Buying/Hiring a doppler?

Question

Hi all

I'm 21wks and i'm considering buying or hiring a doppler. I can feel baby moving around a lot these days but its still not strong enough for my fiance to feel so i was thinking of getting him a doppler as he really feels left out.

Has anyone else hired/purchased a doppler? Was it worth the expense? And are they safe to use at home?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I rented a home doppler when I was pregnant with my third. My Dr. said It was safe, but I wouldn't do it again personally. At one point, I was about 20 weeks, I heard my baby's heart doing weird things...like slowing WAAAY down, then picking back up. It was terrifying! I thought my son had heart problems. An U/S proved he was FINE, no problems and I later learned that it is NIORMAL for that to happen about mid pregnancy. I did ALOT of reading on it because it had scared me so bad, since it happened on several occasions. Even after readind technical articles on why it happened, and that it was normal, I sent the doppler back, just because hearing my son't heart rate do that was just too freaky.
Anyway, if it helps you feel better I don't see any harm in renting one..but for me, it made me MORE anxious and wasn't worht it at all. BTW my youngest will be 6 in Feb. Is healthy as a horse and has no health problems...the irregularities I heard were just normal ones. We are TTC another and I won't rent one again though. :-)

Answer 2

First - good quality dopplers are not cheap.

Second - poor quality are bad for 2 reasons - you can't hear well, and you can't be sure of the intensity of the sound waves. I wouldn't trust a cheap one.

Third - dopplers use ultrasound. I know there is the general conception that this is safe and risk free, but there are risks, and the risks with dopplers are greater than diagnostic ultrasound (sonograms). This is because dopplers use a constant beam while sonograms use an intermittent beam. So what is the concern?

Ultrasound causes two KNOWN effects: cavitation (formation of bubbles within cells) and heating of cells. The real question is what effect this may have on the baby. It is known to cause damage in mouse fetuses, but it is not well studied in humans. It is known that male fetuses exposed to ultrasound have a higher incidence of left-handedness. Not that this is horrible, but it does show something is happening in the brain. The brain is the most susceptible to the heating because it is completely encased in bone, which conducts the sound waves better. In any case, ultrasound is considered to be a medical device and should be used with care. If you want to read more:

http://www.midwiferyservices.org/infoforparents.htm#ultrasound

If you still choose to use one be sure to never use one for more than 30 - 45 seconds at a time to limit cell heating and cavitation.

Claudine Crews CPM, LM

Just an FYI - those $20 - $40 models from Walmart, etc are NOT dopplers, are not ultrasound. Just amplified stethoscopes. They are safe, just don't always pick up the heart beat well until the third trimester and then only if the baby is in a good position for listening. Sometimes it takes a trained ear! If you find an actual doppler at Walmart for $20 run, don't walk!

Answer 3

You can buy one, but a lot of doctors don't recomend it. It can be hard to find the heartbeat sometimes, and some people freak out when they can't find it. If you know this going into buying one, then fine. You can also ask your doctor for tips on where are good places to find the heartbeat as the baby grows. I've seen a few women who have a doppler at home come in and say they don't hear a heartbeat when they used the doppler at home. And when I put them on the fetal monitor I get the baby right away. Best of luck.

Answer 4

We don't have a doppler as we are only at about 14 weeks. A similar option would be to buy a stethoscope, although I don't knwo what the price difference would be. I saw something at Wal-Mart the other day that was about 35 bucks where you could hear and record the heartbeat, as well as e-mail it.

Answer 5

My husband purchased something similar to that from baby depot at Burlington coat factory. And was only $20.. It's called Prenatal Heart Listener. I used it all the time especially later in the pregnancy. It gave me comfort without the high price!

This is what I'm talking about:
http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Section_Id=17105&pcount=&pn=1&Product_Id=158622&SearchedProduct=t

Congrats on the baby!

Answer 6

not worth it to buy one

rent one from www.heartones.com

don't get the cheap old bebe sounds crap from walmart it doesn't work

yes they are safe to use at home, I had one for my first pregnancy because i was paranoid something would happen in between appts, plus it was nice all my family got to hear babies heartbeat.