Fetal Doppler – When did you first hear the heartbeat?

[S19]

I’m unexpectedly pregnant with my third, with a healthy and close pregnancy. With two little ones and limited childcare, we haven’t gone for a reassurance scan yet, but we do have a home fetal Doppler. I know opinions on these vary, and I only used it a handful of times in my previous pregnancies.

This time, I’ve tried finding the heartbeat early but haven’t had any luck. I’m currently 8–9 weeks and wondering—what’s the earliest others have found a heartbeat with a home Doppler? I’m a little worried I haven’t heard anything yet.

I think you'll only make yourself feel worse.

Even trained midwives doing it day in day out are reluctant to try before 24 weeks!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! But seriously chuck the doppler in the bin!

Midwives now rarely check at the 16 week appointment because it can be touch and go if they find it and it causes unnecessary worry if they can’t. 20 weeks is the scan so they usually start using the doppler from 24 weeks onwards. I don’t mean this harshly but it doesn’t sound like you know what you’re doing with it. If you did you wouldn’t be asking this question in the first place because you’d know that it’s pretty much impossible even for a professional to find a heartbeat this early. But because you have it you’ve tried and now you’re worrying so it’s serving no useful purpose and is just causing unnecessary stress. Even if you found something you wouldn’t know if it’s the baby, your own pulse or the placenta because it’s easy for a none professional to confuse them- hence why they’re not recommended for home use even later on in pregnancy.

The midwife only found my girls heartbeat via Doppler once in all of the appointments I had with her! Definitely wouldn’t expect to be able to now

I honestly wouldn't bother i saw a midwife and student midwife at 16 weeks and they took ages to find the heart beat, we were all exchanging worried looks at each other. Got there eventually but was close to giving up and telling me to go epu.

I’m a little worried I haven’t heard anything yet.

Gently OP, this is why home dopplers are really not a great idea.

You can't guarantee you will hear something ever really.

They are nothing like the ones that midwives use, and they just tend to make people more anxious, especially if they've heard it once and then can't find it again.

Chuck it in the bin.

I heard it at the midwife apt at 16 weeks.

My friend went to her midwife apt at 16 weeks and the midwife couldn’t find it, at all. They had to go to the hospital and had a scan and they spent the time between the apt and hospital worrying. This is their second baby as well.

Also you can think you might hear it and it’s actually the placenta, so it can give a false sense of security. Obviously not at 9 weeks but later on. At my apt recently at. 28 weeks the midwife found it and said ‘that’s the placenta’ and I wouldn’t have had a clue.

You need to ditch the home Doppler unless you’re a qualified midwife / obstetrician. They should be banned from sale to the general public. Please I urge you, do not use, you’ll only worry yourself silly.

OP I can't remember exactly when it was but it was definitely after the 12 week scan (and definitely tried many times before then 🙈). So I would say you are just too early x

Opinions don't vary - it's categorically recommended you don't use one. Chuck it in the bin and just go to your usual appointments.

Around 16-20 weeks you can start to hear it. But also depends on placenta position etc as to when you might hear it.

Certainly not for sure until after 20 weeks.

Please don't use a Doppler.

My DS stopped moving at 31 weeks and I know 100% that if I had a home Doppler and found his heartbeat I wouldn't have gone to get checked out when I did. When the midwife found the heartbeat I immediately relaxed and thought I'd be heading home except the trace they used showed he was in huge distress and they delivered him within the hour via emergency section. Dopplers make you less likely to seek trained advice and I'm passionately against them. Ditch the Doppler

Chuck it in the bin and give your head a wobble. I didn't hear a heart beat with a doppler until I had an appointment at 33 weeks! You've got 20+ weeks to wait, get rid!

sorry but throw it away. Even a midwife couldn't find one at 16 weeks for me. She only managed to starting from around 24 weeks and she obviously has more training than you will have

www.kickscount.org.uk/pages/category/ditch-the-doppler

@S19 Just to say that I went in for reduced movements recently and the midwife spent 30 mins looking for a heartbeat - she did get it eventually - so not sure it's worth doing at home (and the extra stress of you scrabbling to hear it can't be good for baby). If you're 9 weeks, you must have had booking appointment and scan date for 12 weeks? So may hear baby soon. ❤️ Hope it all goes well for you.

Last time I was in for monitoring, I was about 32 weeks and heard the heartbeat straight away as soon as they strapped me up - except it wasn't the heartbeat at all, it was the placenta!
I couldn't believe how similar it sounded to my untrained ear so would never trust myself to monitor my own baby at home.

I know this was posted over a month ago now but these comments absolutely do not pass the vibe, sorry op. OP clearly acknowledged dopplers aren’t for everyone and was not asking for advice on owning a Doppler.

I’ve had 4 losses and found my sons heartbeat around 11 weeks in my successful pregnancy, I’m quite thin so I’m not sure if this made it easier and I didn’t try before this so unsure if I would have found it any earlier. But it was evidently the babies heartbeat and I’ve never felt relief like it. I wanted the tiniest bit of reassurance before going for my 12 week scan. I used the Doppler maybe 5 times for that whole pregnancy and have no regrets, & still went to the hospital at 27 weeks for reduced movement even though I found the heartbeat on the Doppler.

I reckon you were just too early OP, have you had better luck since this post?

Who's 'vibe'? Yours?

If you choose to use one yourself then that's up to you but it is extremely irresponsible to recommend them to anyone else when they are so widely criticised and advised against.

They can be downright dangerous.

"The vibes" of engaging in a likely inaccurate and anxiety inducing activity apparently. It's not advised for a reason.

The vibes that the OP was looking for by the actual question that she asked, but thanks for your sarcasm. That’s not what the OP was asking for, so it’s ok to keep your medical advice to yourself if you don’t have an answer to the actual question asked. It’s so judgemental when you don’t know what people are going through and not what these forums are for. You are allowed to choose not to use these things but it’s not ok to bring another woman down for choosing differently.

Please quote where I recommended anyone to use one, just supporting OP as I’m sure that’s what she was looking for.

She's worried she hadn't found a heart beat at 8-9 weeks. She received appropriate comments, that she's just increasing her anxiety by even attempting. Trained midwives struggle to find heart beats even up until 24 weeks. By just telling her she's simply too early and to keep trying isn't helpful, as you are actively encouraging her to engage in an activity that goes against medical advice, and is also unlikely to yield positive results. If you go on tommy's, a service especially for anxious mothers who have had miscarriages, they strongly advise against it. So there is no vibe in feeding into someone's anxiety.

I loved my home Doppler, used it for both my pregnancies and it helped my anxiety sooo much. I didn't use at all until 12 weeks and think started to hear heartbeat around 14 weeks. We were very strict with it and only used once a week on a Wednesday evening.

Ok well we are simply not going to agree, and that’s ok, so I’ll leave it here. I think if the question was ‘what is everyone’s opinions on dopplers’ then these comments could be classed as ‘appropriate.’ However, that was not the question and therefore I see these responses as unhelpful and unnecessary to OP.

@RainbowTTC so bizarre that you would resurrect an old thread just to start this!