Too many ultrasounds? Worried I'm harming the baby! Should I cancel them?

[July2015]

Ive had 9 scans so far (a reassurance one, 12+20 week scans, 1 to check for a medical condition, growth scans and three doppler scans).

After seeing my consultant, I am booked in for 3 more over the next two weeks (2 dopplers and 1 growth scan), meaning I'm going to have at least 12 before the pregnancy ends! I'm now starting to panic that I'm having too many. For some stupid, stupid reason, when I couldn't sleep last night I made the stupid mistake of googling if scans are safe, what happens if you have too many etc.

I am now in a right panic that I've caused/will cause my baby some harm, as the effects are really fully known, but there are some articles that link too many scans with autisim.

I just wondered what other peoples thoughts were, as I'm in a bit of a state and feeling rather anxious, and wondering if I should at least cancel the doppler scans, as I think I'm just having them for reassurance atm due to the baby being on the big size and reduced movements happen a lot.

My last 3 kids were born abroad in private health systems - I have also had 3 losses so had a lot of reassurance scans on top of the monthly scans. With all three I had more than 12 scans probably more like 15. They are all fine - no autism and the constant scans really helped me. I have been told by different doctors in 2 different countries that they are not likely to cause any problems.

Good luck xxx

You don't sound insane!

It's your babies health and you're worried.

Another one who had many scans in pregnancy - around 20. DD is 18 months and no autistic tendencies.

I know what you mean though, you start worrying about all sorts. The thing you have to remember is that people generally get large numbers of scans if there are some concerns/issues with the pregnancy. So it is not really surprising that a higher proportion of those babies have some difficulties. Correlation, not causation.

I have researched this a lot and went to google scholar to read studies. In animals prolonged ultrasound exposure can result in fetal tissue being heated. What they would have been exposed to would have been much much more than than the many scans a woman might need to have during a pregnancy.

You will notice though that they don't scan one area for too long and the same with dopplers you are not meant to to stay in one area for too long. The Fetal Medicine Centre will not use dopplers to check the heartbeat before 8 weeks as not enough research has been done on the possible effects.

For this reason I have not had any 3D or 4D scans in either of my two pregnancies as the ultrasound is stronger and they are not always done by experienced practitioners. I also do not use a Doppler at home but I am happy for one to be used as the hospital when needed by a Dr or midwife. I am also happy to be scanned at the hospital as much can as needed.

The Fetal Medicine Centre will not use dopplers to check the heartbeat before 8 weeks as not enough research has been done on the possible effects.

No, its because the doppler is useless before 8 weeks. It would be worthless as a diagnostic tool.

The practitioner told me she would not use the ultrasound to listen to the heartbeat as it was not proven what the effects would be, which would be using it in the same way as a Doppler. Sorry I wasn't clear. She was able to give me the heart rate from the ultrasound at 7+5 so I would imagine it was strong enough listen to the heartbeat. At my 12 week scan they also used the ultrasound to listen to the heartbeat. Dopplers you use at home do not use such strong sound waves which is why they would not work as early. Dopplers use approx 2-3 MHz while hospital ultrasounds use up to 18 MHz.

If dopplers aren't meant to stay in the same place, are CTG's safe??

Don't let it worry you. It's far more important for you to have your scans. I had 10 ultrasounds with DS, one abdominal MRI and spent lots of time on the CTG monitor. He is fine.

I had an IUGR baby and had daily Doppler scans towards the end. I was also concerned and did some reading on the subject. The only proven link seems to be a slight increase in lefthandedness. So other than the possibility of smudgy writing, I concluded it was fine. Against the risk of brain damage or stillbirth if not enough blood was reaching the baby, it was a worthwhile "risk" in my view.

I had sooooo many!! About 10 I think! DS is huge happy and healthy and definitely no sign of autism! X

Oh ps they were at the fetal medicine centre and all - including the one at 7+0 were with dopplers.

I agree with the above, the well being of your baby outweighs any risks ultrasounds, dopplers or CTG's may have. A CTG uses about 1 MHz which is less than a doppler so I would not worry. I had one on during my during my labour.

I worried about this as I was another one with a high risk pregnancy (my chronic health condition and meds) that they wanted to keep an eye on me & him so had loads and loads of scans. I read up loads and the most likely ( in terms of actual medical studies ) side effect seemed to be a small tendency for Left Handedness but even this was tenuous at best (DS is actually ambidextrous but with a LH preference for writing)
DH is a Consultant (different specialism) and was very risk adverse throughout my pregnancy but had absolutely no worries about the number of scans. I even had to have an x-Ray at 7mths pregnant but they were fab in reducing the risks and explaining why it was important and how they protected my baby.

Was everything ok with your baby? I’m worrying about the amount of ultrasounds also

This is a zombie thread and I can't see that the user has been back since 2015 so quite unlikely she will be able to let you know.

What I would say however is that if a medically trained person has told you you need those scans for whatever reason then there is likely to be such a minimal risk that's far outweighed by the fact they're telling you to have them.

I had 14 scans with DD as well as CGT monitoring (also ultrasound waves) 3 times a day for 3 weeks - she's now 2.5 and absolutely fine, as far as you can tell at 2.5.

My friend is having twins and she's having loads of scans.

The doctors wouldn't do the scans if they thought they were risky. HOWEVER there is a difference between a medically required scan carried out by trained staff for a reason and the sort of 4D scans that some people have. I wouldn't want the latter!