I checked with my doc.he assured me it was fine! (And with this pregnancy we have had some complications from other things, and I have had at least one ultrasound a week for the past 16 weeks, by specialists.and they aren't worried about the overuse of ultrasounds, so I really don't think a heartbeat monitor would harm the baby either!)Anywys, with baby #1 I rented one from HeartBeats at Home ( is the same quality that they use in the dr. I simply had to chuckle at the responses that mentioned it being harmful to the fetus. I would HIGHLY recommend a fetal doppler monitor. It may help your peace of mind, but since there isn't anything you can do at this point to avoid a miscarriage were you not able to find the heartbeat, the benefits don't seem worth the risks.Ĭongrats on baby #3! I also have a three year old, a 22 month old, and am due any day now with baby #3. They hear *something* and it disturbs them. You can't convince me that they can't hear it, even though it's supposedly "ultra" sound and too high-pitched for them to hear. Even when I was giving birth and they used it while I was pushing, he tried to get away from it, and although I was pushing him down, he moved back up. At the time, I joked that he was running away from it, but I later came to realize that it was no joke - it was literally happening. It turns out that my baby was avoiding the Doppler. The next appt or two, they barely heard the heartbeat long enough to count it. The next appt was only 2 weeks after (because she wanted to hear the heartbeat and make sure everything was okay), and we heard the heartbeat, but only fleetingly. She tried to get me not to worry, but I did anyway. My 2nd appt was at 13 weeks, and we *still* couldn't find the heartbeat. She said not to worry, that it was frequently hard to find the baby so early in pregnancy. I'll tell you this, too, from my own first pregnancy - I had my first appt at 9 weeks, and the midwife couldn't hear the heartbeat w/the Doppler. In fact, I wonder if having frequent u/s or Doppler contributes to the high rate of miscarriage in women who have had previous miscarriages and "just want to make sure the baby is fine". It is a form of ultrasound, and although u/s is considered safe, there haven't really been good-quality studies that show if it really is safe.
I understand your desire to "make sure everything is okay" but I'm concerned about the effects a doppler used frequently might have on the baby. Most dopplers say right on them somewhere how many megahertz they are, some have interchangable probes too for multiple uses. The vascular dopplers have higher megahertz (sp?) which increasses the potential hazard to the fetus, so stick with fetal dopplers that have no greater than 2 or 3 megahertz. There are fetal dopplers & vascular dopplers. While we're talking about home dopplers, I want to caution that some women who work in the health care field, such as a hospital or drs office, where dopplers are lying around, are tempted to take a listen once in a while. I never even try to find a heartbeat until 20 wks, and never use a doppler until active labor! Kathy is right, the fetus does not like us waves, (which is what those home dopplers use) they try to get away! It has not been proven but remains a possibility that US use may be linked to the rise in autism, and other learning disabilities, depending on what part of the brain gets zapped with te most US waves, so why take a chance? The home dopplers are weak, which minimises risk, but as many moms have already said, they don't work all that well either. The frequency of early us's (and even midwives using dopplers) scares me.
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