Frequent Ultrasounds in first trimester

[Clarapur]

Hi all

I am looking for some advice on ultrasound safety in early pregnancy. I have had two previous miscarriages and I am currently 11 weeks pregnant. I suffer from anxiety usually but it has been at an all time high because I am so worried about having another missed miscarriage. Anyway, I had a NHS scan at 6 weeks and then have had 3 private scans at 8, 9 and 10 weeks due to spotting and bad cramping, all have been okay luckily and I have found them to be reassuring but I am concerned this is harmful. The gynaecologist who managed the D&C for my second miscarriage said he provides weekly scans for pregnant women with high anxiety but there is always something to worry about isn’t there. I have had such bad cramping last night that it kept me awake. I’m thinking I might go for another scan on Tuesday which will be a week before my 12 nhs week scan. Is this really bad?? Thank you for any advice, I’m just so scared. I hope that once I’ve passed the first trimester I can relax a bit and just have the usual scans offered.

Don’t think there is any evidence to suggest frequent scans are dangerous, I would have a scan if it’ll make you feel better

It’s safe, go ahead and book another scan if you want one. You may find the anxiety continues in one way or other until you meet your baby though - and for some people having scans more frequently can escalate anxiety as well! I hope you have someone you can talk to? It’s really hard getting through a pregnancy after miscarriage. I have my fingers crossed for you that you start feeling movements super early so you can get some extra reassurance from that too.

Hi hun i was a high risk pregnancy and had frequent scan twice a week in the last few weeks. I hope your anxiety gets better.

Thank you for your kind words, appreciate your replies. Really hope this anxiety eases, pregnancy after loss feels so scary

I know it can but worth it all in the end

I am 22 weeks and have been scanned once a week for my whole pregnancy, they are completely safe and as I was so sick they did give me reassurance. My baby is fine and I don't regret one scan

I had a scan every week from 6 to 12 weeks, then every 4 weeks until I reached 30 weeks, then it was every two weeks and when I hit 34, it was every week.

Private maternity cover. And no risk to the Oregon having that many.
I wish you all the luck for this pregnancy x

No risk to the pregnancy. Not to the Oregon.
Damn autocorrect

Thank you all for your replies, I’m feeling a lot better hearing your experiences!

Funnily enough, this is actually a topic I had do in depth research into for an assignment during my masters degree! The ONLY health effect that ultrasound has been proven (via published scientific research papers) to have on babies is a tiny tiny increase in the percentage of babies born left handed rather than right handed. I can't remember the numbers, but the standard chance of a baby being left handed is about 10% anyway. So several ultrasounds may increase that chance from 10% to something like 10.1%. All the other research investigating links between ultrasound use and actual medical problems didn't show any correlation.

That’s really great to hear! The problem with looking things up online is there is always someone saying how bad something is

@pinknsparkly that's so weird - any idea why it has that effect?

@itssquidstella - they have absolutely no idea! Most of the studies were looking at the effects on the brain as that is what they were concerned would be most affected, so looked at things like dyslexia, reading ability, autism, vision, hearing etc. However, the studies didn't demonstrate an effect on any of these apart from handedness. Even more fascinatingly (to me anyway!), a number of these studies were only able to prove the increase in left handedness for male babies, and couldn't prove it for female babies!

@itssquidstella - they have absolutely no idea! Most of the studies were looking at the effects on the brain as that is what they were concerned would be most affected, so looked at things like dyslexia, reading ability, autism, vision, hearing etc. However, the studies didn't demonstrate an effect on any of these apart from handedness. Even more fascinatingly (to me anyway!), a number of these studies were only able to prove the increase in left handedness for male babies, and couldn't prove it for female babies!

@Clarapur - that is so true. Dr Google can be super helpful a lot of the time, but also can terrify the out of you! You should even be careful with newspaper articles. A number of newspaper articles that have been written about the scientific research I mentioned decided to run with headlines such as "ultrasound causes brain damage in babies" because it makes for much better/dramatic reading, but if you actually go back to the scientific research, it doesn't show that at all...!

That’s so frustrating, especially when looking for some reassurance only to be frightened by what you read! Thank you @pinknsparkly for your explanation above about handed was, really interesting

Handedness! Not handed was 😑

I live in another European country and had scans as standard every four weeks throughout the pregnancy. Some months I even had more due to extra appointments or checking for specific issues etc. This is standard and there is no higher rate of miscarriage or any effect on babies across the population here :) enjoy seeing your baby and good luck with your pregnancy.

My friend is a sonographer and scanned herself very very frequently during all her pregnancies. She now has two lovely healthy children. On that basis I wouldn't worry.

Had a few scans in first trimester - I think from memory 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 11.5 weeks and baby absolutely fine. My medic friend advised no known impact except the handedness point someone has already explained above.

Did you know op that research has shown the more medical appointments you have (including exams) the less likely you are to mc? They don’t know why. So going to extra scans can actually reduce your mc risk

Due to anxiety because of mmc and ectopic pregnancy, I had frequent private scans and was scanned every other week from the NHS after 28 weeks. The private scans really helped to reassure me

@Onceuponatimethen that’s really interesting to hear! I think I did see someone mention that in an old forum but haven’t seen it come up in google searches, I’ll do some more digging!

Really appreciate all of your replies, I’m feeling much more reassured ❤️

The advice is to avoid frequent ultrasound, unless clinically indicated.
There is no long term use evidence bae of frequent scanning because it has not been around long enough. Boutique scanning is relatively new.

There is laboratory evidence of neurological damage in rats but the research hasn’t been repeated.
Given an increased incidence of neurological anomaly’s that mirrors the increased uptake of private scanning I would be very wary of having unnecessary scans. Get the anxiety treated rather than using anecdotal evidence as assurance.
No proven risk is the line. That is not the same as no risk.