Heel prick and hearing test

The heel prick involves taking a little blood from the baby through a prick in the heel. This blood is tested for a 17 serious diseases. Early detection of these diseases is important to prevent or limit damage to health with the right treatments.

We assume you want to know if your baby is sick, but with the heel prick we can also test for carrier status of sickle cell disease, for example. This means that the baby itself is not sick, but carries it on its genes and thus can pass it on to his/her future children. At the heel prick you are given the choice of whether you want to determine carrier status or not. It is good to talk about this together beforehand.

For more information about the heel prick click here.

The hearing test, also called hearing screening, examines whether the baby can hear well. This is done by inserting a plug into the baby's ear, which then emits soft sounds. A device reads whether these sounds are detected by your baby's ears. The examination takes a few minutes and is not painful for the baby. It is important that the room is quiet when the test is performed. The maternity nurse will probably not bathe the baby the hours before because water in the ear can sometimes affect the results. You will be told the result immediately. In 95 out of 100 children, the result is good right away. In the other 5 children, a follow-up test must be done. Sometimes a follow-up test is not enough. In that case, more tests will be done.

Good hearing is important because it is also important for learning to talk. If a baby cannot hear well, this is good to know in time so that any treatment can be initiated more quickly. More information about the hearing test can be found here read.