What are the chances of my baby having heart problems if the father has a heart murmur? my husband was born with a heart murmur and we are thinking of conceiving. we would like to know the chances of the baby being born with a heart defect also.

It : It depends on the defect since some are more heritable than others. Not all heart murmurs are caused by heart defects, in fact, most heart murmurs occur in completely normal hearts. A murmur is just an extra heart sound we hear when listening to someone's heart and doesn't necessarily mean that there is a problem. Talk to your husband's doctor to find out if his murmur is due to a heart defect and what kind of defect it is if he does in fact have one. Once you know what it is, you'll be able to find out if it is a concern when thinking of having children - you can talk to your ob/gyn about your concerns. Good luck!

Heart defect: Chance of heart defect in children of parents with a heart defect is slightly higher than normal population, the incidence of fathers with congenital heart disease having affected children is between 1.5% and 3.0%.