I've done it for 2 out of my 3 HB babies. Last baby I didn't, pedi doesn't have the ability to do it and it wasn't big on my to-do list. I ended up getting a letter from the state a couple months later saying they knew of local places to get it done. I was interested so I called, they actually didn't, they had to research it and get back to me. Granted, I do live in a remote part of the state! We ended up going to an audiology center, by then he was 4-5 months old and had to do a full hearing scan. It took hours because we had to wait until he was still and quiet (read asleep or nursing!). I'm glad we did do it, DS1 has severe speech issues and that would of been the first thing that we had to of done, a full hearing screen (not just the newborn one) but we had already done it!
My MW actually owns a machine now to do her own hearing screens. Like I said, we are in a very rural area, she doesn't do that many births. I was shocked when she said she owned one. She told me that she bought it because the state is really encouraging all newborns to be screened regardless of where they birthed at. We have a local family that I know that didn't do one, HB, at 1y the boy was found to be deaf. And I have two friends from my last DDC that I still talk with, both of their girls are deaf, so it is on my radar. It took minutes to do ours here at the house. When I worked in the hospital, there was never any mention of sedating newborns for it. I've never heard of such a thing actually and I work with newborns, it isn't done locally, but I keep up to date on journals and lists as well. It must not be a widespread practice, thank goodness.
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