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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think all babies should be DNA tested at birth

314 replies

ohagape · 04/12/2015 10:25

After reading that awful thread in step parenting where the poor guy wasn't even his 'sons' father and handed loads of money over to the horrible sounding mother, I really think all babies should be DNA tested as soon as they are born with the potential father/s, whether from a good relationship or not.

It would save a lot of heartbreak and wasted time and money. It can easily be told by blood types. My whole life my mum told me I had a different blood type. Then when I found out at my booking bloods and told her she got really confused about my dad's blood type. I really thought my dad wasn't my dad so he went and did a DNA test to reassure me. AIBU to think this should be a routine thing at all births and father's name shouldn't be on the birth certificate until it's done?

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 04/12/2015 10:28

YABU extra expense we don't need. What harm does having the wrong Dad on the Birth Cert do as long as everyone's happy (and/or ignorant)?

TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee · 04/12/2015 10:30

No, Paternity cannot be determined by blood type.

TeaPleaseLouise · 04/12/2015 10:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

abbieanders · 04/12/2015 10:31

Maternity hospitals do need a touch more live action kyle.

AliceInUnderpants · 04/12/2015 10:31

YABU.
Plenty of women and men are perfectly aware of their children's parentage, thank you very much.

BarbarianMum · 04/12/2015 10:33
ElderlyKoreanLady · 04/12/2015 10:34

Why you you think paternity can be determined by blood type? Confused There are very few blood types...am I missing something?

And YABU. A) it's a huge expense to DNA test all babies and B) medical procedures, even blood samples, require consent from a parent at that age.

howtorebuild · 04/12/2015 10:34

No. If a couple have issues, they sort them.

Can you imagine these test results coming through in a WEP style ward. The Dad's going 👹 whilst residing on the ward.

ouryve · 04/12/2015 10:35

Yeah, it would save loads of money.Xmas Hmm

iggy155 · 04/12/2015 10:35

YABU. No fucking way would I have allowed my children to be DNA tested at birth. I'm perfectly aware who my children's father is and because my husband trusts me he knows he is the father of my children too!

PaulAnkaTheDog · 04/12/2015 10:36

So your solution for the bad behaviour of the minority is to cast suspicion on the majority? Hmm

Yabu.

iggy155 · 04/12/2015 10:36

Oh and I didn't believe paternity can be determined by blood type so that's Biscuit as well.

TrojanWhore · 04/12/2015 10:36

So the state gets a 100% coverage DNA database by the back door?

No thanks.

TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee · 04/12/2015 10:37

Also, some men know full well they arent the father, or may not be the father, but to choose to be so anyway, regardless.

In my family, the other potential father was a total waste of space, still is 29 years later, and was happy to be "let off the hook" by the husband, who took on his child. (Still not confirmed who is the father.)

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 04/12/2015 10:38

So my DH shouldn't trust me. I have to prove I haven't cheated on him before he deigns to acknowledge our children. What a great basis for our relationship!

Enjolrass · 04/12/2015 10:38

Yabu.
I don't want my child to have to be tested, because a very small amount of mothers lie about who their child's father is.

It's total rubbish.

I have no idea what blood type I am or the kids. It's written down somewhere.

If you became that obsessive over your mum getting your blood type wrong that your dad had to get a small test, I would suggest that you aren't looking at this subject rationally.

Dornan · 04/12/2015 10:39

I read somewhere that about 20% of babies were estimated to have an incorrect father listed in their birth certificate (which seems really high).

Even then, how to you justify the expense to the state of needlessly paying for DNA testing for the other 80%?

There's no medical reason to do it.

unicornflesh · 04/12/2015 10:39

Lol at Paternity cannot be determined by blood type. Some people are clearly uneducatedHmm

To think all babies should be DNA tested at birth
Only1scoop · 04/12/2015 10:39

Yabu and also misinformed regarding how a Dna test is carried out. Not by bloods.

Also Jeremy Kyle would go bust as his show is all about people that can't afford to have them apparently.

Marynary · 04/12/2015 10:40

YABU. If parents want paternity tests they should pay for it themselves. NHS money should be used to treat sick people.

TillITookAnArrowToTheKnee · 04/12/2015 10:42

unicorn YOU are uneducated. Blood type indicates paternity, it is not confirmation. What if both potential fathers are the same blood type? Hmm

unicornflesh · 04/12/2015 10:43

Yanbu OP. I was a poster on the thread you're talking about. If my father had a DNA test done at the birth then he wouldn't have been ripped off out of thousands of pounds for a child that wasn't his and that he barely ever saw anyway

Enjolrass · 04/12/2015 10:43

I read somewhere that about 20% of babies were estimated to have an incorrect father listed in their birth certificate (which seems really high).

I always wonder how people come up with these figures.

How the hell would you know?

scaevola · 04/12/2015 10:43

What you have linked, unicornflesh is true for the vast majority. But there are well documented cases of anomalous blood groups (where paternity can be proven by DNA). So it cannot be relied on to exclude paternity.

And it can never be used to prove paternity, as there are millions of people in each group.

BarbarianMum · 04/12/2015 10:43

unicorn paternity cannot be determined by blood type, only disproved.

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