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April 2025 Babies
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annielou890
Received a sonoline Doppler from a friend. We’ve been trying for weeks off and on to find baby’s heartbeat. We’ve been unsuccessful- does anyone have tips?? We even tried running it across a carotid artery and didn’t pick that up either. We’ve used various amounts of gel to see if more or less is better. Nada.
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Niq2023
Start searching where your public hair starts. That’s what helped me find my baby’s heart beat at 15 weeks. Now at 18 weeks, he moves around a lot and I have to try several locations from just below my belly button to where my hair begins. Also from side to side (where my hair would start on the right side to the left side). I also find that I cannot lay flat on my back. I have to be at an 150ish degree angle. Also, light pressure works best for me.
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DesertLadybug
If it didn’t even pick up a known pulse, that’s kind of weird. I would almost wonder if it’s dysfunctional…. You haven’t got it to read anything at all?
If it’s functioning, I would just say to use plenty of gel, and for baby- maybe press a little harder and maybe lower… search both sides in case baby is hiding.
Only other thing is that this is why they don’t want you to use at home Dopplers: they don’t always work well/aren’t always accurate, and when people can’t find the heartbeat, it causes stress when it’s not necessary. Why did you get one? Is there a reason you are wanting to check/worried? Lastly is just that I have heard of some people checking on it CONSTANTLY- and I’m not sure they know how good it is for baby. Occasional use when needed is one thing, but using it daily is unnecessarily exposing baby to waves that you don’t know how/if it nigh affect him/her
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annielou890
@DesertLadybug,
I’m actually the first to say Doppler are unnecessary �� I’m a pediatric nurse and since it was a gift I thought maybe I’d just try it out- mostly because I want my husband to feel involved. Luckily, it’s not a cause of stress for us; just wanted him to have a way to interact with baby in a more intimate way. The Doppler is secondhand so maybe it’s just the device itself. Oh well!
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DesertLadybug
@annielou890,
yeah if it’s not picking up on your own vessels …. Ones that you can know and feel… prob broken. But good you’re not worried about baby! Also- your husband will be able to feel her kick soon, if he can’t already. He just needs to be patient!
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JMB1408
That ARE totally unnecessary, but we enjoy using it just for fun.
I had a hard time initially finding the heartbeat (for my first and also for this one) the only way I can find hers now is:
1)use a good bit of gel
2) turn the volume way up
3) I find her RIGHT under my bellybutton. Everyone also always told us to look low when we couldn’t find the heartbeats, but for both they were always high up.
4) move the wand slow. And instead of dragging it across your belly, press hard in one spot and almost roll your wrist around to listen to that area. If you don’t hear anything, move a few inches and do the same. Dragging it around makes it almost impossible the hear- we have found out.
If you aren’t hearing anything at all, not even your pulse, maybe try new batteries?
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Mrs-Pope
@JMB1408,
this! It sounds like you and me are built the same lol. I have one at home and find her pretty quickly now bc I know where to look… I’m 17 weeks now. I found her at 12 weeks I think. She was not low like everyone said, but about an inch under my belly button. I even had to tell the nurse yesterday at my appointment how and where to find her bc she was moving a too fast across my belly. I was like “slow down and roll your wrist around right here” and she found it immediately. ����♀️
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