How many ultrasound during pregnancy???

[Amz26]

I'm 14weeks and have already had 3 scans.. I want to get one done again In 2 weeks time to find out the gender.. Will that be to much and how safe are they? There's very limited info online so it's hard to get the truth on this issue, thanks

I thought in England, all being well, you had first scan at around 12 weeks so they can see if foetus has formed ok, then growth sccan around 20 weeks to check internal organs. NHS won't cover costs of extra scans unless it's due to health issues.

That's why those private 4D places make a fortune!

I've had 3 so far. Now 17 weeks.
6 weeks due to previous miscarriages
12 weeks dating scan
1 private scan.
They're not harmful

I also think it's personal choice how many scans you want to have as long as you're not abusing the NHS.
If scans are not needed for medical reasons then go private and pay.

I had one every two weeks with first twin pregnancy, due to complications in that pregnancy with dd2 I had to have one every two weeks with her until 27 weeks. Dd2 I had 5 scans. With this one I'm having an early one tomorrow, one at 10 weeks, ordinary dating scan and maybe depending on the results, revert to standard practice after that.
They don't pose risks to the baby as far as I'm aware

I'm almost 37w and working out how man scans I've had. More then average due to being red flagged /high risk as geratric /ivf /first baby over 40

5w private to check sac. Ivf Clinic insisted
7w private to see heart
10w NHS reassurance
12 NHS
16 private 3D
20w NHS
21w NHS repeat as bubs wasn't showing her organs for measuring as hiding
23w NHS same as above. Finally Turned to get remaining meals and to find out a girl
27w as had scare and couldn't feel baby kick. So monitored
28 NHS 3w scans now as high risk
31
34
37.4 is next Monday

Prob be last one

Havnt a clue how average woman has 2 - 12&20

Maybe it's diff if havnt had infertility for 10+yrs but with ivf seems we all worry more - which is understandable given what we have been through

So total of 13 including next weeks

Amz I think it's fine, they're not unsafe. I've had 4 so far, and have also booked a gender scan for 3 weeks' time. 12 to 20 weeks is such a long wait and at a time when you can't reliably feel baby move, so I want the 16 week scan for a bit of reassurance..

None, too long ago.

Thanks for all your messages! You've all really helped me make up my mind.. I think we're going to go ahead and go to the scan next weekend!
We have payed for the extra scans so haven't been asking the NHS for more. I'm left handed anyway so even if the baby is left handed it might be because they take after me xx

Who gives a fuck if your kids left handed anyway? It's like a flashback to primary school where kids were forced to write right handed or get a smack of the ruler

gamerchick, the point is not whether being left or right handed matters.

It's that it shows that ultrasound has a very subtle effect on a developing foetal brain. Handedness was just a trait that is easily observed. If ultrasound has enough of an effect to make a significant difference in handedness, it may well be affecting other things, things which aren't as easy to show.

I lost count. Had them at least fortnightly and sometimes more (very high risk, part of my care plan).

They are completely harmless and if you need them, take them.

Don't Google. Don't hover round forums until someone fuels your anxiety.

They are harmless. Cold, inconvenient and harmless ... and if you need them you need them.

Being left handed is better than having a risky birth or issues in the womb and even the left handed thing isn't proven.

really having a late miscarriage or premature birth isn't very fucking "subtle" though. Scans really do save lives. They have been going long enough that if there was a correlation, be it behavioural or ability related, it would have come up.

Additionally correlation is not causation. The difference noted was minor and this was noted.

Amateur hour science on forums like this KILLS. It really does. That isn't subtle either - women misjudge risk because they take the literacy level of a stranger on the Internet as an indication of expertise and refuse care or are falsely reassured. It is dangerous.

Very interesting reading the comments about left handedness. I have never heard that before.

With dd1 (left handed) I had
9 weeks - reassurance scan due to previous mc
12 weeks - NHS
20 weeks - NHS x2 in one visit half an hour apart as she wouldn't turn
21 weeks - repeat as she refused to turn the week before.
No scans after this but we used the home dopler thingy constantly as I never felt her kick due to where the placenta was and was very anxious. Also spent lots of time in triage hooked up to machines monitoring heartrate due to not feeling her kick.

With dd2 (right handed) we just had the standard 12 & 20 week scans.

None, too long ago

Me too, none.

Being pregnant and having a baby was just so much less of a bloody song and dance than it is now.

I think (dredging around in the corners of my memory) that the left-handedness came form one Swedish study, and that although it noted a rise it was not conclusive about significance or definite causality.

It's not been replicated and that it has not been replicated. No one would get ethical approval to deliberately experiment in that way. And I don't think other available datasets cover enough of the same issues with comparable methodology to be usable for analysis on that question.. But I'm also pretty sure that there hasn't been a general rise in prevalence of lefthandedness in the population.

That said, I'd want to keep all medical procedures in pregnancy to the minimum required. I had a lot of scans, because all were medically indicated.

I've never heard about the lefthandedness link before. With DD1 I had 3 scans and she's righthanded. With DD2 I had around 10 scans and she's lefthanded.
But both my husband and I are lefthanded so there's obviously a genetic component at work there! And we were both born before ultrasound scans were widespread.

Surely if there was a link btwn scans and lefthandedness the current generation of kids would have significantly higher levels of lefthandedness compares to those born pre ultrasounds eg before 1980 or so? Which, thinking about the people I know doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Not that being a leftie is in any way a negative at all!

I'm left handed and that was pre-ultrasound scans! Anyway, not why I posted.
They're not harmful OP, but you know you can find out the sex of your baby at the anomoly scan at 20 weeks right? Only advising you to wait as they will be more sure at 20 weeks than 16 if it's very important for you to know in advance.

I had identical twins and had one at nine weeks, 12 weeks and then every two weeks till they were born and one during labour, so 14 all done by the NHS. Nearly two now and one of them has left hand tendencies but I don't think it's related!

I also have left handed child who has lots of scans and a right handed child who only had the normal 12 and 20 week scan. Interesting theory.

I had scans every week from 8 weeks , my ds is right handed .

Ultrasounds are only safe when they are performed by qualified sonographers, unfortunately not all private companies use qualified sonographers who have studied and trained to a high level and understand the safety indices and times of ultrasounds.
The NHS offer two routine scans, higher risk pregnancies will be offered more. These scans need to be fully justified and certain things can only be performed at certain stages of pregnancy (such as cord Dopplers).

Some private firms selling the "heart beat bears" are using Doppler on babies (to record their heart beats) which are not old enough to have Doppler used, and they are using it directly on the babies heart, which is not done in an NHS scan, it's not advised to be used before 28weeks of pregnancy. Some companies are using it unsafely from 15 weeks!! There is a cardiac mode for hearts but doesn't create the sound required to capture their heart beat.

16 weeks is only 4 weeks away from finding out at your anomaly scan.... 6 more weeks isn't that much more to wait? and it will have a higher chance of accuracy at anomaly scan too.

I've heard the left hand theory before. As others said the concern is that if it's altering that, how's it altering the brain without us necessarily realising until potentially much later. It's different if you have to have extra scans due to medical reasons.

Can you actually tell at 14 weeks anyway? I wouldn't have thought it was worth the risk of paying out for a scan to have a good chance you can't tell anyway.
But if they take a guess they'll have a 50/50 chance of being right...

The risks are unknown, why on earth would you have more than is medically required?

I find this left handed business hard to believe. 10-12% of the population have consistently been left handed for centuries and centuries- there's all sorts of research into this. Ultrasounds are super new- unless the number of lefties has increased and I've missed it then I don't see how ultrasounds can be making people left handed. Anyway, I digress op sorry !

Eh?

Squizita where on earth are you getting all that from? Where have i said not to have medically advised scans? Where have i said scans don't save lives? Where have i said anything about miscarriage or Stillbirth?

All i have pointed out is that there is some evidence that frequent scans may cause some changes, but know one knows for sure as it's difficult to study. I said the difference was minor.

The o/p asked about elective "bonding" scans. I said in my first post if you rtft that if a scan is medically indicated it far outweighs any possible risk

My point being that elective scans for the parents to get a look at the baby aren't necessary, and unless they can categorically be proven they don't affect the foetus, then why would you.

Nothing i have said KILLS. Again, i am referring only to elective "vanity" scans, as that is what the o/p was asking about.

Jeez.

Well said Really.