Parents

Newborn screening is done when your baby is 24-48 hours old and is the first step towards a healthy start for your baby as it helps find treatable conditions early, often before anyone notices something is wrong. The screening has three parts: blood spot, hearing and heart screening. Early detection and treatment can help babies live healthier lives

Blood Spot Screen 
A small blood sample is taken from your baby’s heel, placed on a filter card and sent to a special laboratory for testing. This testing helps find health conditions that can affect a baby’s hormones, blood, nervous system, or how they process foods. Finding these conditions early can help prevent serious health problems, disability and even death.

Hearing Screen 
Small earphones or ear buds are placed on or in your baby’s ear to see if they can hear or respond to sounds. Finding a hearing loss or deafness early helps babies stay on track with speech, language and communication skills.

Heart Screen 
A small sensor placed on your baby’s hand and foot is used to check the amount of oxygen in your baby’s blood. Low levels of oxygen in the blood may be caused by a serious heart problem known as critical congenital heart disease (CCHD). If found early, babies with CCHD can often get help through medical treatments or surgery.

Each part of newborn screening is important and helps protect your baby's baby’s future health.

A baby can have a condition even if they seem healthy at birth. These conditions may not run in families. Every condition tested for by newborn screening has a treatment. So, finding these conditions early helps babies get the care they need to prevent serious health problems, disability, and even death.