Forgot about the newborn hearing screening test...

Harper'smom · April 2012

I'm not sure if this is a state or national thing but babies born in the hospital in our state get a hearing test before they leave the hospital. Our birth center did not offer this and our pediatrician gave us business cards to local labs to get it done but ran out before I could ask any questions. I forgot and just came across the business cards. I'm considering skipping it all together. I"ll research it further but was wondering if this is something everyone does? (I'm hoping this isn't flame worthy...)

LindseyJW · April 2012

i didn't do it either. exact same thing happened wtih us. i intended to do it, but one thing after another and i just forgot.

thatbirthdaygirl · April 2012

It's required before we can leave the hospital we are going to. I looked on my state website and it says newborns will be screened no later than 1 month of age, most before hospital discharge.

iris427 · April 2012

I don't think you should skip it. Hearing issues are not always something parents can identiy on their own, and it can cause problems with language development. We had a home birth and had to get the hearing screen done ourselves. Our pedi gave us a referral and we went. It was NBD. It actually was kind of interesting.

lnrussell · April 2012

We had a home birth, but we did have it done when she was about 2 weeks old. The only reason we had it done was because my hubby has hearing loss, and was concerned that it might be hereditary. Insurance covered it for us.

CTri17 · April 2012

we didn't do it either

hopecounts · April 2012

Definitely do the hearing test.

A friend of mine's little girl was born hard of hearing, not completely deaf but close, and it was caught with the test, they were able to get hearing aids and speech therapy early and because of that she has developed speech normally despite her hearing problem.

While that may not seem like a big deal the fact that she speaks normally will probably be important to her during her teen years, and the fact that she is gaining speech at the normal speed means a lot to her parents.

InfinityDreamer · April 2012

It doesn't hurt to have it done. They typically try to do it while baby is sleeping so it's not disruptive to LO or invasive.

We didn't have it done with either DS or DD simply because by the time I thought about getting around to it, it was clear they were both able to hear quite well.

Harper'smom · April 2012

hopecounts:
Definitely do the hearing test.
A friend of mine's little girl was born hard of hearing, not completely deaf but close, and it was caught with the test, they were able to get hearing aids and speech therapy early and because of that she has developed speech normally despite her hearing problem.
While that may not seem like a big deal the fact that she speaks normally will probably be important to her during her teen years, and the fact that she is gaining speech at the normal speed means a lot to her parents.

Thank you. I tend to worry so this was the anecdote needed to make me call and set up an appt.

Harper'smom · April 2012

Starbuck128:
Yeah, we forgot about it until about 2 weeks. We went because DH has always had slight hearing loss. We had a home birth, and the woman who did the test had never done it on a newborn from a home birth before. She thought it was really exciting. LO did have to be asleep for the test though. That was really stressful for me. How in the world does a FTM insure a 2.5 week old is asleep at a specified time? Miraculously he was! Turns out LO has excellent hearing,

They also told me to make sure she is asleep and suggested bringing a bottle. I have not introduced a bottle yet and wasn't planning on doing so for another week. I I think I'll bring our swaddle sack and my boobs...

LindseyJW · April 2012

Harper'smom:
Starbuck128:
Yeah, we forgot about it until about 2 weeks. We went because DH has always had slight hearing loss. We had a home birth, and the woman who did the test had never done it on a newborn from a home birth before. She thought it was really exciting. LO did have to be asleep for the test though. That was really stressful for me. How in the world does a FTM insure a 2.5 week old is asleep at a specified time? Miraculously he was! Turns out LO has excellent hearing,

They also told me to make sure she is asleep and suggested bringing a bottle. I have not introduced a bottle yet and wasn't planning on doing so for another week. I I think I'll bring our swaddle sack and my boobs...

haha! i'm glad you decided to do it. like a pp said, by the time i realized we hadn't done it, it was very clear that LO could hear. even very faint sounds she would turn her head towards.

a friend of mine also had a child with an issue that was detected by the screening. i think there was a fluid issue that was totally correctable.

i'm sure all will be well with your LO!

pinksweetpea2 · April 2012

I don't know why anyone would skip the hearing test. It is non-invasive and pretty important test. If your child does have hearing loss, the sooner they know about it the better. There are so many ways a child could end up delayed because of undiagnosed hearing loss.

And just because they turn toward noise does not mean they don't have hearing loss...it just means that they can hear some noises.

::shrugs:: It is a bit of a PITA when you have a homebirth, but it is worth it IMO.

Oh, and Carly was awake the whole time. It can be done when they are awake- it just takes longer.

Harper'smom · April 2012

pinksweetpea2:
I don't know why anyone would skip the hearing test. It is non-invasive and pretty important test. If your child does have hearing loss, the sooner they know about it the better. There are so many ways a child could end up delayed because of undiagnosed hearing loss.
And just because they turn toward noise does not mean they don't have hearing loss...it just means that they can hear some noises.
::shrugs:: It is a bit of a PITA when you have a homebirth, but it is worth it IMO.

Oh, and Carly was awake the whole time. It can be done when they are awake- it just takes longer.

Good to know about the awake thing. I found it strange that the birth center didn't say anything other than "we don't do it" when they gave us a lot of info on all of the other newborn procedures. DD had it done at the hospital but again there was no info provided.

iris427 · April 2012

My son was awake during his. They had me nurse him because otherwise he was so squirmy that the ledes wouldn't stay on him.

I am with PSP. It is a noninvasive test that poses no risk to your child.

mkflower3000 · April 2012

My BC does the hearing test - I think they do it in a few sessions. I don't remember the exact time frames, but I think they do one very soon after the birth and another a few weeks after.

annabelle.27 · April 2012

We did it, for both our kids. With DS1 they did it in the hospital. With DS2 (homebirth) we went and got it done when he was about two or three weeks old. It's one of those things where I can't see any downside to getting it done, so why not play it safe and do it?

CTri17 · April 2012

with DD1 I didn't even know they did it routinely and my HB MW never mentioned it so we didn't do it with her.

We haven't done it with this DD2 but I'd like to , especially after reading all this.

Do I ask the pedi for a referral?

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Forgot about the newborn hearing screening test...

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