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[quote=Anonymous]OP, my midwife could not find the heartbeat at an appointment at nearly 14 weeks. It happens! U/S showed us the little creature was absolutely perfect, moving all around and heartbeating up a storm.

I don't think parental anxiety is THE reason not to use a home doppler, although it is one of them. Most experts believe ultrasound (doppler is ultrasound technology) is generally safe, there is no conclusive evidence about risks of repeated or prolonged exposures. Other sources say it's probably fine. But I find it interesting. We know that alcohol at high doses can harm a baby but there is no conclusive evidence that even 2 / 3 drinks a day causes harm to the baby. And yet, who among us would drink 3 times a day? Now I know that many will point out the obvious glaring differences between ultrasound and drinking, some of which are factual (yes, one is a drug, the other is technology) and some are arguable (drinking has no benefit, whereas ultrasound / monitoring may have some benefit) and of course, that high doses of alcohol have already shown harm, whereas high doses of u/s are just not well understood and "may" cause harm. However, the big similarity is that we rely on the absence of evidence of harm. So doctors warn us away from moderate drinking (some say light drinking is okay) but only some of them will warn us against overuse of u/s or doppler technology.

There may be some risk, ladies, and you have to accept that you should NOT be reassured by your doppler at all, because all the evidence shows that a heartbeat on that thing means absolutely nothing about your babies health and well-being. So you're exposing baby to some harm for little more than entertainment purposes, or a superstitious type of reassurance that is not actually meaningful.

Think about it...  [/quote]

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