How early for a scan?

[User13355]

Hello, I will be about 6 weeks pregnant on Wednesday (ovulation confirmed on 11th October based on OPKs and temps, and we only DTD on 11th and 12th October).
How early can I go for a scan based on previous experience?

This is only the second time I've been pregnant; the first was a chemical that ended at 4.5 weeks. I'm therefore nervous about loss - I would like to know as early as possible if there is no heartbeat and/or it's a pregnancy of unknown location. I don't want to get all the way to Christmas and 12 week scan to find baby never grew past 5 weeks. Of course I could lose the baby at any stage but my preference is to do periodic scans along the way to check development and deal with a loss as early as possible.

I was going to get a private 6 week scan to at least confirm it's not an ectopic but I currently don't have symptoms of an ectopic (no pain, no bleeding) for now, so wondering if I should try to stretch a little further along. What do people think?

I went for an early scan at 6 weeks and 6 days and they saw the heart beat on the scan. Yolk sac, baby, heart beat and amniotic sac were all seen on the scan. I thought I was 4 days ahead of that, but the scan measured me at 6+6. She did have some difficulty finding it, but eventually managed. This was an abdominal scan, not an internal scan. My 12 week scan is next week so I'll have a better idea of dates then. Good luck op and sorry you're feeling nervous about loss. Sending lots of healthy pregnancy vibes your way x

I personally would wait til 8 weeks. If you see a heartbeat at 8 weeks there’s something like a 98% chance of having a successful pregnancy

I was deemed high risk for an ectopic in my last pregnancy but even then, the hospital wouldn't scan me until I was minimum 7 weeks as they said the chance of no seeing anything was too high before that.

Because of previous issues (recurrent miscarriage & molar pregnancy) I've had scans at 5, 6 and 7 weeks and each one has been inconclusive, so I've now got another anxious week until an 8 week scan. I think at that point they should know viability to a pretty certain level so if you can, I'd wait until 8 weeks, rather than go on an emotional rollercoaster every week!

Ideally 7/8 weeks to confirm pregnancy in the correct location, any earlier there’s a risk that even healthy pregnancy might not be seen and it’s an unnecessary stress. Then personally I’d also 10/11 weeks for an NIPT test and that included another scan. As well as the screening you can find out the sex with that too!

8 weeks.
Prior to that, you run the risk of them not finding a heartbeat (because it's a bit early).
You'd then have a couple of weeks of needless panic. So you might as well wait till 8 weeks.

[TBH I'd personally wait till the NHS dating scan. Why waste money?]

Sorry for your loss.

I also had a missed miscarriage, and so this time round we said we are going to pay for the early scans. So I went for my first scan at 7w 2d because I was sure of the dates, and I could see a good view of the baby and the heart beat. This was a good time for me.

We plan to have another scan at 10w+1 to make sure the baby is ok.

I just needed to know if all is well and 12/13 weeks of worrying while waiting for a normal scan would be too cruel.

I had an internal scan at 7+1 but was measuring smaller. Saw a heartbeat which was reassuring and I’m now 18+3. I had a scan at around 8w with DD2 and saw a lot more. It’s worth holding out if you can.

Your exactly 2 years behind me! We concieved on the same date. I had my early scan first week in December because I couldn't bear to wait any longer.

I’ve been at 8 weeks with first DD and 6 weeks with the baby I’m pregnant with now and would wait till 8 weeks if you can. I was very anxious as had had a miscarriage inbetween so was relieved to see a heartbeat and my dates matching but it was then a long wait till the 12 week.