Being pregnant brings out a mixture of feelings and emotions in pregnant women. On one hand, they are happy that they are creating life within them and on the other hand, they want reassurance that everything is fine. Some women experience anxiety, while others just want a way to connect with their unborn babies. If you are a pregnant woman and you find yourself in this situation, you should know that you are not alone. Almost every woman out there is usually either nervous or anxious to bond with their baby.

It is this mixture of feelings that fetal Doppler monitoring devices became popular. Fetal Doppler devices can be purchased and used at home or they can be used at the doctor’s office. They rely on sound waves to record fetal heartbeat once the fetus attains a few months of pregnancy. If you go to see a doctor, they will use one of these devices to check your unborn baby’s heartbeat when you are 8 to 10 weeks pregnant.

Do you remember when I said that you can buy a fetal Doppler and use at home or you can go to a doctor and let them use theirs on you, well let’s compare these two options.

Home fetal Doppler vs. the one at the doctor’s office

First, let us start by pointing out that home fetal Doppler are not meant to be used in place of doctor’s appointment. At-home fetal Doppler tests should be used in between appointments to a doctor. There are several reasons that make it important not to substitute doctor’s visits with at-home fetal Doppler. One of these reasons is that fetal Doppler devices are usually of poor quality and may not be able to produce quality results. These devices cannot be compared to the kind of devices that doctors have. The equipment your doctor has is very accurate and has passed all safety standards required by the government.

Besides your doctor having a high-grade device, they also have proper training in using the device and obtaining readings. They know what the various sounds coming from in there mean and as such, they know when there is cause for concern and when there isn’t.

Next, let us look at how early we can expect an at-home fetal doppler to work.

How early will an at-home fetal doppler work?

There are so many claims going around that it can be very difficult to know what is true and what isn’t. There are many companies out there that make dopplers that they claim are able to pick fetal heartbeat only nine months into pregnancy. Other claims that the pregnancy should be at lead sixteen weeks old in order to be able to hear a heartbeat. What is funny is that at 16 weeks into pregnancy, it may be possible to hear fetal heartbeat with just a stethoscope. Thus, it is not possible  to answer this question exclusively because the truth simply doesn’t exist. You will want to toy around with your doppler to see if you are able to pick anything up.