Midwives not to listen to heartbeat anymore????

[emkana]

A friend of mine is 11 weeks pregnant and went to see her midwife this week. Apparently the midwife said to her that it was new policy that the midwives would only listen to the heartbeat at ante-natals if the mother requested it. The doctor would not listen to the heartbeat. They would only measure the fundus (is that the word I'm thinking of? Looks wrong, please correct me) to monitor growth.

Is that true?????????
I would be amazed if it is! Funnily enough the midwife never measured me during my two pregnancies, only listened to the heartbeat.
Found it so reassuring, too, and would definitely insist on it if I was pregnant again!

I just had an ante natal appointment at 21 weeks and was told that they would not pisten for heartbeat, but the reason she gave was that it was actually quite hard to find at this stage of pregnancy and caused a lot of women more worry than reassurance if it couldn't be found or took ages. She's already checked that I was feeling movements so I wasn't too worried - it seemed quite logical to me. She didn't feel the bump either but that was because I'd only had my 20 week scan about 10 days earlier. The implication was that they would listen to heartbeat later in the pregnancy when it was sure that they would find one.
Still I'd continue to count movement as a pretty good indicator of well-being - hard to kick if your heart's not beating!
I had 2 scans in my first pregnancy and dd is left-handed, but then do's my dad and they didn't have scans in his day!
I have already had 3 in this time around, one for early bleeding, nuchal and 20 week and I have to have a fourth at 34 weeks for low lying placenta. I'd rather have these to eliminate or correct potentially serious problems than not have them to avoid a theoretical, small risk. But agree that if there is a small added risk from frequent heartbest checks then why have them if you're being kicked to death anyway?

GeorginaA, all the way through my first 2 pregnancies I had 'threatened miscarriages'. I had so many scans with those two that I lost count, but they are both perfectly fine, intelligent little(ish) boys. Oh yeah, and they are both right handed! Try not to worry too much!

We listened to DDs heartbeat at every antenatal, very odd emkana, but different practises have different ideas I suppose!

Incidently my sister is left handed and my mum had to be X-Rayed at 35 weeks because sis wasn't growing (no scans in '75). I'm very happy to now have something else to wind her up about, thanks! (Shes defective 'cos mum zapped her with X rays )

There are a few issues getting mixed up here.

The new NICE guidelines for healthy low risk women advise that there is no need to routinely listen to the baby's heartbeat as it can cause unnecessary concern when it cannot be listened to easily. They also state that the position of the baby does not need to be felt (palpated) before 36 weeks. Where the mum feels fetal movement there is no need to listen to the heartbeat.

Frequent scans for normal low risk pregnancies are not recommended because they do not improve outcomes.

The listening to the heartbeat guidance has nothing to do with ultrasonic rays but common sense really.

No midwife will refuse to listen in to the baby if she would like to hear it.

As far as scans go with DD I had 5 scans before 28weeks and from then until 36wks i had at least 2 scans per week (so over 22 scans in all) and this did no harm to her what so ever she is one of the healthiest children I know ( only ever had mild colds) and she is r handed!!. I think alot depends on who you speak to and as with anything if they aren't sure what caused whatever they blame the first thing that comes to mind.

What about the companies that rent out fetal heart monitors. Is the evidence saying that by listening to the heart beat frequently you are more likely to cause development problems??

My closest friend is a midwife. If there is anything in all this fetal heart monitoring question to indicate problems (and I sincerely hope there isn't) we could have something to worry about. Baby is expected in the next week and she has been listened to atleast twice a week since I was 10 week pregnant!!!! But to TBH I have worked in radiology and there is no indication that there might be.