Should i buy a doppler pregnancy

Baby dopplers are typically hand-held devices that use ultrasound waves to detect a developing baby's heartbeat from outside the mother's abdomen. Usually, devices can detect a fetal heartbeat starting around the seventh to the twelfth week of pregnancy based on the last menstrual period , though there is individual variation. Physicians and midwives often use Doppler devices to monitor the baby's heart rate as a standard part of prenatal care.

Detecting the baby's heartbeat is reassuring to moms but also provides the physician with information that helps in tracking the baby's development. Doppler fetal heart monitors are FDA-approved assuming you have a physician to advise you on use and considered safe. Baby dopplers can be empowering for women, particularly those facing pregnancy after a miscarriage or stillbirth.

In the months of pregnancy before being able to feel the baby kicking, the Doppler devices can provide instant reassurance that the baby's heart is still beating. Naysayers insist women call their medical practitioners for a fetal heart monitor scan done in the doctor's office rather than "play doctor" at home. What they don't understand is that the anxiety of pregnancy after a loss is often recurring and not always grounded in rational thinking—something pregnant women themselves often recognize.

A home-use heart rate monitor can be used anytime and anywhere anxiety strikes, whether that's in the middle of the night or in the office during a workday. In such instances, finding the heartbeat can allow the woman to return to her day-to-day life feeling reassured rather than having a nagging worry that interferes with her ability to concentrate on her activities.

In practicality, few women can call their doctors' offices every time they are worried. Even fewer have doctors who have the scheduling flexibility to offer fetal heart rate checks with short notice every time a pregnant woman is feeling worried. This is not to mention that women might feel self-conscious and afraid of being a pest, causing them to sit at home and face the stress rather than ask to come in for the third time in a week to hear the heartbeat in the doctor's office.

Stress in pregnancy is not good for the mother or the baby. Fetal heart rate monitors appear to be safe, and they are easy to use for most women. Women do need to understand that hearing a heartbeat is not an absolute certainty that everything will be fine with the pregnancy, that changed fetal positions and other factors could affect the ability to find the heart rate, and that they need to call their doctors whenever in doubt.

Assuming that understanding, using heart rate monitors does not hurt anyone and can help a great deal with the stress and anxiety of pregnancy after miscarriage or stillbirth. Fetal heart rate monitors are medical devices that are intended for use by medical professionals. In some cases, this could lead to patients not seeking medical care when they need it.

Women risk becoming unnecessarily anxious if they rent or buy fetal heart rate devices early in pregnancy and are unable to locate the heartbeat.

Individual factors like body shape and location of the placenta can greatly affect how early the fetal heart rate monitor can pick up the baby's heartbeat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eos ad adhuc minim possim. Cu phaedrum intellegat eum. Persius eligendi est in, vix iriure splendide ad. Sunday: 12pm - 6pm Mon-Sat: 10am - 7pm. Walk-ins welcome. Curbside pickup, same day delivery, layette appointments, and virtual appointments available.

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Call us or email oakbrookstorks monicaandandy. If you can't get enough of the sweet sound of your baby's heartbeat, you may have considered buying yourself a fetal doppler so you can listen to it from the comfort of your own home.

At first glance, fetal dopplers seem pretty great: They can be relatively affordable, readily available on sites like Amazon , and put the ability to check up on your baby right at your fingertips. But before you prepare to order one of your own, you may want to hear an OB-GYN's take on the fetal doppler trend.

We spoke to Dr. Tami Prince, an OB-GYN and best-selling author, who gave us a better understanding of what pregnant women need to consider before investing in fetal dopplers.

Her take on buying one for at-home use? Prince did offer up a caveat: If you're an OB-GYN yourself, you can use a doppler at home to check up on your baby — but most of us simply don't have the training needed to make sense of a dopplers' reading. Prince said. I never recommend it for my patients. The good news? Prince was able to suggest an alternative method for at-home fetal monitoring Using a baby Doppler without proper experience can create a number of problems.

The potential for confusion or human error is not insignificant. And while this may not sound like a big deal, misuse of the baby Doppler could have serious repercussions. Risks of using an at-home fetal Doppler include:. Doctors, nurses and midwives typically train for a minimum of three years before performing Doppler ultrasounds on pregnant women.

A home Doppler might lead Mom to think baby is okay and ignore other potential warning signs. If she thinks she hears the heartbeat, she may be less inclined to check in with her doctor. The risk of using fetal Dopplers at home is not in the technology.

The risk is in misinterpreting the fetal heart rate. So what can you do instead of monitoring baby with an at-home fetal Doppler? Starting in the third trimester at 28 weeks , you can track fetal movement using kick counts , which time how long it takes baby to get to 10 movements.

In addition to fetal kick counts, Chanchani recommends patients go to their scheduled prenatal appointments and ultrasounds.

While some brands claim that their fetal dopplers can detect heartbeats from 9 weeks into the pregnancy, others claim they only work from around week Some companies even state that their dopplers should only be used in the third trimester — that is, from week 28 onward.

You may want to play around with your doppler and see if you can hear anything. While at-home fetal dopplers are appealing to many parents-to-be, there are some safety concerns. The only time you should use a doppler, the FDA says, is when a doctor is using it, in which case it is medically necessary. This is more worrying when it comes to at-home fetal dopplers, because some parents might want to reach for their fetal dopplers every day.

Along those lines, in , an article in the British Medical Journal noted a case of a woman who was 38 weeks pregnant. She had a stillbirth. If you think something is wrong, see a doctor immediately. Many people buy home fetal dopplers to soothe their anxiety about their pregnancy. However, using a fetal doppler can produce the opposite effect. Being unable to find the heartbeat can cause a bit of panic. But there are real reasons for this difficulty. Most dopplers come with their own instructions for operating the device, but here is a general guide:.

Fetal dopplers can be bought online.