All parents are looking forward to a healthy baby, but did you know that more than 130,000 babies with congenital heart disease are born in China every year, and 6-8 babies out of every 1000 newborns have congenital heart disease? Although with the continuous improvement of medical treatment, almost all types of congenital heart disease can be cured, parents are concerned not only about curing the disease, but also about the future growth and development of their babies and their quality of life. Will my baby grow up like a normal child? Will my baby be able to do this and that? What do we parents need to pay attention to in general? And so on and so forth. With the joy of a successful surgery, first-time parents are even more excited about their baby’s future. Please believe that parents are the best doctors for their babies, and proper nurturing is the guarantee for healthy growth of babies with precocious heart disease.
So what exactly should parents do?
I. Healthy life
Due to the impact of the disease and the trauma of the surgery, the baby with precordial disease can not be the same as normal babies immediately after the operation, compared with babies of the same age, their bodies will be weaker, development will be slower, resistance is lower, the most vulnerable to infection and complications of pneumonia, when parents need to give extra careful care.
1, the care of the incision.
To keep the incision dry, do not let the baby scratch the incision, not only to prevent infection, but also to allow the incision to heal smoothly to prevent scarring and deformities. When the scabs fall off on their own, you can take a bath or shower, be gentle and do not use harsh soaps. If you find that the incision is red, swollen or pus, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible to check whether there is an incision infection.
2.Prevent infection.
(1) Regularly measure the baby’s temperature and heart rate. If the baby’s temperature exceeds 38℃, do not take fever-reducing medicine at will, but seek medical attention as soon as possible.
(2) Keep the respiratory tract open: to prevent phlegm from blocking the airway, you can apply appropriate phlegm medication.
(3) Proper isolation: Do not take your baby to a public place with a lot of people and confined space, and isolate your baby in time if there is a sick family member.
(4) Pay attention to keep warm to avoid catching cold; but avoid high indoor temperature to prevent dehydration due to heavy sweating.
(5) Keep indoor air circulation, but do not let the baby directly to the wind.
(6) Vaccination: Generally, 3 months after surgery, babies with better recovery of heart function can be vaccinated and replenished with vaccines, but after vaccination, systemic and local reactions should be closely observed for timely treatment.
3.Correct feeding.
(1) Most of the babies with precordial disease have poor heart function, and they are prone to shortness of breath and weakness when sucking milk, and they are prone to sweat a lot and cause dehydration or even induce heart failure; if they are overfed and prone to vomit, they can easily inhale into the lungs and cause pneumonia, so postoperative feeding should be less and more meals, with a light and easily digestible diet as the mainstay, and parents can use a dropper to slowly drip milk into the baby’s mouth, hold the baby vertically after feeding, pat the back, and do not immediately flatten the baby. Put down to prevent vomiting or aspiration causing asphyxia or pneumonia.
(2) Diet: Food should be rich in nutrients and easy to digest, to ensure adequate protein, calories, vitamins and dietary fiber, diet should be diversified, gradually add supplementary food, but not blindly supplement.
(3) Drinking water: Drinking too much water will increase the burden on the heart, while drinking too little water is prone to dehydration and a drop in blood pressure induced heart failure, so pay attention to observe how elastic the baby’s skin, how much urine and evenly drink water. If there is diarrhea, vomiting, to promptly replenish water.
4.Rational life.
(1) Reasonable arrangement of the baby’s life, not only to pay attention to rest, avoid overexertion, but also to strengthen exercise, enhance resistance, according to the post-operative review gradually increase the intensity of activity, but prohibit a large number of strenuous exercise. Babies who have just undergone surgery should reduce crying so as not to increase the burden on the heart.
(2) Babies operated with a front and middle chest incision should sleep in a flat position as much as possible and should not lie on their sides to prevent deformation of the sternum and formation of a “chicken chest”. For babies with lateral incision, because the incision is on one side, the baby often does not move one arm because of fear of pain, parents should assist in activities to avoid affecting the balanced development of bilateral limbs.
(3) Just after the operation, the baby’s heart function is not complete, sweating more, we should bathe and wipe the body regularly to keep the skin clean. As the baby grows, the heart function will gradually improve.
5.Regular follow-up.
Early post-operative follow-up examinations are usually scheduled for 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. The review items usually include cardiac ultrasound and cardiac CT to understand the recovery of cardiac function. The doctor will inform you in detail about further follow-up examinations, so that you can have a timely follow-up examination if your condition changes.
Second, sound psychology.
Precocious babies grow up with the disease for a long time, and this special environment causes a heavier psychological burden for babies and parents. Babies are prone to fear and low self-esteem in the process of growth, and parents will develop self-blame and guilt. From birth to the age of five or six is the most important stage in the formation of personality throughout life, the parents’ educational attitude will have a great impact on the formation and development of the baby’s personality and psychology.
First of all, parents should strengthen their children’s confidence in the cure of the disease and reduce their pessimistic and fearful psychology. Secondly, parents should not be overprotective and coddle their children, but should help their children gradually transfer from the role of patients to the role of normal people, let them do more things they can do, improve their independent living and social adaptability, and increase their self-confidence. If the child’s physical condition allows, the child’s activity should be gradually increased and the range of activities should be encouraged to have more contact with peers, so as to establish normal interpersonal relationships through play and eliminate inferiority complex and loneliness. One more point of happiness, health plus ten points, to let children grow up happy and happy.
The best thing in the world is to see your baby grow up healthily, precordial disease is not terrible, do not be afraid, do not blame yourself, correct and reasonable upbringing, precordial disease baby can also embrace tomorrow’s sun as normal children, usher in a bright future!