Dopplers

[TokenGinger]

Has anybody got a Doppler and would recommend it? My DP asked if we should get one last night. I've read online that midwives hate them because you may struggle to find a heartbeat and then worry.

I'm leaning towards a no for buying one but interested to see if anybody would definitely recommend.

If you want a pregnancy free of incessant worrying, anxiety and shredded nerves on top of those of a first time mum (I presume) anyway then ffs don’t get one.

They are banned for sale across most of Europe as the user can mistake the umbilical blood flow for a heartbeat which can lead to false reassurance.

Don’t do it OP. Just be smart and remember to record baby’s kicks and shifts when you start to feel it moving round.

Any unusual change or pattern - call the midwife.

Thank you, @PaulHollywoodsSexGut. I think we'll avoid it. It would be nice to hear baby's heartbeat, but I can imagine they just cause so much unnecessary headache!

I wouldnt.

Your midwife will check the heartbeat at your appointments anyway, so plenty of opportunity to hear it during the pregnancy :)

I wouldn’t, I had a impromptu visit to the hospital yesterday and even the midwife picked up my heartbeat and confused it for baby’s at first so easy to pick up on the wrong beat and think everything is ok when it could not be

I check my babies heartbeat every morning with my Doppler and it's the only thing that reassured me. I'm almost 13 weeks and have been listening from 10 weeks! Never struggle either.

Don't let people put you off, it's a good reassurance tool for some and not others. Wouldn't ever tell anyone not to get one because mine has been a lifesaver.

It could be false reassurance though. You may be picking up your own heartbeat, or the placenta.
Also, just because the baby’s heart is beating doesn’t mean everything is ok. A person lying unconscious in the street will still have a heartbeat.
There’s a reason they’re not recommended by professionals.

I check my babies heartbeat every morning with my Doppler and it's the only thing that reassured me. I'm almost 13 weeks and have been listening from 10 weeks! Never struggle either

It's highly unlikely that it's your babies heartbeat you're hearing.

A heartbeat sounds like galloping hooves; it literally is a tight, fast beat like that.

Anything that doesn’t sound unmistakably like that is potentially not a hB.

Thank you for everybody's feedback. We've decided it's not wise to get one. We are high risk, 50% miscarriage right now. I'd hate to give myself false reassurance that everything is okay if baby isn't 💜

I've used them successful in all my pregnancies. The only time I didn't find a heartbeat was when I lost one. I had a scan the next day that confirmed the baby had died.

I would say avoid them. It's difficult to find it and that can cause worry.

Just enjoy your pregnancy and hope everything goes smoothly. Pay for a extra private scan or something instead of the money on the Doppler.

Home Dopplers can be incredibly dangerous and there is currently a petition to have the sale in the UK banned. This is for a couple of reasons:

• You don't just pick up baby's heartbeat. You can hear placenta, mum's pulse and any other movement within the uterus. Sometimes it can be hard to differentiate between these sounds. There are also normal and abnormal ranges of heart rate and it is not possible to determine the complexities of the Fetal heart with a hand held Doppler.

-When you listen with a Doppler, all it tells you is that the baby is alive right as you listen. If you are concerned about your baby's wellbeing, listening in for a minute or so will only provide emotional reassurance. In some cases this reassurance means that women don't present to hospital as urgently.

-The most up to date evidence tells us that paying attention to movements is the best way to ensure Fetal wellbeing and decrease the risk of stillbirth. Relying on a Doppler for reassurance draws the focus away from this.

I would discourage you from buying your own doppler. If you have any concerns about your baby's wellbeing, talk to your midwife and present up your maternity Triage. Also check out kicks count website for more info.

It's highly unlikely that it's your babies heartbeat you're hearing.
I couldn't disagree more.

I've heard my babies heartbeats from
10 weeks. Their heart rate was always double what mine was.

I'm going to go against the grain here, for me it predicted that something terrible had happened and it meant I could get things sorted quickly.

I had my 12 week scan and everything was fine. It told me that I was 13 weeks, baby was happy and heart was beating away.
I didn't use my Doppler for about a week afterwards but I had a sudden heavy awful crushing feeling that something was wrong.

So at 14-15 weeks I tried the Doppler and got nothing. I tried for a further 12 hours and got nothing. I booked myself in for a private scan and sure enough my baby's heart had stopped beating the week before. Just days after the scan.
I'd successfully been picking up his heartbeat before that.

It was horrific, but one thing I'm grateful for was finding out at that point and not having to go until the 20 week scan to find out that he'd died weeks before.

I got a Doppler this pregnancy as well.

The second I started to feel movement, I stopped using it. You need to get to know your baby's movements and rely on that and never ever the Doppler.
But for those early weeks they can work very well.

I have one from my previous pregnancy and I've used it this time round too.

Honestly I think if you're mindful that you might not find the heartbeat there's no problem using them at all.

I'm just over 13 weeks and I've been listening to my baby's heartbeat for the last week or so. I tried many weeks before that but heard nothing... I didn't panic though as I knew it was perfectly normal not to hear anything so early. Even know sometimes I can't hear anything some days and it's just because of the baby's position.

Before anyone says anything... yes I'm definitely hearing my baby's heartbeat. I heard my own a lot to begin with and know the difference :)

When I had my community midwife checks the student midwife - and it was a different one each time- had to confirm it wasn't my pulse or the placenta she was listening to. This was after checking the position of the baby.

My point is if a student midwife who is being trained to listen to dopplers is confirming she is listening to the correct heartbeat after working out the position of the baby, how is a lay person going to do it?

As a previous poster said I think it’s fine in the early days but once you start feeling movements you should stop using it.

I work alongside a midwife, it's definitely my babies heartbeat I'm hearing. I'm trained to know the difference between my own, the placenta and the baby.

If this thread allowed me to post videos I'd show you all.

My point is if a student midwife who is being trained to listen to dopplers is confirming she is listening to the correct heartbeat after working out the position of the baby, how is a lay person going to do it?

Quite easily. The only difference is, the student MW had a MW to say "yes that's it".
It isn't rocket science. You feel your pulse to check, the difference is very very obvious (my babies heart rates were always twice my heart rate) and the difference between the sound of a placenta and the sound of the heartbeat is significant too.

It's not that hard.