You also can make plans for the medical care your baby may need. If you do find out for sure, you can learn about the condition so you’re prepared when your baby’s born. You may or may not want to know for sure during pregnancy if your baby has Down syndrome. It is your choice whether or not you want to have diagnostic tests. Screening test results can help you decide if you want to have a diagnostic test. If a screening test shows your baby is at high risk of Down syndrome, your provider may recommend a diagnostic test to confirm the results. Diagnostic tests may have more risks than screening tests, but they can tell you for sure if your baby does or doesn’t have Down syndrome. These are medical tests to see if you do or don’t have a certain health condition. Screening tests are safe for you and your baby, but they don’t tell you for sure if your baby has a condition like Down syndrome. A screening test for Down syndrome checks to see if your baby is more likely than other babies to have Down syndrome. These are medical tests to see if you’re at risk or your baby is at risk for certain health conditions. There are two kinds of prenatal tests to check for Down syndrome: Use our family health history form to help you find out if certain health conditions run in your families. Family history means that someone in either of your families has the condition. If you or your partner has a family history of Down syndrome, tell your health care provider or genetic counselor. Talk to your health care provider or a genetic counselor about testing for Down syndrome.

You can decide if you want to have these tests. Health care providers offer testing for Down syndrome to all pregnant women as part of regular prenatal care (medical care you get during pregnancy). People with mosaic Down syndrome may have fewer characteristics of Down syndrome because they have some cells with the two copies of chromosome 21.Ĭan you find out during pregnancy if your baby has Down syndrome? People with this condition have some cells with three copies of chromosome 21, but other cells have the usual two copies. About 2 in 100 people with Down syndrome (2 percent) have mosaic Down syndrome. Translocation Down syndrome can be inherited (passed from parent to child through genes). This condition happens when a person has two copies of chromosome 21, but they also have an extra part of chromosome 21 or a whole extra chromosome 21 that’s attached (also called translocated) to a different chromosome. About 3 in 100 people with Down syndrome (3 percent) have translocation Down syndrome. In this condition, your baby’s cells have three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. About 95 in 100 people with Down syndrome (95 percent) have trisomy 21. What are the different types of Down syndrome? A genetic counselor is a person who is trained to help you understand genes, birth defects and other medical conditions that run in families and how they can affect your health and your baby's health. Talk to a genetic counselor to understand your risk of having a baby with Down syndrome. If you already have a baby with Down syndrome, your risk for having another is higher. Already having a baby with Down syndrome.You can pass the gene change to your baby, but it’s rare.

If you or your partner are a carrier of one type of Down syndrome (translocation Down syndrome), you carry (have) a gene change for the condition, but you don’t actually have the condition.

Being a carrier of a certain type of Down syndrome.

Your risk of having a baby with Down syndrome increases as you get older, especially if you are age 35 or older. These things can affect your risk of having a baby with Down syndrome: Fertilization is when a man’s sperm gets inside of a woman’s egg. It may be that the egg or sperm that come together in fertilization has an extra chromosome. We don’t know for sure why Down syndrome happens. This extra copy changes the way the brain and body develop. Babies with Down syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21. For each pair, you get one chromosome from your mother and one from your father. What causes Down syndrome?Įach person has 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in all. A person with Down syndrome may live 60 years or more. They can go to school, participate in activities and enjoy being social with others. Many children with Down syndrome lead healthy, active lives. Genes are passed from parents to children.Ībout 1 in 700 babies (less than 1 percent) is born with Down syndrome. Genes are part of your body’s cells that store instructions for the way your body grows and works. Chromosomes are the structures that hold genes.

A chromosomal condition (also called genetic condition) happens when there’s a problem in one or more chromosomes. Down syndrome (also called trisomy 21) is the most common chromosomal condition in the United States.

Mosaic down syndrome