Boston newborn screening

If your baby is born at a hospital, screening will happen before you take your baby home. If your baby has an out-of-hospital birth, screening can happen outside of the hospital like at your birth center or home. Many midwives are trained to complete NBS.

If you are planning an out-of-hospital birth, talk to your midwife about NBS before your baby is born. If your midwife cannot perform NBS, make other arrangements. It is important that you make a plan so your baby completes screening near the recommended age. Results from blood spot screening are usually ready in about five to seven days. If the result suggests the presence of a condition, then either the health care provider or the state NBS program will contact you.

To learn more about blood spot screening results, visit the Newborn Screening Results and Follow-Up page. Pulse oximetry screening uses a sensor to determine if your baby might have certain heart conditions called critical congenital heart disease CCHD.

CCHD is a group of serious heart conditions present at birth. Children with CCHD have any of a wide range of heart problems that arise when parts of the heart do not form correctly.

In some forms of CCHD, the heart has trouble delivering oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Babies with these forms of CCHD have low levels of oxygen in their blood. Babies do not usually start talking until they are about 1 year old, but language begins developing at birth.

Babies learn sounds, speech, and language by hearing people speaking around and to them during the first months of life. A child who has even a mild hearing loss may be slow to learn words and how to communicate if not helped early. Newborn hearing screening is important because it finds children that may need help as early in their lives as possible.

This second check usually happens one to two weeks after the first screening. Even though every state in the U. This means that NBS can be a little different in each state. For example, some states may give parents different options during screening, have different NBS costs , or look for different conditions during screening. It is important to be familiar with how NBS works in your state. States give parents options during NBS. Examples of choices that differ by state include the following:. Although most of the time babies pass the later hearing test, it is very important to make sure that this test is done because early diagnosis of true hearing loss helps tremendously to ensure the best outcomes for those children.

Learn more about the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening process. Very premature babies can have problems with eye development or brain issues. These babies are usually referred for specialized eye examinations and head ultrasounds. If blood vessels grow very abnormally, they can hemorrhage causing retinal scarring and visual problems or impaired sight. Infants who meet the criteria will be examined first at three to nine weeks postnatal age, and afterwards every one to three weeks until their eyes show mature blood vessel development.

If abnormalities develop, treatments are available. At each exam, the ophthalmologist conducts a standard evaluation of the blood vessels growing on the retina the interior back of the eye. Sometimes photos of the blood vessel pattern on the retina are taken with a special camera at the same time as the eye exam. All people have small chambers inside their brains where fluid is made that cushions the brain and the spinal cord.

Routine newborn screening is required in Massachusetts. Optional screenings, also know as pilot studies, are also available. The disorders included in the routine screening are considered to be treatable when discovered early. The voluntary screenings provided by the New England Newborn Screening Program allow parents to participate in research studies pilot studies of new tests.

Its researchers have received funding from the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of newborn genomic sequencing information on babies and their care. Envelope icon Subscribe to our newsletter Get regular updates to your inbox. Your Email. Share this article: Share article via email Copy article link. Recommended Reading.