Newborn and Prenatal Tests and Procedures

If you're pregnant, your doctor will recommend screenings and tests to check your baby's health. After you give birth, experts will perform several tests and procedures on your baby to ensure they thrive.

Doctors use these tests and screenings to spot potential health problems. They also use procedures to treat and help prevent health issues in babies. At UPMC, we aim to help you have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

What are Tests and Procedures for Babies?

UPMC's experts offer many prenatal screenings and tests for during your pregnancy. We also provide tests and procedures for your newborn baby after you give birth.

Tests detect changes in you or your baby that may signal or cause health issues. Procedures include ways of taking samples.

Doctors recommend screening tests for all pregnant people. They also recommend diagnostic tests for some.

You may need a diagnostic test for a health issue if:

• You have a higher risk of it.
• A screening test showed you may have it.

Prenatal screenings and diagnostic tests are optional. The decision of whether to have them is personal. Your doctor will explain why they want you to take a test.

They'll also explain how they'll use test results to make recommendations for you and your baby. 

Screening tests

Screenings are tests that check your baby's health. They tell doctors if your baby is likely to have a health issue. Screening tests don't increase your risk of complications like miscarriage.

Many prenatal screenings are simple lab tests that test small blood or urine samples. Other screenings use noninvasive tools like ultrasound.

If a screening shows that your baby's at an increased risk for a health issue, your doctor might recommend diagnostic tests. Diagnostic tests aren't always an option. But sometimes, they can tell you if your baby has a condition.

Diagnostic tests

Doctors use diagnostic tests to diagnose health conditions. They're the only way to know if your baby has a health condition. If your baby's diagnosed with a condition, your doctor will talk to you about treatment options.

Some diagnostic tests are invasive. These tests increase the risk of complications like bleeding. Your doctor will talk to you about these risks.

Procedures

Doctors also use standard procedures to help prevent health issues in babies. They recommend some of these procedures, like vitamin K injections, for all babies. Others, such as circumcision, are optional. Some, like non-stress testing, are used during pregnancy if a person has complications.

What Prenatal Tests and Screenings Does UPMC Offer?

At UPMC, we offer:

Amniocentesis

During amniocentesis, doctors take a sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding your baby. They send the fluid to a lab to check for health problems.

Chronic villus sampling (CVS)

With CVS, doctors take a sample of tissue from your placenta. They use the sample to test for chromosome issues and congenital differences.

Fetal echocardiogram

This test uses sound waves to take images of your baby's heart. Doctors might recommend this test if you have certain conditions or a health history that increases your baby's risk of heart issues.

Genetic testing

The samples taken during amniocentesis and CVS typically undergo genetic testing. This testing tells you if the baby has genetic differences that cause disease.

Doctors also offer genetic screening that uses small samples of your blood or cells from inside of your cheek. Doctors send these samples to a lab. Experts test them to see if you carry genes for inherited disorders that might impact your baby's health (carrier screening).

Gestational diabetes tests

• One-hour glucose tolerance test — Also known as the glucose challenge test, this test checks your body's response to sugar. High blood sugar means you may have gestational diabetes or that you're at risk for developing it. Experts recommend this test between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.
• Three-hour glucose tolerance test — Also known as the oral glucose tolerance test, this test is taken if the blood sugar on your one-hour test is high. It will confirm a gestational diabetes diagnosis.

Group B strep screening

During this test, a doctor or nurse will use a swab to take a sample from your vagina and rectum to test for Group B strep bacteria. You'll receive this test between 36 and 38 weeks of pregnancy. If you test positive, you will receive antibiotics during labor to reduce your baby's odds of infection.

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT)

NIPT is a way to perform prenatal genetic testing without an invasive test. The NIPT finds and analyzes the baby's DNA in the mother's blood to screen for genetic diseases.

Nonstress testing

This test uses monitors on your belly to measure your baby's heart rate and movement. This test can help doctors see if your baby is healthy.

Doctors may ask you to take a non-stress test if:

• Your baby's heart rate is high or low.
• Your baby doesn't appear to move as much as it usually does.
• Your baby seems smaller than doctors are expecting for the stage of your pregnancy.
• You're past your due date.
• Your pregnancy is high-risk because of a medical condition like diabetes.
• You're having more than one baby (multiples).
• You're Rh negative, and your baby is Rh positive.

Prenatal ultrasounds

Ultrasounds use sound waves to produce images of your baby and the inside of your uterus (womb). These images help doctors see your baby's size, shape, and position. Ultrasound also allows doctors to find any issues with your uterus, cervix, ovaries, or placenta.

• Early or dating ultrasound —During your first trimester, doctors will use an ultrasound to measure the size of your embryo or fetus. This measurement helps them determine when you became pregnant and your due date.  
• First trimester screening — Doctors use ultrasounds and a blood test to see if your baby's at a higher risk for Down syndrome (trisomy 21) and Edward syndrome (trisomy 18).
• Anatomy scan — Doctors perform this ultrasound around 20 weeks of pregnancy. It checks to see if your baby's organs and other body parts, like limbs, are developing. Doctors may also check your baby's heart during an anatomy scan.
• Growth ultrasound — Doctors sometimes recommend an ultrasound to check your baby's growth. You may have a growth ultrasound in your third trimester if you have certain pregnancy complications or if your doctor thinks your baby may be too big or too small.

Standard tests and procedures during prenatal visits

During each prenatal visit, your doctor will do certain checks. These monitor you for issues that could impact you or your baby.

These screenings include:

• Blood pressure checks — Doctors will screen you for preeclampsia, a dangerous high blood pressure condition.
• Urine tests — These check your blood sugar levels and your protein levels. High blood sugar is a sign you're at a higher risk for or have gestational diabetes. High protein levels are a sign you're at risk for or have preeclampsia.
• Fundal height — Your doctor will measure the distance from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus with a measuring tape. This measurement is a quick way for them to monitor the baby's growth.

What Newborn Tests and Procedures Does UPMC Offer?

After you give birth, UPMC's caring specialists will perform tests on your newborn baby. These tests help find health issues so doctors can treat them.

Most baby screenings and tests are fast and noninvasive. You may not even realize your baby is having testing after you give birth. These tests don't increase your baby's risk of complications.

Doctors will also perform standard procedures on your baby. These procedures are also noninvasive. They help prevent health issues for your baby.

At UPMC, we offer:

Apgar testing

This test measures your baby's physical condition at one and five minutes after birth. Doctors examine your baby's:

• Appearance.
• Pulse.
• Grimace response.
• Activity and muscle tone.
• Respiration.

Doctors score each of these factors on a scale of zero to two, then add the scores. A total score between seven and ten is normal. A score of four to six means your baby needs treatment like oxygen. A score of three or lower means your baby needs life-saving procedures.

Bilirubin screening

About twenty-four hours after your baby is born, doctors will check their skin to see if it's yellow. They'll also do a blood test to check your baby's bilirubin levels. (Bilirubin is a yellow pigment your body makes when processing older red blood cells.) Yellowing skin and high bilirubin levels are signs that your baby has jaundice.

Circumcision

If your baby's a boy and you want to have him circumcised, UPMC's experts can perform circumcision after you give birth. Circumcision's a procedure that cuts away the foreskin covering the head of the penis.

Eye prophylaxis

Eye prophylaxis is when doctors place medication in your baby's eyes after birth. The medication prevents infection and blindness from gonorrhea and chlamydia infections.

Footprinting and identification bands

Your baby will receive an identification band in the delivery room. Nurses will also document their footprint at that time. These procedures make sure you and UPMC's experts can identify your baby.

Hearing screening

A hearing test specialist will test your baby's hearing soon after birth.

Hepatitis B vaccination

Your baby will receive the first of three hepatitis B vaccinations after birth. Hepatitis B is a harmful liver infection caused by a virus, but vaccinations can prevent it.

Metabolic screening

With a metabolic screening, doctors prick your baby's heel and take a very small amount of blood. They use that blood to test for many metabolic and inherited disorders. The state requires all babies to get this test.

Vitamin K injection

Vitamin K helps blood clot, but babies don't have much of it when they're born. Giving a baby a vitamin K injection after birth can help prevent internal bleeding.

Why Choose UPMC Magee For Care?

At UPMC, our experts have decades of experience treating pregnant women and newborn babies. We use state-of-the-art tests and equipment to screen for and diagnose health issues. We'll help you make informed decisions during every stage of your pregnancy and birth.

By UPMC Editorial Staff. Last reviewed on 2024-09-05.