If you had a baby and they had down syndrome, would this be picked up at birth?

[ijokeijoke]

Is down syndrome identified at birth or in scans?

It could be either/or. I have known for both to happen.

Scans is more usual but babies do get diagnosed at birth without being detected previously in a scan.

It can be identified during the screening process at 12 weeks, though without amniocentesis the results are not definitive but normally given as a risk value
Otherwise it’s identified at birth

My dss wasn't diagnosed until he was a year old. Was 20 years ago and likely wouldn't happen now...

My DS1 (17) was diagnosed at birth (identified as a possibility about 6 hours old, confirmed 4 days later).
However at that time our hospital trust had a period with no 12 week scans, so we only had one at 20 weeks and thankfully he has no heart defects so nothing was highlighted at that scan. So he slipped through undetected!!!! Bless him. ❤️

Friends spotted it themselves at the birth of their child, which was an unplanned homebirth with just the two of them there. Nothing had shown up prior to birth so they were entirely unprepared.

Not always.

Even the initial screening isn't definitive, just identifying risk.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences.

These days it is mostly picked up on scans, but there are always some cases where it is not picked up (often in groups where the perceived risk is low). These babies are mostly diagnosed at birth, but there will also be cases of Mosaic DS where it might not be recognised until later

There's a blood test you can get when pregnant. Depends on why you're asking.