Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are related to heart defects that develop during pregnancy and are present at birth (congenital). Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, affecting one of every 100 babies born in the United States. There are many different kinds of defects. They can affect blood flow to the lungs and body. Combinations of defects can create complicated conditions. All require careful diagnosis and management or treatment.

Babies with congenital heart problems at Children’s Wisconsin are treated by expert, experienced fetal and pediatric heart specialists who are part of the Herma Heart Institute. These specialists developed many of the practices used worldwide for treating the rarest and most complex congenital heart defects, including surgical repair techniques. Herma Heart Institute surgeons are among the busiest in the country and include several of the few board-certified congenital heart disease surgeons in the country.

Approximately 1% of all live-born infants have a congenital heart defect. This means that in the United States, approximately 25,000 to 30,000 babies are born each year with some type of congenital heart disease.

Heart development occurs very early in gestation — during the first seven weeks.