Midwife checking heartbeat at 16 week

[GemLooper]

Hi all. Looking for experiences of 16 week check up and whether midwife did/didn't check heartbeat. Anyone's midwife refuse to check?

Hi, I just had my 16 week check. I was a little over 15 weeks and my midwife did scan for the heartbeat.
She did however say it might take a while if baby isn't in the right position.

My midwife offered to look for it and when she found it she asked if I wanted to record it on my phone

My midwife wasn't going to until I asked. She did say sometimes they struggle to find it with the hand held Doppler which can cause unnecessary worry & a trip to triage to check on baby.
I asked her to do it anyway and she found it after about 30 seconds 🙂

mine was over the phone so literally just got a chat and no check up

I don't think it's standard at a midwife apt? Certainly wasn't with my two pregnancies. I think I have only heard the heartbeat at a private scan and when baby was being monitored at MAC!

I'm in Wales and mine have never checked at 16 weeks for heartbeat (currently pg with 3rd). She has said each time that they don't check at 16 weeks because it can take a very long time to find and isn't worth the anxiety it may cause. They start checking from 24 weeks instead.

Hi, I'm currently pregnant with my 3 rd baby and I was told I won't get to hear babies heartbeat till 28 weeks. So I decided to get a at hone Doppler which made my day.

I’m in Wales and the midwife asked if I’d like her to check at my 16 weeks appt. she did say that it’s not in the guidance though and can cause unnecessary worry as if they can’t find it the hospitals usually won’t do anything/see you as it’s not “protocol” so they end up having to get you back in again. Sounds like it’s pot luck but worth an ask as it was so amazing (I also recorded on my phone as it was just me in the appt)

@jadey1991 they are infamously dangerous. You could be listening to the blood flow in the placenta.

I think it depends on the trust, mine did (although she was actually meant to see me over the phone so wouldn't have done then of course, she said she was happy to deviate and see me face to face!). They did last time as well, both times aging don't be worried if we can't hear it as it depends where everything is sitting at the time.

@RosieLemonade
Thanks for your input hun, im a trained nurse/midwife. X

no one checked heartbeat on me until 28 week appt (except obviously at scans). I didn't think this was normal until 3rd trimester to avoid unnecessary worry?

My first pregnancy it was checked. My second was a phone appointment due to covid.

I'm in Wales and mine was checked at 16 weeks & then at every appointment afterwards.

I think it varies from trust to trust. At my 16 week appt they did check it, but with a warning that they may not be able to find it. They did find it but it took a while.

At mine they did check but said if they can't find it they won't refer to hospital as it's not protocol and can be difficult to find.

My midwife tried with the Doppler but didn’t mention it was unreliable. Which lead to trip to Maternity because everywhere else was busy and the entire gut wrenching feeling of thinking my baby died. Baby was fine wriggling around but I have a fibroid where he was and I was so painfully bloated which is why she couldn’t pick up anything.

Mine checked it at every appointment from 16 weeks onwards (DD is 4 weeks old so this is relatively recent)

I think it’s trust dependent. I’d had the doppler at 16 weeks with DC1&2 so was expecting the same with DC3. Midwife said they’d stopped doing it as it was often difficult to find so early and the benefits were outweighed by the number of people unnecessarily worried when they weren’t able to find the heartbeat but nothing was wrong. On the other hand we now get a 36 week growth scan as standard so swings and roundabouts!

My midwife listened to my baby at 16 weeks without me having to ask!
Even at 12 week scan I asked and they let me have a listen to dd heartbeat

My midwife didn't check heartbeat until after the 20 week scan (we briefly heard it at the 20 week sonagrapher appointment). But my mid-wife started around week 25. Someone I know, in a different area had heard hers every appointment since 16 weeks.

I'd read online that they don't always do it at 16 weeks as it's not always possible to hear it and it causes unnecessary stress if it can't be heard.

Mine did but even as she was doing it she was telling me that it's the midwife's decision to do it or not in their hospital, some don't like to do it because it can be tricky and cause stress.

She only did mine because I asked. I had started to feel baby v v v v sporadically but hadn't felt him all week and I just wanted to make sure he was ok. She did say sometimes it was slightly too early to find but luckily she found it very quickly.

Mine offered at 12 weeks which shocked me. I think she realised she maybe shouldn’t have offered so early but all was good and we heard it. I then heard it again with a different midwife at 16 weeks. Both times they asked if I wanted to record it on my phone

Mine offered but warned not to panic if they couldn’t hear it straightaway as it’s difficult to find.