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Blue Baby
SummaryA blue baby is an infant born with a type of congenital heart disease that causes the infant’s skin to have a bluish tint (cyanosis). Cyanosis develops when much of the blood circulating through the body is “blue” (or oxygen-poor) rather than red (or oxygen-rich) to nourish the baby’s tissues. Many different heart defects can cause this condition. Although a blue baby once had very little chance of survival, treatments are now available to help blue babies grow up to live normal, healthy lives. Depending on the specific heart defect that is causing the condition, treatment could involve medications, a minimally invasive procedure called cardiac catheterization or surgery.
About blue babyA blue baby is an infant born with a type of congenital heart disease that causes the infant’s skin to have a bluish tint (cyanosis). Cyanosis is a condition in which there is too much oxygen-poor blood traveling through the arteries, which normally carry only oxygen-rich blood to nourish the body. In technical terms, cyanosis is diagnosed when the level of reduced (desaturated) hemoglobin exceeds 5 grams per deciliter (g/dl) of blood in the arteries. The cyanosis of a blue baby is caused by a heart defect called a right-to-left shunt — a condition in which blood is diverted (shunted) from the right side of the heart to the left. Because blood normally travels from the right side of the heart to the lungs, the right-to-left shunt diverts blood away from the process of going to the lungs to get more oxygen. Therefore, a mixture of oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood circulates through the body, causing the bluish tint. Any complication in breathing, or any extra exertion (e.g., the crying or feeding of babies) intensifies the blue tint and related symptoms.
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