects
• The severity of the defect

Some infants and children have no signs or symptoms. Others have severe or life-threatening symptoms. Many types of congenital heart defects cause the heart to work harder than it should. This stresses the heart and can lead to heart failure, causing the heart muscle to weaken and the heart to enlarge.

cyanosis, chest pain, syncope, sweating, , respiratory infections, underdeveloping of limbs and muscles,

Source http://www.wikipedia.org & http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/