Cardiac Nutrition Counselling for Infants

Cardiac nutrition becomes an issue in children with heart disease with a large shunt and increased pulmonary blood flow. This may be the situation with child who are pink (e.g. VSD) or with children are blue (e.g. TAPVD, Truncus, TGA).

A regular follow-up and thorough check up with your Pediatrician/Pediatric Cardiologist includes nutritional assessment at every stage. There are several situations where nutritional issues come up in relation to children with heart disease:

Child not gaining weight: Is there a heart problem which is the cause?
Child is not gaining weight with heart problem: Is the heart problem the cause always and is surgery the only solution?
Child is having a heart problem and waiting for surgery: How to increase weight gain?
Child has had heart surgery for a problem. Before surgery the problem was weight gain and after surgery also the problem is weight gain. Now what to do?
Is your child overweight and you child need to understand what to do to improve his nutrition and get him healthier?
If your child’s feeding takes more than 30 minutes you can cross check with your pediatrician/pediatric cardiologist
Infants those who are unable to gain sufficient weight with breastfeeding, extra supplements or 24 hours breastfeeding is advisable.
A calorie intake of 140-200 per kg per day is required to catch a normal growth.
There is a definite role for parental education from a dietitian to optimize feeding.
In these situations is extremely advisable to develop a nutritional strategy forming a team of parent + doctor. Please schedule an appointment with Dr. Vikas Kohli to discuss your child’s nutritional problem and form a strategy.