Echocardiograms

Hi J.,
My 3 yr. old daughter just went through the ordeal of having an echo in Dec. It's totally harmless, but with her age she ended up freaking out, didn't want the wand with the jell anywhere near her, etc. The place I had to take her let them watch a video, bring any lovely/doll/animal that they might like and a sippy cup. That's the only problem we had with it. She has a heart murmur is the reason she had to have one. We ended up seeing a specialist from Chapel Hill since she didn't let them do the echo on her. I wouldn't worry about things...possibly your son won't be as frightened. (I know that this isn't all that positive, but it's what I had to deal with) Hope that all goes well!!

I am the mother of a 15 year old developmentally delayed daughter (functions at the level of a 7 year old) who had a heart transplant at 6 months of age. She has had hundreds of echocardioigrams (echo's for short). She will lay on her back and they will put warm jelly on her chest and rub it with a wand. There is no pain involved, no sticks, etc. My cardiologist has a tv with cartoons for them to watch while the echo is being done. It only takes about 10 minutes and you can be with your child while it is going on. We make it a game of "Your heart is going to be on TV - how cool is that!" Hope this helps a little.

M. S.

I have a 10 week old son who was born 17 weeks premature. He has had countless echos. It's pretty much the same as when they did your ultrasounds when you were pregnant except it will be on his chest. It will cause him absolutely no pain. Your biggest challenge will be keeping him still. With our son it took about 15 minutes. The only thing I can think of to prepare for it is to let your son know what is going to happen.

Well my son has never had to have an echo done. However, I work for a cardiologist and there is nothing you need to do for preparation. An echo can be easily compared to a sonogram, the only difference is instead of the doppler being placed on your stomach it's placed on his chest (where his heart is). Hopefully I helped. Don't worry it's a piece of cake!!

my daughter is now almost two...but since day one she has been getting echo's done. the echo's would always last about 40-45 minutes.she had a hole in her heart and muscle bundles. when they are young, you can usually just have them take a nap but when they are your son's age and my daughter's age, they may want to give them a liquid medication that will help them go to sleep. my daughter would always fight it and it would be hard on me. once the kids get older, they kind of understand more of whats going on and can sit there. my daughter had her operation and she is great now! they closed up the hole and cut off her muscle bundles. we had the best doctor and surgeon. i don't know where you're going but dr. delaney is her doctor and dr. jaggers was her surgeon. both are out of duke hospital.

My son had one at 3 days and again at 4 months. It's just like an ultrasound. There is really nothing to do but lie there. Our cardiologist even let Aiden play with the probe for a few minutes to get used to it. He'll have one again at his 9 month checkup. Maybe when it happens you can show your son the screen and say, "Look there's your heart. It's pumping blood through your body so you can play all the time." Or something like that. It may be a little scary at first but once he realizes that it doesn't hurt.....he should do fine. Best of luck to you though. Be sure to let us know what you find out.

J., there is nothing to worry, the EKG is very easy: they'll put gel onto your little one's chest and run the scanner on it, just like any other sonogram. Good luck!

Echocardiogram-EKG-all they really do id place twleve electrodes to your son's chest. They simply stick on like a sticker would. They then hook up the tracing line to it with a clothes-pin like clip. It shouldn;t hurt him at all. Maybe when they pull the leads off. My baby had to have heart monitors on and we explained it to our son by saying that they put stickers on his heart to hear the beat.
Hope all goes well. Take Care.

My daughter had an echocardiogram at about the age of 1. We brought a blanket for her to keep warm and comfortable, which the doctor was ok with. It only took a few minutes and she was able to sit still since she had her blanket to keep her comfortable and I was right there with her. I would just recommend calling the cardiologist's office and asking their suggestions on how to prepare and keep your son comfortable.

Our son had to have one at about 6 months because the pediatrician thought she heard a murmur. Scared us to death. The procedure itself is no big deal. The biggest issue will be getting your son to be still long enough. Luckily, Caleb slept through his. One thing to mention though - don't get freaked out when the tech won't tell you anything. It doesn't mean there is something bad - most of them are not allowed to say anything about what they see. Only the doctors are allowed to imform the patients/parents after they review it.

Good luck.

My son had to have one at two days and then again at 5 wks. He was born with a leaky heart valve that corrected itself in that first month. I know it can be very scary. I worked with Dr. Millazzo, he is through Duke Hospital, and has an office in Raleigh with privileges at all the hospitals. To say he and his staff are amazing would be a huge understatement. I would highly recommend you see him if you can. His knowledge, bedside manner, and overall personality/professionalism made everything so much easier for a new mom like myself. And should it turn out to be something the man is a genius and extremely qualified to take care of your little one.