Doplers - good or bad?

:

---

hmmmm that's what they said about cigarettes too.

You can purchase beautiful pinard stethoscopes online (just google)....then you can listen to your belly baBe all day long and not cause any damage at all!! Pinard Stethoscope

---

Laura - Cigarettes were never recommended in pregnancy. They were only ever recommended for nervous disorders like Parkinsons disease as nicotine is a nerve relaxant. Ultrasounds have been used far longer than cigarettes were recommended for.

Personally I have tried to fiind a HB with both. With a stethescope I found it much harder to find bub's HB than I did with a doppler, which is why the medical profession now use them. In later pregnancy a doppler is used weekly and it does help the medical profession to find out if there is anything wrong. I am not saying that the medical profession are always right but knowing early does save lives if something is going wrong.

In terms of physics, Sound waves (including infra and ultra) are not as intense as many other wavelengths. Light is more intese than sound!! Sound waves are not dense enough to cause harm any more than normal light (UV is the highest level of light and that is what the damage starts at) If you shone an extremely bright light on your belly I think you would have as much chance of injuring the baby as you would putting a doppler on. There is very little risk identified because there is very little risk!! An Xray which is the way twins used to be determined is more harmful than an US so I am happy to have US and doppler as often as I need / want to.

Like Naomi, I bought an Angel Sounds doppler off ebay pretty cheap and we were able to hear our baby's heartbeat from 11 weeks. Until our little one started kicking (constantly, lol) I was using the doppler maybe once or twice a week for about 1-2 minutes each time. We were pretty cautious "just in case" so wouldn't use it for long. We were able to find the heartbeat every time we used it without much difficulty and we loved that you can plug two sets of headphones into it, or plug it into the computer so that you can hear it out loud. We also loved that you could record it on the computer so you could share it with family and friends.

I definitely found that it lowered by anxiety level after having lost an angel. Even with my morning sickness and all the other pregnancy symptoms, I still had moments of doubt and fear, and listening to that wonderful "thump thump" was amazing :)

:

---

In terms of physics, Sound waves (including infra and ultra) are not as intense as many other wavelengths. Light is more intese than sound!! Sound waves are not dense enough to cause harm any more than normal light (UV is the highest level of light and that is what the damage starts at) If you shone an extremely bright light on your belly I think you would have as much chance of injuring the baby as you would putting a doppler on. There is very little risk identified because there is very little risk!! An Xray which is the way twins used to be determined is more harmful than an US so I am happy to have US and doppler as often as I need / want to.

---

Sound waves can also cause glass to shatter, and beach whales ;)

Light doesn't travel as intensely through the stomach wall and uterus, either.

Ultrasound has a thermal affect on tissue and penetrates internally to that tissue - that's why it is used in physiotherapy, not simply as an imaging tool. There have been concerns raised about the effect of this stimulation particularly on the development of the foetal nervous system.

I have looked long and hard for good longitudinal studies or good, large double blind studies done on the safety of ultrasound exposure, and have not found convincing evidence for its safety. Bearing that in mind, my own preference is to keep it for strictly clinically necessary examinations. For a woman who is extremely anxious about her pregnancy (and stress is a known risk factor for pregnancy) this may indeed qualify as a clinical necessity. I'd also however strongly recommend other methods for managing that anxiety and stress.

as someone that has been through five previous miscarriages, i am more than wary of anything that might harm my baby - and i'll admit that our doppler is ONLY used for purposes of reducing anxiety attacks. i have suffered from them terribly through all of this, and the only thing that has kept me sane through the long weeks between scans/appointments has been the doppler! so for me, it's been a godsend - and one i would not have gotten this far without. counselling hasn't worked to control the anxiety - when you've been through so much (multiple loss, invasive treatment) - sometimes anxiety/stress just aren't managable without reassurance. given my GP is 35mins way, hospital 50 mins away - well, the doppler is a much easier form of reassurance!

i still use it now occassionally - when i haven't felt baby move for several hours and nothing i do (cold drink, sugary drink, gentle poking) gets her to move, i'll try it. also when i've had unusual pain (to the point of doubling me over) in the absence of movement, i'll use the doppler to make sure she is ok - it makes the pain less frightening kwim?

intense ultrasound is used for physical therapy to create heat for healing, which i've used for knee and wrist issues, so i know that it can heat things up, and am reluctant to use it for any prolonged period. even when i'm looking for baby, if i haven't found her within 45 seconds or thereabouts, i turn it off for a while - then try again. i also don't listen for long when we find bubba (no more than about 30 seconds) - i recorded the sound on my phone to listen to when i want to just hear her - and only use the doppler when i need reassurance that all is ok....

Ditto BG - I can completely see where you are coming from! After losing my last bub, I too use my doppler for reassurance in this pregnancy. I have hypertension and if I am stressed, my bp rises further (not good for bub) so having my anxiety levels lessened by hearing that occasional hb lets me know that my bub is ok and keeps my bp down. I, like yourself, am comfortable with my decision to use my doppler for brief moments, and I would like to think that others would respect our educated decision based on the information that is currently at hand :)

I dont think anyone needs to justify their reasons in depth.

I loved my doppler with my first pregnancy, and I loved it with this one too. It is great for reassurance for me and dh