All You Need To Know About Fetal Heart Monitors During Pregnancy

by Wellue Health June 9, 2021

At what point in your pregnancy will you get to hear the swoosh-swoosh of your baby’s heartbeat? And if your practitioner wants to check your baby’s tiny ticker at every prenatal visit, is that normal?Is there an easier way to hear the fetal’s heartbeat at any time?

Learn more about when you’ll hear baby’s heartbeat and how and why fetal heart monitors are used during pregnancy and labor.

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Your practitioner will use a fetal heart monitor during your pregnancy.

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Fetal heart monitors that let you and your health care team hear your baby’s heartbeat are an important — and completely routine — part of prenatal care. And you might get the chance to listen in sooner than you think.

Here’s a look at what fetal heart monitors are, when and why your practitioner might use one, the benefits and risks, and whether it’s worth using a fetal heart monitor at home.

What is a fetal heart monitor?

A fetal heart monitor is a handheld Doppler device that uses ultrasound technology to listen to a baby’s heart during pregnancy.

There are two main ways to monitor the baby’s heartbeat, the first one is a professional fetal doppler check in the hospital, the second one is at-home fetal heart monitor.

When will my doctor use a fetal Doppler baby heart monitor?

A baby’s heartbeat can usually be heard on a Doppler monitor between 9 and 12 weeks of pregnancy. Your doctor might start listening to your baby’s heart at your three-month checkup.

After the first time, you can expect her to check your baby’s heartbeat at every visit. By the fifth month, she might simply use a regular stethoscope instead of a Doppler monitor.

Benefits of using a Fetal Doppler

There are a few important reasons why your practitioner will use a fetal heart rate monitor throughout most of your pregnancy:

Fetal heart monitors allow your practitioner to hear your baby’s heartbeat and check heart rate and rhythm to see how she’s growing and developing in utero.
If your pregnancy is high-risk, monitoring your baby’s heartbeat is a way for your practitioner to keep tabs on her general health.
For you, hearing the incredible sound of your baby’s heart can be a sweet way to feel more connected to her.

Drawbacks of a Fetal Doppler

A fetal doppler has pros and cons. On one hand, a fetal doppler can give you reassurance and peace of mind. Hearing your baby’s heart beat can make you happy and excited to be a parent. Hearing that heartbeat can give you reassurance that everything is going to be fine.

However, the opposite can happen. Should something seem off, you may get stressed, which could be worse on the baby. On the other hand, a baby’s heartbeat isn’t the end all of their health, and you may end up getting false reassurance.

In the end of the day, there are many factors that can affect the baby’s health, and heartbeat is one of them. Always stay up to date with your appointments and ask your doctor if there’s anything you can do to improve your baby’s health.

You can find at-home heart monitors that allow you to listen to your baby’s heart anytime at drugstores or online.These devices can be tempting — hearing your baby’s heart rate might reassure you that she’s doing well in there. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does recommend you to be on the cautious side.

At-home monitors aren’t as sophisticated as the one your practitioner uses, so you might have a hard time finding your baby’s heartbeat or it could sound fainter than usual.

For those expectant parents who would want to hear their unborn baby’s heart rate all the time, you need a good monitor which is more safe and accurate as well as regular visits from the doctor. Luckily, heart rate monitors have evolved quite a bit in the past few years.

Fetal Heart Monitor

Fetal heart monitors are a routine part of prenatal care. They’re a valuable tool that allow your practitioner to listen to your baby’s heart and assess her health. Hearing that sweet thump-thump of your baby’s heart can be exciting for you too.

As expectant parents, you must have high expectations for the upcoming life, and this is the original intention of the invention of thefetal heart monitor-to help expectant parents allay fears during the exciting pregnancy.

If you’re looking to purchase a good heart rate monitor and track the heartbeat of your baby at home，you must remember the following

The monitor should be easy to use. You’re pregnant and you don’t want to do anything that’s too much of a hassle.
The monitor should have stats that are easy to read and understand.
The monitor should be accurate, but affordable as well.
The monitor cannot replace the profesional checkup, if you have any concern about your new life, you have to let your practitioner to check it with a Doppler device at your prenatal checkups.

——from Wellue Health