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Often a DNA test when pregnant is done to establish paternity. This is not the sole purpose as often these tests are done to ensure the child has healthy genes. The process involves first getting a DNA sample from the baby- this is the main challenge of prenatal paternity testing. Once this sample is collected, then the rest of the test is simpler- the baby’s DNA can be compared to the DNA of the putative father to see if there is a match. A match between DNA profiles indicates that the putative father is the biological father of the child.
Non Invasive DNA Test when Pregnant
A non invasive prenatal paternity test when pregnant has been developed. This test can be done at the 10th week so you might want to confirm dates with a pregnancy calculator. Normally, if you know the first day of your last menstrual period, you should not have a problem knowing how many weeks pregnant you are.
The whole point of this test is that it is risk free- it is well known that there are certain risks with invasive DNA testing during pregnancy (amniocentesis and CVS) which can even lead to a miscarriage. But non invasive prenatal paternity tests are revolutionary- the method of sample collection is simple, done by a medical blood draw. The method of DNA analysis is a highly advanced method which looks at fragments of DNA which differ in the sequence of base pairs. Baby DNA is analyzed in this way. These variations of DNA are known as single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Unlike standard paternity testing however, pregnancy DNA testing analyses a huge number of genetic markers from the fetal DNA, in fact, often this runs into hundreds of thousands of markers.
Am I pregnant?
A pregnancy test would definitely be the best way of determining whether you are actually pregnant. You can buy these from any pharmacies and they will accurately tell you whether you are pregnant by means of a simple home urine test. The test works by detecting the pregnancy hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). If presence of the hormone is detected, there will be a colour change in the urine provided by the expectant mother. The symptoms of pregnancy will also come about very early, in the first week of pregnancy you might already begin feeling nauseous or starting suffering from morning sickness- a real tell tale, but not definitive sign, of being pregnant.
A DNA test when pregnant to confirm paternity of a child can be done via a maternal blood sample- you will also need to include a sample of the alleged father. Paternity cannot be established without both child and father’s DNA sample.
If it is not possible to do the test whilst the mother is pregnant then a standard DNA paternity testing can be performed after birth.