Your Family’s Partner in Heart Wellness
Nearly one percent of all babies born each year — approximately 40,000 children — come into the world with congenital (present at birth) heart defects. If doctors diagnose your baby with a congenital heart defect, specialists at Orlando Health Children's Heart Institute can help. We partner with experts at the Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies to provide the most complete care possible.
From conception to birth and beyond, Orlando Health Children's Heart Institute provides comprehensive cardiac care throughout your child’s life. Our goal is that each baby receives the necessary treatment to live a long, healthy life.
You can trust in our expertise. We’re recognized as one of the top healthcare facilities for children with congenital heart defects:
- We rank among the top 20 children’s hospitals in America for cardiac surgery outcomes.
- We also have a 97.7% survival rate – the highest of any pediatric cardiology program in Central Florida (The Society of Thoracic Surgeons).
- Orlando Health Children's Arnold Palmer Hospital is ranked a “Best Children’s Hospital” by U.S. News and World Report.
- Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies is ranked in neonatology by U.S. News and World Report, offering the top newborn care in Florida.
The Orlando Health Difference
Our team of dedicated, board-certified fetal cardiologists and sonographers brings years of experience to our Fetal Cardiac Program. Working closely with MFM specialists and neonatologists at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital, we keep you and your family at the center of everything we do.
If your OB-GYN identifies a concern during your ultrasound, you can be confident you’ll receive exceptional care. Your OB-GYN will refer you to the Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine , where an MFM specialist will perform a detailed evaluation. If a cardiac concern is identified, you will meet with a fetal cardiologist from The Heart Center, who will help guide your care throughout your pregnancy and beyond.
If your baby has a complex heart defect, your care will continue at the Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital Fetal Care Center , part of the Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. You will receive regular ultrasounds and monitoring from MFM providers who specialize in diagnosing and treating conditions affecting unborn babies. Your multidisciplinary care team will work together to support a healthy pregnancy and delivery at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.
Fetal Cardiac Program Specialties
In some cases, we begin treatment before birth. If your baby is diagnosed with a fetal dysrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat, we partner with the Center for Maternal Fetal Medicine to begin treatment, including the administration of certain medications, while your baby is still in the womb. This treatment occurs at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer, the same hospital where you’ll give birth.
Orlando Health Winnie Palmer promotes bonding with your baby immediately after birth through skin-to-skin contact. Bonding with your baby is even more critical for infants born with congenital heart defects. The Heart Center, in partnership with Orlando Health Winnie Palmer, has developed safe protocols to allow and promote mother-baby bonding immediately after birth, even if your baby is diagnosed with a complex heart defect.
Immediate skin-to-skin contact with your infant promotes attachment. Successful bonding is especially important for infants in our Fetal Cardiac Program, since it:
- Boosts the infant’s immune system
- Decreases length of hospital stay even after surgery
- Decreases neonatal stress
- Improves breastfeeding success for both the infant and mother
- Improves neonatal temperature and breathing regulation
- Improves oral feeding, even postoperatively
Successful bonding is also important for parents. Just knowing you’ll be able to hold your newborn can dramatically decrease any stress or anxiety you may feel. And if your baby needs heart surgery very soon after birth, this bonding process can help increase the likelihood of better outcomes.
If doctors determine your baby is at particularly high risk, complex interventions or surgeries will be coordinated prior to delivery and will be made available at the time of birth. A multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists, including cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiac interventionists, OB-GYNs and neonatologists will help ensure a safe delivery for you and your baby.
Located at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, and connected to Orlando Health Children's Arnold Palmer Hospital by sky-bridge, our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is the most advanced NICU in the nation for premature newborns and babies born with complex concerns. We also have a state-of-the-art pediatric cardiovascular intensive care unit (PCICU) dedicated exclusively to providing pediatric and congenital heart care.
Dedicated pediatric specialists at Orlando Health Children's Arnold Palmer Hospital, such as gastroenterologists, neurologists, hematologists, urologists, nephrologists, geneticists and more, are available to provide care if needed. We also offer complex care management and palliative care for babies born with serious health issues. Up to 40 percent of babies born with heart defects also have problems in other body systems, making a collaborative approach to care vital for their growth and development.
In addition to our other fetal cardiac program services, we also offer:
- Noninvasive cardiac imaging: We offer advanced cardiac imaging including echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and cardiac CT. Our echocardiography lab has been continuously accredited in transthoracic, transesophageal and fetal echocardiography since 2005; longer than any other lab in Central Florida.
- Pediatric cardiac home monitoring program: We offer 24/7 access to specialists and weekly home visits for children with single-ventricle heart defects between their first and second surgeries.
- Adult congenital heart program: Provides care for expectant mothers with complex heart defects, and ensures lifelong, seamless heart care for your baby if they have a heart defect.
Patient and Family Resources
Each family’s needs are different. Other Orlando Health and community resources may be of some assistance to you.
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Lactation Support – Lactation consultants at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer provide breastfeeding education and support to new mothers.
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Complex Care Clinic – We help your child overcome medical challenges throughout their entire life.
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Neurodevelopment Clinic – Our specialists offer treatment and hope for children living with developmental conditions.
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Ronald McDonald House – Providing a “home away from home” while your child undergoes treatment.
Contact Us
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please call (407) 649-6907.
