Home Doppler - worth it?

[Balkin]

Does anyone have these and would you recommend?

I'm really anxious waiting for my next scan at 20 weeks and considering getting one of these but I'm worried that it will be hard to use and I'll make myself worse if I struggle to find the HB.

I’d advise against it. The Royal College of Midwives say:

“The RCM has concerns about the use of personal Doppler machines. We have two key concerns: firstly, the machines can lead to unnecessary stress for women when they are unable to find a heartbeat using the personal Doppler and secondly, that women may be falsely reassured by hearing what they think is their baby’s heartbeat when it is actually their own.

“The sound that is heard is not the real heart sound but the machine detecting heart movement, therefore picking up a maternal pulse or blood pumping through placenta could give false reassurance.

“Such reassurance could be dangerous as it may delay a woman in seeking advice from her midwife. Even if the mother has picked up the baby’s heartbeat this is not an indication that the baby is well.”

I had a doppler used on me at the hospital by the midwife and it was very difficult to the untrained ear to actually hear the heartbeat. I didn't realise that the placenta actually makes quite a lot of noise that can easily be mistaken for a heartbeat. I think it will make you more anxious and as mentioned above, they are recommended against for good reason.

Really wouldn’t. It’s remarkably tricky for even a trained midwife at times. At best it unnecessarily worries you and at worst it gives you false reassurance that everything’s ok when it’s actually not. I really wouldn’t.

No. Absolutely not.

It will add a hundred fold to your anxiety, and they are really dangerous in inexperienced hands. A woman who’s experiencing reduced movements for example might listen with the Doppler, hear her placenta sounds and then not go to get checked.

Please don’t do it!

I don’t have one myself, but my trust really advises against home Dopplers. They’ve posted recently that especially during the Covid period they’ve seen an increase of women using these to check on baby themselves.

However it’s takes years of training to understand what you are listening too and they have highlighted that some women reassure themselves baby is fine and that they can hear the heart beat when actually, unfortunately they are completely wrong. So not only would you panic if you cannot find the heartbeat, you might actually reassure yourself you’ve heard it, when actually you haven’t and there is something genuinely wrong.

I’m 32 weeks now and even at all my appointments where they listen to the heartbeat, I am convinced I can hear it but they haven’t actually found the correct location yet, so I don’t think it’s particularly straight forward, so I personally would never try it myself.

The time between the 12 and 20 week scan is a weird time and I think a lot of women get anxious during this period. It’s that in between time where your 1st trimester symptoms might have disappeared but you’re too early to feel regular movements, and you might feel you’re not actually pregnant. Try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know) and if you Have reason to be concerned contact your midwife, they will never be annoyed with you if it turns out your concerns end up being nothing, they always rather you be safe than sorry.

No. It's really hard to find the heart beat - with my first I had student midwives looking panicked because they couldn't find it at all. Even my v good midwife struggled sometimes.

I trained as a midwife ( no longer work as one). Don't waste your money. It takes practice to be able to find the heartbeat and also to distinguish between mothers and babies heartbeat. It's not worth the stress and much better to go by babies movements.

Thanks! I'll definitely avoid then.

As per PP, I just feel like I'm in that horrible limbo stage where my horrid 1st Tri symptoms have gone and other than a small bump and the odd cramp, I don't feel pregnant at all anymore.

I only had a scan a week and a half ago and everything was fine but it's just a pain in the bum worrying all the time.

I definitely won't bother though, thank you!

I used one in my third pregnancy but I'm a nurse. Unless you have training or experience I wouldn't recommend it as it is quite difficult to do and you wouldn't want to give yourself false assurance by accidentally listening to your own heart beat, when in fact baby may not be ok.

Agree not to and with the comments about it not being easy to tell when you’ve found the heartbeat - at my last appointment the midwife spent ages moving it around and I was thinking- but I can hear it fine what’s the problem- until she finally did find it and what I was listening to hadn’t been it at all.