routine ultrasound - is it safe??

[Traveller]

There are various theories, including that left handed children of right handed parents might have some small amount of brain damage, but of course you are right in that nothing is known for a fact.

[Little Chicken]

The thing is it would be very difficult to prove anything is due to ultrasound alone. What else had started since routine ultrasounds started? Use of folate, the regular taking of pregnancy vitamins, increased use of preservatives and other additives in food, even down to the use of other therapies during pregnancy. I do agree though that if ultrasounds were going to cause any major problems it would have been noticed by now when just about every pregnant woman in the developed countries have at least one and have done for a few decades at least.

[Phteven]

If i had a baby with a life threatening illness that needed a team of pediatric surgeons on the ready at it's birth, the only way i could possible know would be to have an ultrasound.

So true. One of my friends had a baby with a huge cyst in her chest that affected the size of her babies' lungs and thus her ability to breath. Her baby was born with a resuscitation team on standby and an operating theatre ready. End result - a healthy child who otherwise may not have survived her first hours.

[studentmum]

As with all things not fully understood or explainable u/s should be used with caution. Do I think they are over used...yeah, I didn't need a "dating scan" I knew when all of my babies were due, but I was asked to get them, for my Dr, for my records etc. Most wm then have the 19/20 wk to check the sex or just to check on bub. A few it seems is the norm but some wm do have on eevery Ob visit and many are told they have to have to have size chacks for the last 4 wks etc. I feel that unless there is concern or medical reasons then u/s should be used sparingly, yes a lot of ppl can say the u/s picked up something that needed immediate neonatal treatment but if it was found in 5 yrs that u/s caused some weird anomaly and no Ob wanted to perform one we'd all be left scratching our heads...One of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things perhaps???

[Junglemum]

Most wm then have the 19/20 wk to check the sex or just to check on bub.

Really? Pretty sure all the mum's i know have had it to check the health of their baby and to look for any signs of a problem.

[*Beema*]

Most wm then have the 19/20 wk to check the sex or just to check on bub.

Really? Pretty sure all the mum's i know have had it to check the health of their baby and to look for any signs of a problem.

ITA I certainly wasn't focused on the sex, I was more concerned that everything was in the right spot, that the placenta was doing what it needed to and my cervix length was doing ok...

[Phteven]

Really? Pretty sure all the mum's i know have had it to check the health of their baby and to look for any signs of a problem.

Yeah, if you have a comlete placenta praevia it's nice to know beforehand rather than when you are bleeding out in labour.

[Little Chicken]

Most wm then have the 19/20 wk to check the sex or just to check on bub.

Considering I didn't want to find out the sex of this bub that was not the reason why I had the 20 week ultrasound. I had it to make sure bub was healthy and everything was where it is meant to be especially considering I am giving birth at a fairly remote hospital and would have liked to know early if I was going to have to transfer to a capital city, and yes my placenta was slightly low lying so needed to be checked later. The number of things i have seen picked up on this ultrasound that have saved both mum's and bub's lives is amazing.

[kungfubecca]

I agree that there are some medical and emotional reasons to have the scan. some things that scans pick up may not change the outcome of bubs when it is born, but can impact on post natal care of both bubs and mum. Sometimes knowing about something before birth can allow the parents to deal with it emotinally, rather than trying to do so at birth when hormones and emotions are all over the place.

[ButterflyForever]

I'm with you Tenibear, when you are high risk like you and I, scans are the picture we treasure (sometimes for the rest of our lives) and reassurance that all is well for today.

[Phil's Mum]

I think it depends on the woman. I have had about 9 scans. 3 early on to check viability, the 12 and 19 week scans, one about 30 weeks as I had bleeding and the rest were done by the OB as she couldn't pick up a heart beat or to check the position on bubs.

The pictures, even the early blob ones, were a godsend. Yes I was pregnant and yes everything was growing and ok. I had to terminate my last baby at 16 weeks as she was a triploid pregnancy. It would have killed me to have had her die with no prior warning of her problems and is why I was monitored so closely this time.

I think people should be offered the choice of having an ultrasound, when necessary, not just a quick look and I think the public system falls down in that they would not have offered me one when I had my spotting.

There is a supermodel who is now saying breast feeding should be made a legal requirement until 6 months old. That is ridiculous, people need to make their own decisions and be offered all options.