A bit confused about when to book an early scan

[LucyCL]

My first pregnancy - I was 4 weeks and 5 days on 19 dpo
My second pregnancy - CP
My current pregnancy - I am now 5 weeks and 1 day on 19 dpo (today)

So when shall I book an early scan for this pregnancy?

I would at least wait until you’re 7 weeks (from the first day of your last period), otherwise it might not give you clarity and reassurance. E.g if there’s no heartbeat, you wouldn’t know if anything is wrong or if it’s just too early.

At 4.5-5 weeks the most you will see is a gestational sac.

5-6 weeks you would likely see a gestational sac and yolk sac plus fetal pole.

6+ weeks you could see a heartbeat.

Unless you have any medical history that makes you high risk (eg ectopic pregnancy or previous tubal surgery etc) the earliest I’d schedule a TV scan would be 6 weeks.

I’d say book for around 8 weeks. That gives some leeway incase you are earlier than you thought you were, you would definitely see a heartbeat at 8 weeks. Anything earlier and you run the risk of it just being too soon to see, you’re asked to come back in 2 weeks, and you’re not going to get any reassurance from that at all.

Good luck x

7 weeks

Between 7-8 weeks, then you know you should see a heartbeat by that point

I’ve had similar, and have been advised not before 8 weeks - or you run the risk of no heartbeat; and nobody can reassure you if that’s normal or a sign of something being wrong.

I had one at 5 and 7 weeks with my son and the wait between them was awful. I’m not loving the wait to 8 weeks this time, it’s very scary, but I’m hoping waiting will save any awful anxiety.

If you can hold out until the 12w I would, unless you have a history of ectopic or miscarriages. Sadly I do and get scanned from 6w and even seeing a heartbeat isn’t a guarantee, it’s not really that much of a comfort, more of a waiting game!

Another vote for waiting until 7 weeks and a few days!

Can't you just wait until your 12 weeks NHS scan?
Early scans aren't necessary unless there's a medical history of problems, and scanning so early can't give you much information or reassurance that nothing will go wrong.

In the past I went around 9 weeks.

The NHS might scan you at an EPU because of your previous losses.

Thank you all for the advice! I had 2 early losses this year and will turn 35 this November. I am going to call EPU to ask if they could offer me an early scan. I will wait until 8 weeks. That is exactly 3 weeks from now. I have decided to take it day by day with calm.

I'm sorry that you've had losses and I understand why you want reassurance, but I'd wait until til 12 weeks... so many threads on here from women who've had early scans and it's caused more worry than reassurance.

I'm sorry you've had to experience multiple losses - good luck for this pregnancy and I hope it's a sticky one. If you're going through EPU rather than a private scan place, I would just give them a call this week, give them your dates and let them advise when they want to bring you in. They won't book you in if it's going to be too early.

Try and hold out to 8 weeks+ if you can. Most miscarriages happen between 6 and 8 weeks so scans before then can give a lot of false reassurance.

Try to hold off till 8+weeks if you can.

There's no guarantees of course but the odds of miscarrying drop massively once you see/hear a heartbeat at 8+ weeks

I’d agree with at least 8 weeks, unles you have bleeding before that. Any good private place shouldn’t see you til then anyway. And obviously it’s no guarantees but if all ok at 8 weeks, the miscarriage risk does lessen after that point. Pregnancy after MC is tough, no way could I have waited for 12 week scan, I would have gone absolutely mad.

I’d argue mine was necessary from a mental health perspective

To be honest, I also do it for the same reason.❤ 8 weeks is long enough.