Fetal Heart Monitor - Help to buy

[Singingintherain]

I am currently around 13 weeks pregnant. I have been advised that a good fetal heart monitor would be a good idea to buy.

I am really not sure of what make or model to get. I am quite a large person in size (size 20). I am looking for a reliable one that can take me though my pregnancy. I know that you can get them that connect to the computer so you can record the sound and your own heartbeat for later use for putting baby to sleep. I thoght that this would be nice.

I am just worried about making sure that it is of good quality and works well and not too expensive as I am having it bought me.

Any help appreciated greatly.

sorry I don't have any advice for you, i'm posting as I was looking to get some similar equipment. I found one in the Argos catalogue and wondered if anyone had any comments about how effective this is?

Who advised you?

Hi - I'm about 13 weeks too and have bought this: AngelSounds Pink Fetal Doppler Hear Heart Beat.

It arrived at work today so i will check it out tonight and let you know.

this is just one woman's opinion but ...had a discussion with a mw about this the other day and was advised not to buy one under any circumstances because you need to be trained to use a doppler so you know what you are actually listening to.
she said you should see a MW if you want to listen to baby.
congrats on your pg by the way

My medical insurance company thought that it might help to put my mind at rest.

I have had two MC's, one of these being at 14 weeks. I have had loads of visits to the emergency department here in Spain with bleeding and constant pain.

Unfortunately, the medical system here is very different to the UK. I have been to my own GP when I have had problems and asked them to have a listen for me, but they do not have the equipment. They said that I would need to go to the Gynaecologist who have said they can not get me in for over two weeks. Only if I am desperate, can I go to the emergency department at the hospital with a referral. Most of my private appointments are in the city and are hard to attend.

I know that monitors can be worry to use, and that some people go into terrible states if they can not hear anything. I was told that I should only use it a couple of times a week and for only a few minutes at a time.

I suppose it is 50/50 thing as to whether they are really a good idea. You would worry without one and then worry if you had one and could not hear anything. You have to be prepared before using one.

sorry to hear about your MCs. I lost last baby at 15 wks (now 19+5) so like you was thinking of getting a doppler for reassurance.
very bad you can't get easy access to someone who can listen in. I can see why you'd be tempted.
good luck

i have angel sounds one is great
found babys heartbeat in 5 mins sound is so clear really reassuring.
there are 3 sounds you can pick up
placenta - a whooshing sound
your heart - slow beating
babys heart - very fast beats

just to let you know - the angel sounds doppler is GREAT - i have the pink one

I have the one from the summer one from the argos catalogue and wouldn't recommend it. I had it for my last pregnancy and thought it was ok, but I dug it out for this pregnancy and remembered how bad it is. I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and its still really hard to find the heartbeat, you have to be lying still for ages and even then I lose it again - maybe its me dong something wrong!
Can hear lots of kicks and can feel movements though so I know everything is ok.

hi, i got a hi-bebe fetal heartmonitor and i love it. it is so easy to use and easy to find my baby's heartbeat. i started using it when i was 12 weeks. at that time, i bought an angelsounds doppler and was not happy with it. so i sent it back for refund. i found it hard to use and cos my abdominal is not exactly "lean" i think the angel sounds is not sensitive enough for early pregnancy.

Sorry to spoil the fun but-

'...in untrained hands it is more likely that blood flow through the placenta or the mother's own pulse will be heard....'
quote from
www.bmj.com/content/vol339/issue7729/press_release.dtl

Someone got me one as a gift (never used it) and my MW said that they were probably one fo the worst things brought out because she has had people phoning and wasting her time saying they could not hear it and thinking their child was dead, causing a lot of stress to an expecting mother (which can itself bring on a miscarriage) and she also had one woman who was convinced that the whoosing was her babies heart even though she had miscarried and she would'nt believe anyone until she had a scan

Needless to say mine went back to the shop unopened.

Things like that should not be used unless you are a trained professional IMO they only make you worry more and you become obsessed by it, I saw that with a friend she would sit every second night for 4 months and in that time sse had been in contact with her MW about 8 times because she could'nt hear a heartbeat, like a lot of people she had 3 MC's beforehand so was always expecting it in a way luckily it never happened.

I was the midwife yesterday and she was saying that, in her opinion, they were were the work of the devil (ok, I'm paraphrasing here) causing utterly uneccessary anxiety. As well as false reassurance to people listening to their own pulse.

It must be said though, that when you don't have a midwife appointment between 16 weeks and 28 weeks as seems to be the case now, people do want reassurance.

That's a better way of putting what I said Fly so much shorter

This thread is over a year old

I did'nt even notice ... oh well maybe it will be helpful to someone.

Hi there - I just read this this morning which might be of interest:

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/beware-of-foetal-heart-monitors-par ents-warned-1815742.html

Pinkjenny, you are so much more observant than me! How annoying is that. (not you being more observant, the old post thing...)

I am not sure why I even noticed!

In case anyone is still interested I have the AngelSounds pink doppler, got it off Amazon for about £17 (with the gel stuff and P+P it was about £23) and have found it to be great. You can listen to your own heart first so you know you're not confusing the two; the baby's heartbeat is about twice as fast. It worked for me at about 14 weeks onward, although since the baby started moving around I haven't felt the need to use it much.

I have just bought myself one of these, and have been able to find my baby's heartbeat every time, I can tell the heartbeat from my own, it sounds like galloping horses.

Just for info really, I have a proper fetal doppler (like the midwives use - have no idea why I still have it really, not like I'm having any more babies) but anyway, it's worth spending a bit more and getting a proper one. While the ones you can plug into your computer are a good gimmick the sound quality is appalling. Also you can't use them till later in your pregnancy.

Mine I used from week 16 successfully and reliably for both babies. It cost umm £70 I think when I bought it. Should probably ebay it at some point

I did find it helpful (have had two miscarriages and just being able to say 'look she's okay I can hear her' really helped me).