Your Baby’s Health and Checks
From your newborn’s first examination to their hearing screening, find out what health checks your baby will have in their first days and weeks.
Newborn Screening
All newborn babies are screened for a range of health conditions shortly after their birth. Screening for all these conditions is strongly recommended, but it is not mandatory. If a baby has one of the conditions, the long-term benefit of screening with early treatment is much greater than the small discomfort they feel when the blood sample is taken.
Two Types of Newborn Screening Available
Newborn screening includes the Heel Prick Test, which checks for a range of medical conditions, and the Newborn Hearing Screening, which checks for hearing loss in one or both ears. Both are carried out shortly after birth, ideally before your baby goes home from hospital.
Bloodspot Screening (Heel Prick Test)
All newborn babies are screened for a range of rare health conditions shortly after their birth. Screening for all these conditions is strongly recommended, but it is not mandatory. If a baby has one of the conditions, the long-term benefit of screening and diagnosis with early treatment is significantly greater than the discomfort they feel when the blood sample is taken.
Conditions currently screened for:
- Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Homocystinuria
- Maple Syrup Urine Disease
- Classical Galactosaemia
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Congenital Hypothyroidism
- Medium Chain Acyl CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD)
- Glutaric Aciduria Type 1
- Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency – Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (ADA-SCID) – 2022
- Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – 2026
- Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) – 2026
The Newborn Bloodspot Screening Test is done between 72 hours and 120 hours after baby is born depending on feed type and need for admission to the baby unit after birth.
The Public Health Nurse or Midwife will prick baby’s heel using a special device to collect some drops of blood onto a special card. It is very important to contact the public health nurse if an expected new-born screening test does not occur.
This card is sent to the metabolic lab in CHI Temple Street. Parents will only be contacted if there is a concern regarding any of the conditions on the screening test.
If there is an indicator that there may be a potential positive result, clear instructions will be given to parents for follow up.
Newborn Hearing Screening
The HSE Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme is available nationwide for all babies. One to two babies in every 1,000 born in Ireland are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Most babies born with a hearing loss are born into families with no history of hearing loss, so it is important to screen all babies as early as possible.
The hearing screen ideally takes place before your baby goes home from hospital. A trained Screener carries out an automated hearing screen, usually while the baby is settled or sleeping at the mother’s bedside. Babies discharged before the screen can be offered an appointment to complete the screen at an Outpatients Clinic.
Any baby who does not have a clear response from the screen will be seen for a full audiological (hearing) assessment at a HSE Audiology Clinic.