![]() You’ll soon be able to listen to that glorious heartbeat as much as you want - minus the wishy-washy technology. But your best bet is to sit tight for a few more months rather than springing for a home fetal Doppler you can use yourself. There's no doubt that hearing the pitter-patter of a baby’s heart is music to every pregnant woman’s ears. Still can’t resist having a fetal Doppler heart monitor of your own? Be sure to talk with your practitioner before placing your order. ![]() The only way to possibly hear your baby’s heart at home more accurately is to use the same type of fetal Doppler monitor your practitioner uses, and over-the-counter versions of that kind of handheld ultrasound device cost several hundred dollars. In fact, the readings may be different enough from what you're used to hearing at your practitioner visits that they cause undue concern. If you do manage to pick up the right noise, you may have trouble interpreting what it means. The readings on at-home fetal Dopplers won’t tell you much ![]() Cite this as: BMJ 2009 339:b4421 from ward to high street S ov ER ig N, i SM / SP l. That, in turn, can increase worry unnecessarily instead of putting it to rest. those fetal monitors that are categorised as medical devices, said it had concerns these products were being increasingly used by lay. Use one before the third trimester, and you'll likely be met with silence, the sound of air moving through your GI tract, or the whoosh of blood flowing through your own arteries instead of a steady thump-thump. A true heartbeat doesn't develop until roughly weeks 17 to 20 of pregnancy, when the heart chambers have developed enough to appear on an ultrasound. In fact, even the high-tech fetal Doppler used in your practitioner’s office doesn’t always pick up fetal cardiac activity until somewhere between week 9 and week 14 of pregnancy, since it depends on the position of your baby in your womb and other factors. Most of them aren’t nearly sensitive enough to pick up the faint noises of your baby’s heart until later in pregnancy. These inexpensive fetal Dopplers, also called doptones, aren't as sophisticated as the one your medical practitioner uses. At-home baby heart monitors don’t work as well Plus, it's difficult to study any long-term effects of frequent use, leaving the possibility of unintended consequences. There’s no proven benefit to at-home fetal heart monitorsĪlthough ultrasounds are non-invasive and very low-risk, and there has been no evidence of harm from using fetal Doppler devices (which sends sound waves through your skin to confirm fetal sound or movement), the at-home variety hasn't been shown to provide any medical benefit.
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