There are several reasons why your baby's health care provider or the hospital may tell you that your baby needs to be retested. Some reasons include:

• Unsatisfactory specimen: The blood spot specimen cannot be accurately tested if there was not enough blood to complete all the required screening tests, there was too much blood on the sample, or due to other problems with collection and/or handling.
• "Too Early" specimen: The blood spot specimen cannot be accurately tested if it was collected before your baby is 24 hours of age.
• Blood transfusions: The blood spot specimen cannot be accurately tested if it was collected too soon after a blood transfusion.
• Low or Borderline Risk: The test was almost normal, but not quite.

Note: Premature or low birth weight newborns are more likely to have results that are out of the normal range on their first specimen, even if a disorder is not present.  It is still important to follow through with the provider or hospital’s recommendations for additional screening or testing.  This will help to avoid missing a disorder.