Family Forum / Pregnancy / Pregnancy / September 2006

    It can be too early to detect one.

    Depends on how it's checked and what you mean
by "dangerous."  If a fetoscope is used, there's no
problem whatsoever (but it may be 20 weeks or more
before you can detect a heartbeat with a fetoscope).
If a doppler is used, I wouldn't call it dangerous,
but it does use ultrasound radiation to detect the
heartbeat.  This is very loud to the fetus (babies
do avoid it).  I'm unaware of any studies showing
that there are negative effects to the use of dopplers
to detect the heart rate, but there are some studies
that show some possible effects of ultrasound.
    So, I guess what I'd say is that there is
some potential for some minor issues, and it probably
does annoy the baby.  Some people therefore choose
not to use it, unless there's a medical reason to
do so.  There's also a question of how much exposure.
Are we talking about once a month at a prenatal
appointment?  Or are we talking about buying or
renting one to use every day at home?  I'd be more
concerned about the latter than the former.

Best wishes,
Ericka