No heartbeat on doppler

[Charlie14]

I'm 12 weeks and can't find the heartbeat...should I be worried or just leave it? I never used one of these with my first pregnancy but my friend gave me one and I cant find a heartbeat...I had a scan at 9 weeks and all good. I've got my 12 week scan on Monday...do I just wait? Thanks

Don't worry OP, I had to have a Doppler on my legs once (checking blood flow or something random) and the nurse couldn't find a pulse in either leg. I'm definitely alive and kicking! They're just not particularly good / sensitive sometimes 😊

When pregnant with DD I had reduced movement and turned out she was really poorly, listening in with one of those would of made me feel falsely reassured and not got checked out. This is why they can be so dangerous.

Hope your 12 week scan goes well and congratulations.

Bin that machine

Eugh Dopplers should be banned. Do not worry op x

They need banning.

Thank you everyone. Feel alot more reassured now

You didn't hear the baby's heartbeat, you heard your own heartbeat.

It’s just as possible your friend was listening to her own heartbeat and thinking it was the baby’s.

The uterus hasn’t even risen out of the pelvis at 12 weeks. A Doppler cannot record through bone. A trained midwife would struggle to pick up a heartbeat at 12 weeks using much better equipment than you can buy. The odds are your friend was listening to her own heartbeat!

Your bladder lies on top of the uterus not underneath it 🙄 the reason you need a full bladder for a scan is so it provides an acoustic window to be able to see the uterus below it.

You are talking utter rubbish. In pregnancy the bladder is below the uterus. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and feel my baby kicking or headbutting my bladder which makes me need a wee urgently. I definitely feel it very low down and not on top of my bump. I think you need a lesson in anatomy!

OP, there's a reason dopplers are not recommended in pregnancy, especially early pregnancy. This is why. I really hope your baby is okay but you really shouldn't be using it at all. Any concerns about your pregnancy should be reported to your midwife or care team immediately.

At 38 weeks the bladder is below the uterus as your uterus is so stretched. Not at 12 weeks it isn’t! Look at a simple diagram of female anatomy.

Bladder sits at the front, then the uterus, then rectum so no I don't need lesson in anatomy

@Madwife123 cross-post, snap!

Please throw it away !!x

The NHS advises against their use. There’s a reason midwife’s use them 16-20 weeks for first time.

I’m skeptical about people finding the heartbeat so early.

There was a sad story here about a woman who stopped feeling movement but reassured herself with the Doppler thinking she was listening to the baby’s heartbeat but it turned out it was some other bodily noise she was picking up on.

OP I'm bit sure why people freak out so much about dopplers. They are not dangerous if you use common sense and do your homework! Most people are able to do this.

I've used my Doppler in both pregnancies. Last one I found it about 13 weeks. This one it was not until 17 weeks but it was only for a few seconds at a time with full to bursting bladder as baby so wriggly. You cannot mistake the fetal heartbeat it is so much faster than your own heartbeat and moves around! You get to know the region's your heartbeat can be heard in near arteries etc and where your placenta is.

There are just two simple rules to follow for
using a Doppler:

1. You accept you are not a trained professional and likely not using a very sensitive device so if you cannot find a heart beat early it doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, especially if no bleeding and everything else ok!

2. You also must count kicks when you start to feel movement and not use the Doppler for reassurance. This is because it's the movement that counts, babies stop moving to conserve energy when things are wrong so this is the first sign of distress. You are unlikely to pick up a heat rate deceleration with a simple device, that is for a trained professional and so finding the heart beat alone with a home Doppler is not reassurance.

Provided you understand the above and limit the time to you use the Doppler I don't see why people label them dangerous. It's not the Doppler device that's dangerous it's the users lack of education on it! I think a blanket fear of dopplers has been instilled by health care professionals as it's just easier and cheaper than providing the advice people need to use them properly and knowing not everyone will get it and be demanding early scans. Controversial view but just my opinion! 😄

@Squiff70 the bladder is at the front of the uterus

Yeah you need to throw that thing away.

FWIW I had a (twin) baby in a position so weird that even professionals couldn't find her with a doppler right to the end of pregnancy. Had to be a visual check, every time.

@Purplefoxes it's dangerous because women can use them find something completely unrelated to the baby/ placenta and be reassured their baby is still alive, not go into hospital to be assessed and the baby die. Yes you've said all those other things but most women who use a Doppler will use it wrongly and either be reassured by their own heart beat or be worried they can't find the babies heartbeat and go into hospital repeatedly.

As someone who helps perform emergency c sections, Dopplers are awful. Last week there was a lady who was reassured wrongly by her Doppler and it was only during a growth scan later that day the sonographer realised the baby was quite literally dying and sent her up to delivery suite and we had the baby out in 15 mins so 20 mins from scan to baby which is insane. She didn't have time to call her husband. I did that. Baby survived only just and was very unwell but if she hadn't had the scan she said she wouldn't have come in because she got reassurance from her Doppler so wasn't worried about the lack of movement.

This is a common thing we see because of the false reassurance dopplers give

@Carpetfluffy You've just demonstrated my point by your post. It's not the Doppler that's the problem, it's the person using it! People will use them whether you ban or not as there are plenty in circulation. To put it bluntly it's peoples ignorance on home dopplers that's the problem. So why not educate people about them rather than just say dangerous cannot be used when people will use them anyway. What's dangerous is the lack of education on how to and how not to use them. People will always want to hear their babies heart beat, pregnancy is a very special time. If we gave out a simple leaflet about home dopplers with the pregnancy kit that would surely help and even better if all midwives went through the above two points with mother's at booking in appointments. It could save lives as you point out. We tell mother's not to smoke or drink or drink in pregnancy and then it's up to them. Why not also tell them if you use a Doppler you must not use it as reassurance when lack of babies movements?

Why not also tell them if you use a Doppler you must not use it as reassurance when lack of babies movements?
Because people, en masse, are quite stupid. It’s why we’re told no alcohol: you could actually have a bit, but telling people that leads to idiocy, easier to just issue a blanket “no”. Dopplers should absolutely be banned: midwives offering up education on them is tantamount to a rubber stamp saying “the NHS thinks it’s a good idea that you use this”. People will forget the “don’t use it for reassurance about movement” part and just remember the “I was given a leaflet about dopplers, therefore dopplers are OK”.

Look at this thread, with people inventing where the bladder is or OP’s friend magically hearing the heartbeat at nine weeks. The education campaign would be insanely costly to combat that kind of thing.

That's a worry but be kind to yourself and don't use that machine again. This is work for a trained person. Have your scan as usual and the very best of luck to you and baby. All will be well.

@stuntbubbles I understand what you are saying but my point is you can ban all you like but people will still use them. How many for sale on eBay and people kept from previous pregnancies? So surely the NHS is just creating a problem for itself if it does not educate people on them for fear of endorsing dopplers! It's really easy to say the NHS does not endorse use of home dopplers as our stance is they should be used by medical professionals only. However if you do decide to use them here are the facts you should know. Then you keep referring people back to it and eventually the message gets through. Although to be honest you are probably right the system in my area at least is under so much stress right now it cannot cope with even normal operation. I've had my pregnancy notes lost twice now by the community midwives, luckily the second time I had the presence of mind to photocopy them myself! Even at my appointments they are quite clueless but that's another story. 🙄

Dopplers are terrible things as the heartbeat is always the last thing to go on a poorly baby. Your baby could be seriously ill, but you’d still hear a heartbeat. Whereas movement is a far more reliable way to track your baby’s wellbeing, it’s always the first thing that ceases in times of distress.