Researchers from Israel have discovered that newborns delivered by C-section may be more likely to have a false positive for hearing loss within the first 2 days of delivery.

False positive rates for vaginal births are significantly lower than C-sections. However, the researchers found that after the first 2 days of life, the false positive rate of hearing loss for C-section deliveries significantly decreases.

The Israeli researchers hypothesize that the C-section false positives may be related to fluid remaining in the middle ear. Vaginal births tend to push those fluids out as the child passes through the birth canal, but a baby born via C-section bypasses that natural process. As a result, the middle-ear fluids may be retained in the ear for around 2 days.

Consequently, the researchers recommend delaying newborn hearing screening until at least 2 days after birth for C-section births.

SOURCE: hear-it.org