Nothing beats an experience of listening to the thumping heart sound of a baby in a womb. That’s why as a healthcare provider, we often see that pregnant mothers are always excited to hear the baby’s heart sound during pregnancy.
But they have to wait until the 8 weeks of pregnancy as the heart of the baby start to beat at the 6th week of baby’s development which equivalents to the 8th week of pregnancy.
Can you Hear Baby’s Heartbeat with a Stethoscope?
Can you Hear Baby’s Heartbeat with a Stethoscope?Yes, you can hear the baby’s heartbeats with a stethoscope. You can hear the baby’s heartbeat with ultrasound examination at the 8th week of pregnancy, at 12th week with a fetal Doppler, and from 18th to 20 weeks with a stethoscope.
To check your baby’s heartbeats, you will require three things –
- A quiet room
- Soft mattress to lie down comfortably
- A Good stethoscope
Choosing a quiet room is important while listening to the baby’s heartbeat as you don’t want sound from your surroundings to mess up with the heartbeat sound.
The loud surrounding will diminish your ability to concentrate on the baby’s heartbeat.
Best Fetal Stethoscope for Pregnancy –
Dixie Ems Fetal Stethoscope Latex Free
List of baby heartbeat monitors
| Best Baby Heartbeat Monitor Products | Type + Ideal For |
|---|---|
| 1. Rose Gold Stethoscope | Overall Best Fetal Stethoscope |
| 2. Dixie Ems Fetal Stethoscope | Best Stethoscope to hear baby’s heartbeat in the womb |
| 3. Womb Music | At-home medical Doppler unit |
| 4. Baby Bump Prenatal Speaker | Digital doppler unit for home |
When can you hear the baby’s heartbeat?
| Method | Week of Pregnancy | Baby’s Heart Beat Audible? |
|---|---|---|
| Ultrasound | 8th week | Yes |
| Fetal Doppler | 12th week | Yes |
| Stethoscope | 18th to 20th week | Yes |
How to Check Baby’s Heartbeats with Stethoscope at Home?
Steps involved in the procedure –
1. Once you find a quiet room, lie down on your back on a soft mattress.
2. Then move the palm of your hand over your stomach to find the back of the baby. Do this gently.
As you move your hand over your stomach you might find a smooth but hard to feel area over your abdomen. This is a perfect place to listen to the fetal heartbeat.
3. Get a good stethoscope and place its binaural ear tips in your ears and hold chest pieces in your hand.
Now, locate the same smooth hard area that we found before and put a chest-piece of the stethoscope over the same location and listen carefully.
If you are not able to listen to any fetal heartbeat move chest piece of stethoscope back and forth or sidewise to find the perfect location where you can hear fetal heartbeats.
Note: You might end up locating or listening to your own heart sound, so be careful while listening sounds that you hear through ear tips. Also, you don’t need to panic if you are not able to listen to the heartbeat as you might not able to locate it. Repeat the procedure and see if you could hear them.
If you fail to listen to them in several attempts, ask a family member to do it for you and if they also could not find any heartbeat then you need to see a doctor.
What is the “normal” fetal heart rate?
As the baby’s heart will continually developing, the heart rate changes throughout the pregnancy. The current international guidelines say that the “normal” fetal heart rate can range from 110 beats per minute (bpm) to the 160 bpm.
But a clinical study conducted in German medical centers from 2000 to 2007 shows that the “best” fetal heart rate is 115 or 120 to 160 bpm. (Ref) which almost coincide with the international guidelines of 110 to 160 bpm
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