Failed Newborn Hearing Screening

Not myself, but a friend of mine had a baby a few months ago and he failed both ears at birth. It was at least a week later before they cleared him.

The fluid is likely in the middle/inner ear and has nothing to do with when your water broke. It most likely normal fluid retention that didn't clear during childbirth and can't just because babies have small, horizontal Eustachian tubes.

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If you see hearing issues in your kids in the future, you need to investigate adrenal problems. Low aldosterone, a hormone from the adrenal gland, causes deafness, ringing and pain /heavy wax in kids. Replacing this hormone can make a drastic difference is some people. Just keep this letter for future.

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Congratulations on your new baby!

I work at a hospital and I do the birth certificates. One of the statistical questions in the system is whether or not a child passes their hearing test.
There are reasons for children not to pass in one or both ears before they leave the hospital.
Fortunately, in the cases I'm aware of, the follow-up hearing exams were fine.
Enjoy your baby and try not to worry too much. You know from experience that the newborn tests aren't always passed and that a little time is likely all that's needed.

I wish you the very, very best and again, congratulations!

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I have a son who is now almost 5 who failed the newborn tests twice in the hospital. He does have a hearing loss, but it is so mild that he isn't needing any interventions or hearing aids at this time. We also were stressed out about him failing the screening, but were blessed to have nothing serious come of it. The hearing screenings are an early dectection to try and get help before it is too late. We went through all of the testing and such to make sure that it wasn't serious, but know that if it is you need to have the interventions in place early (like hearing aids and/or learning sign language). The studies have shown that if a child has a hearing loss and can get the proper interventions in place by 6 months that they will be able to start kindergarten with about the same language skills as their hearing counterparts. It is really important to follow through with this. It could be something as simple as fluid in their ears, but you won't know until you test. Our story is a little more involved that I can put here, but ours turned out better than we were told to begin with. We were prepared to put hearing aids on our little boy at 6 months and we had started learning (and teaching our other children) sign in the event that we would need it for him later. If you would like to know more about our story, I would be happy to share that. As far as what you can do now for you daughter.....treat her like you would if there wasn't anything wrong with her. Don't be afraid to sing to her, or read her stories, talk to her and most of all love her unconditionally. Good luck to you.
J.--SAHM of 7

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Yes my son failed but was retested befoer our discharge it was fluid inhis ears he passed the second time & has been fine since

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My youngest failed her newborn hearing test 3 times. I knew she could hear because she would startle. Turns out her ear canals are just really really tiny. The audiologist said the sound was bouncing off the walls of her ear canal and not the eardrum. The newborn screen measures the way sound bounces off the ear drum. So, all of the lines were coming back flat. She passed the hearing test with the audiologist with flying colors.

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My friends daughter failed her hearing test at the hospital when she was born. They waited a few more hours and gave her another, she failed again. They took the baby to the dr and again she failed. Finally they went to a specialist and by this time the baby was about 1 month, she passed. She has been fine ever since, no hearing troubles. We were all kind of worried and stressed out for that 1st month though. But all turned out fine! :)
Good Luck!

get a second opinion this is not something to be messed with. mine is hard of hearing but passed his newborn test. some hearing problems can be fixed by surgery but get another opinion.