Listening to heartbeat at home

[zacattack1]

Hi,
Im 17+5 with DC2 and for some reason am finding myself much more nervous of something going wrong this time round. All the 1st trimester symptoms have gone but its too early to feel movement - I feel a bit like I'm in limbo and in need of reassurance.
Has anyone used a doppler to listen to baby's heartbeat at home?
Ive been looking at some similar to this but I'm not sure if they're any good.
any advice?

I have an Angel Sounds monitor at home which someone gave me, but TBH I don't really use it. My midwife says you shouldn't use a home one as you may give yourself reassurance instead of looking out for movement and this is not good. It's often hard to find the sound and sometimes all you can hear is the placenta.

Midwives don't recommend the use of dopplers, it can be stressful if you don't find the heartbeat when baby has tucked themselves up in a littler corner, also hearing the heartbeat is not always an indicator that all is ok.

Midwives are trained to listen out for anything out of the ordinary.

We have one at home and have only just started to find the heart beat at 24 wks and even now it's still hit and miss depending on where she is.
I wouldn't use it as a method for reassurance as it will cause you more worry.
We only got it as it was in the sale and knew from the start it would be a bonus if we did get to hear anything.

Thanks for all your replies, I think I'll leave it.
Just need to try and reassure myself everything's fine until my next scan.

you will feel movement soon, it's sooner with the second usually.

I would also advise against the Doppler - used it with my first and there were more times when I could not find the heartbeat and panicked, than times I was reassured.

I have one and found it enormously reassuring during the 'limbo weeks' between 12 week scan and feeling movement.

There are lots of helpful You Tube tutorials that you can watch that will help you to differentiate between placenta noise and actual heartbeat. It helps if you are slim though; generally speaking, the more abdominal fat you carry, the harder it will be to find the heartbeat.

I would take the whole 'midwives don't recommend' etc with a huge pinch of salt if I were you. The nursing and midwifery sector is very heavily unionised and therefore very resistant to the empowerment of patients. Technological developments like home dopplers, internet guides to this and that etc threaten the jobs of Midwives so they have a vested interest in discouraging you from using them.

That's a very cynical view of midwives. There's a reason the advice to midwives is to no longer routinely listen to the heartbeat at the 16 week appointment which is that due to the small size of the baby and the potential places they can hide inside, there is a high chance the heartbeat can be missed. This can then increase anxiety unnecessarily as there may be nothing wrong with the baby other than they're hidden from the Doppler. If an experienced midwife can't find a heartbeat consistently this early, the chances of any of us finding it are also fairly low. Both occasions equal unnecessary anxiety potentially for no reason. This has nothing to do with midwives protecting their jobs and more to do with them looking after their patients.

And that is before you get into the murky quagmire that is the concern about the unregulated use of home dopplers/unnecessary ultra scans on fetal development.

OP trust your body and the resilience of your unborn baby-the weeks will fly by until your scan when you will see that not only is the heart ok but everything else you wouldn't have been able to know about through a Doppler is also all working well.

I honestly can't see the point. If you can't find an hb you'll worry, if you can find an hb it's not a guarantee that everything is hunky dory. I'd save my money personally.

I brought one too and picked up dds heartbeat from before my 12 week scan. It was lovely to hear but I stopped using it once I started feeling movements.

Don't get the angel sounds one it was crap and never worked once for me, waste of money.

That's certainly another way of viewing the issue 2015.

I just start to bristle whenever the argument "...We don't recommend X because it might cause women to worry..." is trotted out. I find it extremely patronising, like the poor little wimmin are too stupid/hysterical to cope with their own health management IYSWIM?

Yes, it can be difficult to find the heartbeat, but with a bit of practice and patience it's a doddle. I'm sure women are sensible enough to know that you might not find it first go (all the You Tube tutorials I watched state this fact quite clearly...)

Leave the listening to the HB to the health professionals, IMO. You will only get yourself worked up if you cannot find it yourself. You have your own heart beat, placental heart beat and the baby's heart beat to distinguish between.

"The nursing and midwifery sector is very heavily unionised and therefore very resistant to the empowerment of patients. Technological developments like home dopplers, internet guides to this and that etc threaten the jobs of Midwives so they have a vested interest in discouraging you from using them."

ROFL. OK then.... I think you'll find that midwives are trained in finding not just normal readings, but anything untoward when they listen to the baby's heartbeat. I personally would not know from looking at Youtube tutorial on what to do and look out for. Nothing can account for professional experience, IMO... I am not a midwife, but trust them as they know more about these matters than I ever will.

Battery that isn't why they aren't recommended.

Used in later pg a woman could feel concern something wasn't "right" and use the doppler to reassure herself instead of listening to that instinct and getting checked.

A doppler picking up the HB is NOT an indication all is well. When monitoring a woman who reports reduced movements MW take the hb over a length of time and look for variations etc to show there is no distress. I've been in that position and they were very thorough. With a home dopplerthe story could be different.

Dopplers also make babies jump and react in the womb. Doctors don't know for sure what the effect of them on babies (can't be sure if its uncomfortable for baby for example) is but feel overall that LIMITED use of them is far more beneficial than the possible risk of using them.

They are not designed for mums to use regularly at home. They are basically bouncing soundwaves off your baby and this does have an effect, as when you use a Doppler the baby usually starts kicking suddenly. So I dont think thats a nice thing to do to your baby every day. Just something to think about.

I would not recommend it. My colleague passed me her home Doppler (unasked for) and all the way home I deliberated whether to use it. My DH was well up for it though, but after several increasingly frustrated attempts, we still couldn't hear anything. I'm a particular anxious mum to be so of course I panicked - even though baby girl gave a few indignant kicks in response! We both decided not to try again, it is just too stressful and I'd rather leave it to the professionals who have been trained in this! As long as baby is moving, I'm going to take that as my reassurance. Can see how it would be amazing if it works though...and even now I'm like, maybe I could just give it one more go?? My DH is all 'step away from the Doppler!'

Hi i have a fetal Doppler at home and it shows the beats per min and is amazing. I'm 12 weeks and have picked up my baby's heartbeat from week 9! I try not to use it too often but hey if you want some reassurance and can have it then why not, sometimes I can't find the baby's heartbeat but I'm fully aware that it can not always be found and I won't rely on my Doppler once I feel movements but it was a small price to pay for reassurance in these early weeks after a missed miscrraige last year, I have my scan tomorrow and to be honest feel so much more optimistic than nervous as I can clearly hear an heartbeat

Dopplers also make babies jump and react in the womb.

So do:

Loud noises
Sugary food
Cold drinks
Light shone onto bump
(I could go on...)

We all have sound waves bouncing off us at all times, from birth to death. No ill effects that I know of...

I'm afraid I call bullshit on that one.