Doppler heartbeat 140

[EJonesx]

Hellloo! I've just used my Doppler for the first time and it was registering 140 in a certain spot and like 60ish everywhere else. Now when it was coming up as 140 I could hear a heartbeat sound but it sounded slow to me. Is this normal? I'm only 11 weeks so I know I'm early yet x

Please do not use home dopplers!! They are so dangerous in untrained hands as people don't know what they're interpreting. Midwives don't attempt to listen until 16 weeks for a reason as it can be hard to detect and identify the heart rate. What can be heard is placental sounds, which would be slower as that is maternal blood. Hold off the dopplers, see your midwife for reassurance if you are concerned and then once movements are being felt go by those rather than a heartbeat.

Might not be baby you are picking up, could be the cord.

Midwives often don't use them till well after 16 weeks, 25 week appt is the first most will use due to difficulty in not picking up HB, and these are women with better doppler who have years of training and experience.

Ditch the doppler. If you feel like movements have slowed or stopped go to your midwife or maternity unit at hospital. NEVER rely on a Home Doppler for reassurance.

My midwife let me listen to the cord and the heartbeat and I could barely tell the difference. She obviously knew because she’s trained and well experienced. Home dopplers are very confusing.

Please bin that thing straight away! There’s a reason midwives are highly trained to understand what they are hearing.

It’s vanishingly unlikely that you’d be able to pick up your own baby’s heartbeat at 11 weeks. Many highly trained midwives won’t even attempt it until after 16 weeks because it is so tricky. I agree with the others - ditch the Doppler.

Send it back. It is medical equipment designed to be used by people with many years training. Would you just pick up a 12 lead ECG and give that a go?

At 11 weeks you’re most likely picking up your own pulse from iliac arteries etc. Imagine if you did that at 40 weeks and ended up thinking your baby was okay when they weren’t.

As everyone else has said, please don't use a home Doppler. Just because you picked up a faster heartbeat, doesn't mean it was the baby. It could be blood flow through the placenta or cord, or it could be your own heart beat being 'echoed' back. You aren't trained so have no way of differentiating.

I used to also say only midwives should use them but if you’re using it just to enjoy hearing inside and not for reassurance then I’m not sure they can be described as dangerous. I don’t know what you’re picking up though as it seems early.

Sonicaids can sometimes double the heartrate they're picking up. So if your heartrate is 60-70 then it might be picking it up accurately in some places and doubling it in others. The £500 sonicaids we use in the hospital can't pick up a fetal heart at 11 weeks so I'm 100% confident that a home sonicaid can't either. As PPs have said, if you're just using it for fun, enjoy! But if you're using it for reassurance, please don't. I've seen a home sonicaid pick up a "healthy fetal heartbeat" from a cushion and from a woman who'd had a hysterectomy. They're not reliable, and not as straightforward as they look to use correctly.

Home dopplers aren't reliable at all!

Don’t worry about heartbeat being 140. When my midwife listens for baby’s heart with her doppler and when I listen at home with my own doppler it’s always around 140. The midwife is not worried.

To be honest when I use my Doppler I just go by sound, the hb reading seems to fluctuate wildly so I don’t pay much attention to it. In the early weeks it’s all a bit of trial and error anyway and as the weeks go on you get more used to it and can recognise the hb easier.