to take a 6 year old to a scan?

[DanaVolcaana]

Having scans every other week to check that baby is growing ok. Totally precautionary and unlikely that the growth will be an issue, fundal measurement has been rising as expected, it is a 'just in case' scan and unlikely to find anything bad. I've had two anomaly scans and don't need anymore so almost 100% an anomaly won't be found. All of this is because of an echogenic bowel that has now disappeared.

I have DPs daughter on the day of the scan. DP is at work and I have nobody to look after her. No babysitter and family members don't live nearby. Would I be completely unreasonable to take her to the scan with me? Are they likely to say no and tell me to come back without her?

Not sure what to do...

I think it would be fine, although would ring and check because from other posts it seems some hospitals take a hard line on this.

Not scans, but I had my nearly 6yo with me for my 36week appt and combined bcg/20 days postnatal discharge appt with DC2 because I had no childcare. Grand total of three midwives, one student midwife and one nurse, everybody fine with it and really friendly and welcoming to DC1.

I wouldn't take a child to either of the standard 12 / 20 week scans because of the risk of bad news, but I don't see the same likelihood with a later growth scan and seriously, most hospitals absolutely understand that not everyone has childcare available.

No way. We took our son to one of our scans and got terrible news, despite having one a week earlier (without him there) which was normal. It was heartbreaking, we were distraught and crying and my son had to witness that as a 5 year old. Because if that I would say never take a young child into a scan, you never know if you are going to be surprised with bad news 😔

How many wks preg are you OP?

A lot of posters who are saying ‘no’ seem to think the child will run riot and be into everything. I’m assuming that as she is 6, she’ll be able to sit quitely for a few mins whilst you get the growth scan done?

I have taken my kids in to scans... usually they sit quietly (the sonography has an Argos catalogue they love to look at 😆) and she promises once she has taken her pictures, each sibling can ask one question. It's no problem and they know I expect them to behave. We too had an echogenic bowel on the last baby - she is now a very healthy 3 year old!
With the last baby, I had to go in to have bloods a few days before my c-section. A routine appointment that I attended with my 3 kids. I was admitted that day as an emergency. The midwifes were amazing, each child was given a role in the assessment and in my care. A medical student on obstetrics walked to the hospital shop with them for me so they could get some treats. They found it fascinating. They were 13, 7 and 6 at the time.

I took my 2 daughters when I was pregnant with my 3rd, they were fine with that, but if insure phone and double check,

I have scans every week to two weeks. I have to take one or both children to the majority of them. It’s fine, they understand. My kids are young so keeping them quiet/entertained is harder but they won’t mind as long as she sits quietly.
Mine are young enough to not understand if it’s bad news so that element isn’t really a concern of mine (I imagine I’d keep the conversation with the consultant short and make plans to come back without children for any further discussion)

@HeyDolly nearly 28 weeks

She's not going to run riot lol. She's more than capable of sitting quietly. She's a very good kid, she's never caused a problem before, ever.

As for not bringing a child because other women may be having bad news, they also have a post-natal cate department running from the same unit. There are babies and children everywhere... it's horrid receiving bad news. I've had 3 12 week scans where I've been told I've had a miscarriage so know how devastating it is, but I can't expect people to not take their children with them for this reason.

If you have no choice then yes. I took my then 4 year old into a couple of late pregnancy scans. Was also being monitored for growth and another issue that was picked up at 20 weeks.

I wouldn’t at the 12 and 20 week ones of it could be avoided though as you don’t want a small child there if dealing with difficult news.

Unfortunately none of us are going to be able to answer this for you OP. The hospital where I work would allow a child in to a scan in these circumstances but others would not. The only way you’ll know is to give them a ring and ask

@MadameJosephine I'll have to give them a call tomorrow!

A hospital in Teesside has just banned children from attending scans for many of the reasons discussed here.

I took children to all of my appointments and scans (apart from with dc1 obviously!) I didn't have a choice and there were always a few other children in the waiting room. I had bad news at 2 scans with my older dc there and it wasn't ideal but it was ok.

I had a missed miscarriage discovered at my 13 weeks dating scan but my eldest dc was 5.5 and none of them knew I was pregnant or understood what the scan was for. My eldest remembers the sonographer giving him a biscuit and being picked up from the hospital by mil.

I had an anomaly discovered at my 20 week scan with one of mine and my dc were there. They just took it in their stride. My eldest just accepted that his little brother was going to be born with a number of disabilities and his positive attitude during the pregnancy and after the birth helped me a lot.

I realise I was very lucky with my circumstances. I imagine it would have been a lot more difficult if I'd had to deal with a later loss with dc who knew I was pregnant.

I am amazed at some of the negative responses. I took my 6yo dd to a scan I had at around 30 weeks. She was well behaved and loved every second of seeing her sibling on the screen. I would call and check that children are allowed but I would have no hesitation in taking her.

I think taking a 6yo to a scan is fine if you genuinely can't find childcare.

I would check that her mum is happy for her to go to it though.

@RosieRainDrop her dad is more than happy for her to go.

There was a child in th waiting room when I was waiting to go in for a scan to confirm a missed misscarriage. I will never forget the look of horror in the little girl's eyes as she starred at me crying. Her dad took her out of the waiting room in the end.

It added to my distress that they were going to risk taking a child in to a scan knowing what we had seen in my last scan.

Please, please don't take her. You might not get bad news, you have no idea who else will be there.

My kids came to all my scans bar one, no biggie.

Ring and ask - depends on hospital policy. No children are allowed in mine

I think this is more about the other people in the waiting room. Every scan I had the room was full of children, it was noisy and stressful.

Absolutely. I took my three year old to my 20 week scan. I'd check with the girls Mum if it's ok is the only thing x

I had my 6 year old with me when I went for a midwife check up as I couldn’t get childcare for her. She was asked if she wanted to hear the heartbeat. There wasn’t one.
I will probably never forgive myself for putting my daughter through that.

As per PP posts, just ring and check. I’m sure it will be fine, childcare isn’t always possible and hospital appointments are tricky to change!

Going to ring he hospital today :)

Won't be asking her mum for permission. DP is on board and thinks it's a good idea. I would never undermine him like that. Imagine if I asked his ex and she said no, and I went along with it. How small would that make him feel? He's an adult and has an amicable relationship with his ex. He knows her well enough to know what she would and wouldn't be happy with. It is her brother or sister at the end of the day.

If it was an anomaly scan, or we were at high risk of receiving bad news I would probably think again however that's not the case. It's very precautionary and the chances of finding something having had a scan less that two weeks ago it's highly unlikely. Yes I guess it could happen but that's a risk I'll have to take.

@Norma27 so sorry you had to go through that. I know how awful it feels. So sorry your daughter had to go through that also

I've got lots of movements and have my 28 week appointment the day before so I will have heard the heartbeat all of 17 hours beforehand, so I know baby is wiggling around in there as usual and following usual...

I know I sound like I'm trying to justify myself however I really can't find any childcare that we can afford right now and don't feel comfortable missing a scan. It's not like I can just book in again with the consultant tomorrow, they're booked up at least a week in advance and as I would be the once cancelling they likely wouldn't be too impressed with that...

*following usual pattern...

Thank you for the flowers! We now have another child where the pregnancy went smoothly so oldest got her sister in the end.
Hope everything goes well at your scans. Xx