How do you know if your unborn baby will have Down syndrome?
A combined test (sometimes called an integrated test).
This approach uses both a blood test and an ultrasound during the first trimester, as well as a second-trimester blood test. Health care providers then combine all these results to produce one Down syndrome risk rating.
What increases chance of Down syndrome?
These factors include geographic region, maternal education, marital status, and Hispanic ethnicity. Because the likelihood that an egg will contain an extra copy of chromosome 21 increases significantly as a woman ages, older women are much more likely than younger women to give birth to an infant with Down syndrome.
What is the behavior of a Down syndrome baby?
They often have mild to moderate intellectual disability and may have specific challenges with attention span, verbal memory, and expressive communication. Behavioral problems such as stubbornness, impulsivity, and temper tantrums may be more common in children with Down syndrome.
What causes Down syndrome in a baby?
Down syndrome is caused by a random error in cell division that results in the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. The type of error is called nondisjunction.