When can paternity testing be done?

Unlike traditional blood testing, which must wait until the child is six months old, DNA testing can be done at any age. Children who are just a few days old can be tested as well as babies whose blood was collected at birth. Some laboratories can also perform tests on children who are not yet born. Chorionic villus sampling, or CVS, is performed at an earlier stage of pregnancy than amniocentesis, generally around the 10th week of pregnancy.

Chorionic Villas Sampling is a procedure that enables the accurate diagnosis of certain genetic disorders between the 6th and 10th weeks of pregnancy. In CVS, a small piece of the placenta is removed through the cervix or through the abdomen. The placenta contains the same genes as the embryo and can be tested for genetic disorders or parentage. This procedure is usually painless but there can be complications, including miscarriage.

Because of the medical risks, this type of testing is not usually considered if paternity is the only factor. Amniocentesis is generally performed at a later stage than Chorionic Villus Sampling, usually after the 10th to 15th week of pregnancy. During amniocentesis, a small amount of amniotic fluid is withdrawn by inserting a long needle into the abdomen of the mother to collect a small amount of amniotic fluid. This is done by an obstetrician with the aid of ultrasound guidance.

The mother's OB/GYN is responsible for addressing safety concerns and to proceed with collection of the samples. Prenatal paternity testing can also be performed from umbilical cord blood collected at birth. In this procedure the doctor collects the child's blood at birth from the umbilical cord. If a client wants this procedure to be performed, a collection kit will be sent from the laboratory to the hospital before the birth of the child. The mother and alleged fathers samples can be collected before or after the birth of the child. Most laboratories advise all clients who are considering prenatal paternity test to consider refraining until the child is born.