Allison SJ, Stafford J, Anumba DO. The effect of stress and anxiety associated with maternal prenatal diagnosis on feto-maternal attachment. BMC Women's Health. 2011;11(1):33. doi:10.1186/1472-6874-11-33 You will not be offered the combined screening test if your dating scan happens after 14 weeks. Instead, you'll be offered another blood test between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy to screen for your chance of having a baby with Down's syndrome. This test is not quite as accurate as the combined test. All pregnant women in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be offered at least two ultrasound scans on the NHS as part of their antenatal appointments schedule, known as a fetal anomaly screening programme (FASP). If you want to find out the sex of your baby, you may be able to during the 20-week screening scan but this depends on the policy of your hospital. Tell the sonographer at the start of the scan that you'd like to know your baby's sex.

No, not if you do not want to. Some people want to find out if their baby is more likely to have a condition, while others do not. The 12-week dating scan and 20-week screening scan will be offered to you, but you do not have to have them. Ultrasound scans use sound waves to build a picture of the baby in the womb. The scans are painless, have no known side effects on mothers or babies, and can be carried out at any stage of pregnancy. Talk to your midwife, GP or obstetrician about any concerns you have. The price you’ll pay for private scans depends on the type of scan you want, how many private scans you have, and where you live. For example, clinics in and around London tend to be more expensive than those in other parts of the country.Along with the diagnostic testing, you should also receive full counselling concerning the significance of any risk, as well as options for further investigation. Kearin M, Pollard K, Garbett I. Accuracy of sonographic fetal gender determination: predictions made by sonographers during routine obstetric ultrasound scans. Australas J Ultrasound Med. 2014;17(3):125-30. doi:10.1002/j.2205-0140.2014.tb00028.x

Richter L, Slemming W, Norris SA, Stein A, Poston L, Pasupathy D. Health Pregnancy, Healthy Baby: testing the added benefits of pregnancy ultrasound scan for child development in a randomised control trial. Trials. 2020;21(1):25. doi:10.1186/s13063-019-3924-0 If necessary, you will be referred to a specialist, possibly in another hospital. Can I find out the sex of my baby? Kearin M, Pollard K, Garbett I. Accuracy of sonographic fetal gender determination: Predictions made by sonographers during routine obstetric ultrasound scans. Australas J Ultrasound Med. 2014;17(3):125-130. doi:10.1002/j.2205-0140.2014.tb00028.x Diagnostically, both 4D and 3D scans enable you to look at your baby's features more closely, but with a 4D scan, you get video footage rather than just a still photo.While there’s no evidence to suggest that this is unsafe, it’s recommended that non-medical scans are avoided in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, as the embryo is potentially more vulnerable at this early stage, according to a paper published in 2015 by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists . Most scans are carried out by sonographers. The scan is carried out in a dimly lit room so the sonographer is able to get good images of your baby. To show the position of the placenta and your baby, which can affect whether you plan to give birth vaginally or if you might need a caesarean section. If it's difficult to get a good image, the scan may take longer or have to be repeated at another time. Can an ultrasound scan harm me or my baby? Most scan images have notes at the top, and they basically relate to you, your baby and the hospital