Safe Luxury

How often is it safe to use a home doppler to hear my baby's heartbeat?

I am 9.5 weeks along and just got my rented Dr's-office-quality doppler from bellybeats.com on Tuesday...I tried it twice on Tuesday and didn't hear anything, then once on Wednesday for just a few minutes and heard the heartbeat! My husband didn't get to hear it so I would love to try again, but how often is it safe to use? My stomach does feel a little different right after I've used it and I don't want to do any harm. How often did you use yours? Thanks! Thanks for the responses! I'm definitely not sending it back, I will probably keep it for 2 months...it is the best $36 I ever spent! Sure when I couldn't find the heartbeat at first I was a tad worried although I did figure it was too early, but thats nothing compared to simply not knowing for 5 weeks between ultrasounds. Hearing my baby's heartbeat has brought me relief beyond description and every time I remember what it sounded like I can't stop smiling! Also, I am even more relieved because they say the odds of miscarriage after hearing the heartbeat past 9 weeks is greatly decreased - something like 4% if you haven't had any spotting. So I am on cloud 9 and thrilled that I rented it. I do understand your concern though - if you don't hear the heartbeat one day don't get discouraged because the baby is so small at this point with a lot of room to "hide".

Public Comments

1. If it's FDA approved it's perfectly safe especially since you got it from your Doctor's office
2. Personally,I wouldn't use it at all. It seems to make people paranoid. Save yourself the worry and send it back. Congrats with the pregnancy though!
3. There is a good overview of the subject here: http://www.meditech.cn/meditech-edu/Fetal_doppler.asp
4. Yes it is safe. Its just like a stethoscope. Just better. The only downfall is that there will be times you may not hear the babys heartbeat and get scared. But thats okay. It just might be nerve racking.
5. I used mine everyday from 10w on and my baby is fine. Go ahead and use it. It's the best sound in the WORLD!
6. Probably is safe but I would not over do it. I do agree with Toy because it does make people paranoid. I use to work for a doctor and use to get out the stethoscope at every chance so I could to listen to my twins heartbeats and sometimes I could not hear them and I would start to panic thinking something had happen to them. I could not relax until my next ultrasound (thankfully I had weekly ultrasounds).