I found the heart beat the other day while daddy was at work (he missed it) when you get a phone to record too close and have two older children excited you can’t really record nor is it in person. I’m 11 weeks my husband and I have been through SEVERAL miscarriages trying for a baby in the last 3 years. Read more about fetal dopplers here or just We hope this information is helpful, and if you have anything to add, we’d love to know! Once you have the hang of using your doppler, you will find it reassuring and hopefully a fun thing to share with family and friends, but remember that the first time you try, you just won’t be very good at it! Stay relaxed, lie on the couch and watch tv while you experiment, and come back to it later if it’s taking a while.

Bub may move, your bladder may fill, and you will probably be better at it next time. Hopefully the tips that came with your doppler and the information in this post will really help, but if you’re still finding it hard to find the heartbeat and getting anxious, then maybe take a break and try later. Do not get anxious about not finding the heartbeat. The first couple of times you’re using a fetal doppler, just look at it as a trial run. Wait until the doppler has a good fix before reading the display 5. Ignore the display until you can clearly hear the heartbeat, then wait for the doppler to calculate the heartbeat rate of bub. It needs to be fixed on the heartbeat for a good 10-15 seconds so it can calculate the heartrate (kind of similar to how a nurse or doctor takes your heartrate, right? they count how many beats in 10 seconds). Although you may be able to hear the heartbeat, if the display is still jumping around, then the fix is not good enough for the doppler software to calculate an accurate fetal heartrate. This is normal – the number displayed on the doppler will jump around until the doppler has a very good fix on the heartbeat. You’re worried that the doppler’s digital reading is jumping around If you’re indenting the surface of your skin, you’re probably pressing too hard. Using a doppler is about angle, not gusto ). Just touch the probe gently against your skin.

It is also likely to reduce the quality of the ultrasound gel transmission and cause wastage of the gel. It won’t help at all, and it can actually make it more difficult to make the small changes in angle that can help you come upon the heartbeat. It can be tempting to press the probe into your abdomen in your hunt to find your baby’s heartbeat when using a fetal doppler.

You don’t need to press down hard with the doppler probe If this is very bad, just make a mental note for next time to be gentle with the gel. If you find your doppler gets very crackly or there’s a lot of static, it can be because there’s too much air trapped in the gel and the ultrasound isn’t able to pass effectively to the doppler. Just put a glob of gel on the end of the probe. Don’t squeeze loads of gel onto your belly, and definitely don’t smear or rub it all over your belly like a moisturising cream. The ultrasound gel provided with your doppler should really last you a couple of months, depending of course on how often you’re using a fetal doppler. Make small changes in the angle of the probe, rather than moving it across your belly 2. Don’t move on til you’re sure you haven’t found it. Find a place nice and low, near your pubic bone, and then methodically change the slant of the probe by small increments (try pointing down towards your feet if you’re early on). So… in this analogy, your belly is the room, the doppler probe is the penlight and your bub’s heart is the keys! Move too fast and you’ll miss the heart altogether. More effective would be to stand in the doorway, and slowly change the direction of the beam so you’re searching methodically. The best way to find them is not to walk around the room swinging the flashlight beam. Imagine you’re standing at the entrance of a room, armed with a penlight, and you need to find your keys. Moving the doppler probe across the surface of your belly into different areas generally just means you keep passing over your baby’s heart and don’t find it. This would be the most common error that people make when using a fetal doppler at home. Moving the doppler probe around too much, rather than just angling it To try and get you off to a good start, here are our top tips for what not to do when using your doppler: 1. Although we always try to prepare you for it to be a learning curve on the first few goes, we understand that not finding your baby’s heartbeat with your doppler can cause anxiety. Here at Sweet Beats, we’ve worked out over time the most common mistakes that mums and dads-to-be make when using a fetal doppler at home.

Top 5 Mistakes Our Customers Make When Using a Fetal Doppler At Home

9 weeks heartbeat 130 at home doppler