- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- babies today articles
- babies today q&a
- toddlers today articles
- toddlers today q&a
- breastfeed.com articles
- breastfeed.com q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Baby's First Tests
What You Can Expect During Your Hospital Stay
By Erin Gifford
am from a pediatrician who will evaluate your baby's color, make sure his movements are symmetrical and feel the soft spots on his head. Most important, he will listen to your baby's heart for murmurs and make sure he's not breathing too fast, both of which may show up first as a problem, according to Dr. Altmann.
After your baby's first feeding and before you bring him home from the hospital, he will be screened for hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria (PKU), along with any other diseases required by your state. This is done by pricking your baby's heel for a few drops of blood and sending the sample to your state's health department for analysis.
"The baby should feed before the newborn screening is done," says Dr. Altmann. "The blood test screens for things in the blood that are produced after a feeding, so a test before the first feeding might not be accurate."
While newborn screenings vary by state – Wisconsin screens for 26 diseases, while Utah screens for just four – parents do have the option of supplemental newborn screenings. "We were offered the opportunity to have a wider range of testing done as part of a state registry," says Laurie Cartwright of Lake Forest, Calif. "Since the amount of blood required was basically the same, we figured it was to our benefit to have the broader spectrum of testing." Independent laboratories, such as NeoGen Screening and NewScreen, will screen for 55 disorders for less than $100. Baylor Medical Center and Mayo Medical Laboratories screen for 35 diseases for $50 or less.
To take advantage of these supplemental screenings, you'll need to contact one of the labs for a free testing kit before you give birth. When you arrive at the hospital, just give the kit to your doctor and let him know that you want an extra blood sample drawn at the time of your baby's routine newborn screening.
Newborn hearing tests also have become common practice. The screening of newborns involves the use of non-invasive measures that include otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), in which sounds are played in your baby's ears and an echo response is measured, and/or auditory brain response (ABR), which tests an infant's ability to hear soft sounds through miniature earphones. Both are painless and can be done while your baby is resting quietly.
According to the American Academy of Audiology, as many as three in 1,000 babies are born in the United States each year with hearing loss, making it vital that you have your baby's hearing tested before leaving the hospital. Otherwise, mild to severe hearing problems may not be identified until your child is about 2 years of age. When hearing loss is detected late, language development can be delayed.
Want to see more?
Comments
There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to 
|
Post As:
|
||
| Enter your comment below: | ||
| Title | ||
| Comment Text | ||
| CAPTCHA | ||
| Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection. | ||
