baby with pacemaker advice

hi

my son had a pacemaker fitted at 7 weeks old.
just thinking future wise and wondering if anyone had any advice! as we really weren't given much information(he is 6 months now)
anything useful really-what they can can't do-i have a feeling he will be a boisterous little fella and am fully expecting trips to hospital from tumbles etc!

thank you


6 Comments

Congratulations on the birth of your baby!

by Hot Heart - 2014-02-15 02:02:07

Obviously I don't know the reason he was fitted with a pm, but the chances are it was slow heart rate. The pm is a tough little thing, I've had some bad falls in the 6 years I've had mine and it has never been affected. My tech was telling me yesterday that they are making massive strides with pm's now and I think in the future they will be invincible. Just enjoy your little one and try not to worry too much. HH x

Enjoy life

by Theknotguy - 2014-02-15 04:02:37

We get a lot of postings on the forum from concerned Moms. Mostly the kid has been too rambunctious and the Moms get scared.

Your son may have the abdomen insertion. It's common for kids because they don't have room in the shoulder area. You'll want to limit direct hits to the PM area and the leads in that area. Otherwise, that's about it. Rule of thumb is no contact sports that would hit the PM. And he's got a while before he'll be doing that.

As far as the PM goes. There are no magnets, radio frequency, or electromagnetic frequency around the home that can affect the PM. So you can wipe those worries from your mind. That means he can play on the computer, Nintendo, Play Station, and all that stuff. Doesn't have to be worried about mixer motors, drill motors, microwave ovens, induction ovens, and that kind of stuff. One Mom kept her son from playing with magnets in school. Shoulda left him go. I've put the rare earth magnets from name tags directly over my PM. Zilch, zero, nada, nothing. So the little magnets in school shouldn't be a problem. Don't worry.

We've got adults on this forum who are skydiving, scuba diving, swimming, weight lifting, training for marathons, and all sorts of athletic stuff. Also working in power plants, in foundries, and on diesel-electric locomotives with PM's and without problems. So anything you run into the home probably won't bother the PM.

So when he gets old enough to pull the coffee table over and gets the headlight bump on his head, the last thing on your mind should be the PM.

They've introduced the PM's that fit inside of the heart. Good for adults. By the time he reaches his teenage years he'll probably be able to be fitted for one. At that time he should be able to do just about anything.

Help him enjoy life. Kids his age should be able to live to age 100 so he's got a lot of living to do. Hopefully in a couple of years he'll be doing what boys do best - giving his Mom gray hair!

Hang in there. Life gets better.

Theknotguy

New Pacemaker Information

by Terry - 2014-02-16 01:02:34

There is a scientific study report listed on PacemakerPatientAdvocacy.com that found that 7% of kids paced in the ventricle developed heart failure because the lead pacing site was in the apex of the right ventricle so that the ventricles don't contract the way they were designed to contract. If concerned, watch for heart failure by knowing the ejection fraction over time (ultrasound monitoring).
If he should be paced into heart failure, see how the heart healed itself in the case of Karen's story on that website. In her case, the lead was moved to pace the cardiac conduction system (Google that) so that her heart could heal itself from the remodeling that occurred by apex pacing.

thanks!

by eagles78 - 2014-02-16 04:02:14

thanks for the comments-much appreciated.
my son had transposition of greater arteries and had open heart surgery at 7 days old-his heart never recovered from the op(was more complicated than first thought)
i rarely worry about him and forget he has a PM. he is the happiest little soul...in fact advice on getting him to sleep throught the night would probably more useful ;0)
I hope having the PM won't limit his life and your comments have reassured me it won't.
x

children

by Pacemum - 2014-02-16 05:02:06

Hi

Your son should be able to do most things as the others have stated.

My daughter has had her pacemaker since being very young too and she is very active. She had her pacemaker relocated to the usual adult position just before her 8th birthday. She now has a system which allows her heart to function more normally.

Unable to help with the sleep patterns.

he will be alright

by olivia.walker87@yahoo.com - 2014-02-16 10:02:06

hes going to be okay as long as he nows why he got it but if when he grows up and learns that you do not have to wait to do things that he still wants to do he can tell us when he turns a year old then we will talk

You know you're wired when...

You play MP3 files on your pacer.

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