I'll tell you this, too, from my own first pregnancy - I had my first appt at 9 weeks, and the midwife couldn't hear the heartbeat w/the Doppler. In fact, I wonder if having frequent u/s or Doppler contributes to the high rate of miscarriage in women who have had previous miscarriages and "just want to make sure the baby is fine". It is a form of ultrasound, and although u/s is considered safe, there haven't really been good-quality studies that show if it really is safe. I understand your desire to "make sure everything is okay" but I'm concerned about the effects a doppler used frequently might have on the baby. Most dopplers say right on them somewhere how many megahertz they are, some have interchangable probes too for multiple uses. The vascular dopplers have higher megahertz (sp?) which increasses the potential hazard to the fetus, so stick with fetal dopplers that have no greater than 2 or 3 megahertz. There are fetal dopplers & vascular dopplers. While we're talking about home dopplers, I want to caution that some women who work in the health care field, such as a hospital or drs office, where dopplers are lying around, are tempted to take a listen once in a while. I never even try to find a heartbeat until 20 wks, and never use a doppler until active labor! Kathy is right, the fetus does not like us waves, (which is what those home dopplers use) they try to get away! It has not been proven but remains a possibility that US use may be linked to the rise in autism, and other learning disabilities, depending on what part of the brain gets zapped with te most US waves, so why take a chance? The home dopplers are weak, which minimises risk, but as many moms have already said, they don't work all that well either. The frequency of early us's (and even midwives using dopplers) scares me.
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