What are your reasons for early scans and NIPTs?

[Mamma36474]

I've recently joined the February due date thread and I was surprised at how many mums to be are getting early scans. I've never considered one. Is it for reassurance or do you have other risk factors?

I'm a mum of a primary school child with complex SEN needs. I'm an older mum, 45+ so I am a bit anxious about it all going well. I was just wondering if I should be considered an early scan and NIPTs too.

How much to they tend to go for? We already spend a fortune on therapy for DC.

I paid for an early private scan with my first pregnancy as I was on medication which is risky during pregnancy.

My second pregnancy I had a lot of bleeding so I was given an early scan at EPU but I then paid for a second private scan for my own reassurance.

For my scans I paid around £60 but I know some places can be even more expensive.

NIPT - because I was over 40.

Early scans are for reassurance that things are going well. Also, as someone who has had a missed miscarriage in the past, I also want to know as soon as possible if the baby has stopped growing rather than find out at the standard 12 week scan.

The NIPT test is very personal, it detects common disabilities which some people may decide they wouldn’t continue the pregnancy with. The NHS also screens for these but privately you can get them sooner and more accurate results for everyone.

With my first because I went private and with my second because I lived in the US and for both it was just presented like that was standard antenatal care. Scan at 7-8 weeks to confirm viable pregnancy in the correct location. NIPT at 10-12 weeks and you find out the sex with that too, if you want to.

I've had an early scan ~7 weeks with both my pregnancies, but this was due to having fertility treatment. It was done at my fertility clinic, so that they could confirm the pregnancy was viable, and confirm it was a singleton pregnancy for their outcome measures. Never paid for a private scan and actually not sure I would - I think its really easy to descend down a kind of slippery slope getting scan after scan after scan. I do get more scans though due to fertility treatment, so have had extra NHS growth scans. May very well have felt differently if I just had the dating and anomaly scan.

Think go with what you're comfortable/happy with. No need to do it 'just because' others are, if you don't feel any particular need to do so personally. Equally, if you feel you want more scans, or to do the NIPT go for it. We never did the NIPT as felt the NHS testing was enough, and not at particularly high risk.

My first pregnancy was normal and I now have a healthy 18 mo. I didn't even think about problems or early scans, and waited till 12 week scan. Luckily all good. I found out I was pregnant again in March and joined the November 2024 group. Loads of women talking about early scans, so I decided to go for one just for reassurance. Unfortunately I'd had a MMC. I am really glad I had the scan as finding out at 12 week scan or just starting with the awful heavy bleeding that I eventually had, would've been even more unbearable. If you are considering an early scan, I'd recommend waiting till at least 7 weeks. So many women on that thread went earlier and it was too early to see anything. They drove themselves crazy wondering if there's no heartbeat because it's too early or because they've lost the baby. It seems to cause more anxiety than it alleviates if you go too early xx

I had an early reassurance scan with my last pregnancy as I had heard of other people having mmcs and I was incredibly anxious about that possibility. The scan didn't get rid of all my anxiety but I felt a bit better knowing that I was still pregnant then and the chance of miscarriage after that was much lower. It cost about £80 at the time, not sure if that has gone up in the last few years.

we had an early scan with our first and will for this on because I do a high risk job and have to tell work early on. It means I’m then put on restricted duties and everyone guesses.
Puts me at ease a bit knowing everything is ok so far :)

My first pregnancy I didn't have any scans or tests, unfortunately had a miscarriage at 11 weeks. My second/current pregnancy I did have a NHS scan at 6 weeks due to bleeding, and a private scan about 9 weeks as I was struggling with worrying. private scan was £60. I was very mindful to remember that scans only tell you it's OK in that minute, and it doesn't change anything. Didn't have NIPT, only the usual tests at 12 week scan.

I had an early placement scan at 6 weeks with the NHS because my last pregnancy was an ectopic. Think they will offer this for all future pregnancies as history of ectopic. Then I paid £120 for a private scan one week later as didn’t have any symptoms and all my due date groups were complaining of extreme nausea etc so I panicked. Kind of wish I’d waited a bit longer to space them out! Have Nuchal scan with NHS in 2.5 weeks and just currently trying to decide if I do NIPT earlier that week or not.

Thanks all for sharing.

My first pregnancy I happily went along to the 12 week scan expecting to see baby but instead was told there was no heartbeat and it had stopped growing at 10 weeks. My body hadn't registered the miscarriage, I then needed surgical intervention to remove it. Once you've been through that it's really shocking and traumatic and it affects you with any subsequent pregnancies. I've since had two children and I'm pregnant with my third and I still get severe anxiety before every scan. Whilst having early scans doesn't change the outcome, it means women aren't waiting until 12 weeks to be told they've lost the pregnancy. I would rather find out at 6,7,8 weeks and I can act on it rather than going through the whole first trimester thinking I'm pregnant and everything is ok.

My reason was that I was not guided properly. I was taking hcg injections, and had my NT scan a few days after hcg shot, so my results were skewed.
So I did an NIPT test just to verify the results again, and everything was fine.

I had an early private scan in my first pregnancy because I wanted to know if things looked okay so far and the first trimester is a long slog until you get to the dating scan - unfortunately for me that pregnancy ended in miscarriage (and the early scan was the first indicator of that as baby was measuring well behind where it should have been, although it had a heartbeat). As a result of that, I had early scans on the NHS in this pregnancy - had I not been able to have them through my local hospital I would have definitely paid for at least one privately as I would have wanted to know as early as possible if something was going wrong. Didn't have any private testing, was quite happy to wait for the combined screening and have any other tests needed after that (fortunately not required).

I had a NIPT, it was £400
I had it because I’m 40 and found myself worrying

First pregnancy I had early scans at 7 weeks and 11 weeks just for reassurance as I have anxiety. Had a missed miscarriage picked up at the 11 week scan.

Second and third pregnancies I had scans to see if I had another missed miscarriage. Both times I had a slow heart rate and was behind my dates so went back a week later to have it confirmed it was another missed miscarriage (so 3 in total).

First pregnancy was 2 private scans, second pregnancy I got referred to the EPU after 1 private scan, third pregnancy all early scans were through the EPU.

So I have them to make sure I know as early as possible if the pregnancy has ended, rather than waiting until the 12 week scan.

I had the NIPT test as I was 40 when I was pregnant with my second, and wanted an accurate test for the trisomies to know early on if I was a genuine high risk, as expected I would be based on age alone. NIPT was through ultrasound direct at cost £400 I think.

In my first pregnancy I had an early scan for reassurance which cost £60.

Are you currently pregnant OP? Congrats if that is the case. Some trusts will offer the NIPT if your 12 week scan/bloods are high risk. If you are 45+, you might find your results show quite high risk anyways due to age, even if baby is ok. Its a personal choice what you do regarding early scans and NIPT. I my case:

I had TTC 4yrs and got pregnant for the 1st time at 38. I paid for the NIPT due to my age. I had no other reason to think anything was wrong, neither DH nor myself had children beforehand, and we were both fit and well. NIPT showed patau syndrome and I was glad I had a choice so early on. I chose TFMR and was able to do this at 12 weeks- before I'd told anyone I was pregnant or was showing.

2nd pregnancy a year later at 39. The EPU offered to do an early scan due to my history. Unfortunately I MC the day before I was booked for the scan.

3rd pregnancy was after IVF. They organised an early scan due to it being IVF. I saw a heart beat and all was going well at 8 weeks. 2 weeks later I MC.

I had further rounds of IVF but we have no living children. Its a personal choice whatever you decide.

NIPT because I wanted to be more sure of my chances. I know someone who had no risk factors and didn’t find out until 18 weeks due to no NIPT. I’d abort in that situation.

I also could afford it so the money didn’t bother me at all

IVF so had a scan at 6 weeks to confirm pregnancy we were then offered a 2nd early scan half price so took that at just over 8 weeks as knew the risk of miscarriage after that point is much lower. I think even if I hadnt had IVF I'd still have an early a scan as we found out at 7 weeks with a previous IVF pregnancy that if wasn't viable but I didnt miscarry until 9 weeks which would have been a terrible shock had I not had the early scan and epu referral.

I had an early scan because it's an IVF pregnancy. However, I have a history of ectopic pregnancies so get booked in for a scan as soon as I find out I'm pregnant regardless.
Had a few more early scans because of bleeding in the first trimester.
My OB/GYN scans at every appointment anyway, so every 4 weeks to begin with and now that I'm quite far along every 2 weeks. My pregnancy is considered high risk but has actually been going quite well. (My scans are covered by my medical insurance and get done by my normal OB/GYN, not privately.)
We had the NIPT done, which was also covered by my insurance because I'm over 40.

Thank you! I've enquired about early scan prices and it's £150 for an ultrasound and £450 for NIPT. I've booked it in, but need to discuss with DH. We're not swimming in money but being an older mum I do think it's worth the reassurance.

I would get it as if it was something very serious I would have a termination and I would prefer to do it when the embryo is tiny than when it has developed more as I'd find that more upsetting

I think you get a scan as part of the nipt process when paying for it. So may not need the additional scan. Check with who you booked with.

I had a scan at EPAU at about 7 weeks due to pain and bleeding. Miscarriage/ectopic check. I booked a private scan at 10 weeks as we were going to a family event and was very very sick so no way I was getting away with it and I still had the pain and bleeding.

My combined screening test came very low risk so saw no reason for NIPT. Due to age alone, you'll probably get a high risk result and will probably get a NIPT test free on NHS after 12 week scan screening anyway. Some would be happy with that, some would want the test earlier as they would personally find terminating due to abnormalities more difficult at around 16 weeks compared to if they'd had the test done privately at say 10 weeks.