Parents have a few different options for detecting a baby's heartbeat during pregnancy. Some can be accomplished at home, while others require the help of a doctor or trained technician. For many women, being able to hear the baby's heartbeat is reassuring, particularly early in pregnancy when the mother may not be feeling fetal movement yet. The first time parents hear their baby's heartbeat can also be a pregnancy milestone. Talk to your doctor about what methods are best for your situation.
Step 1
Get a fetal ultrasound when you are at least six and a half weeks pregnant. For many women with healthy pregnancies, the fetal heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound at this point. According to the American Pregnancy Association, once the fetal heartbeat has been established, the chances of miscarriage drop to between 10 and 30 percent.
Step 2
Listen to the baby's heartbeat between prenatal office visits with a fetal doppler. Ask your doctor for a recommendation for a home doppler, and if possible, request instructions for the correct way to use the doppler at home. You will also hear the baby's heartbeat at your prenatal office visits. The baby's heartbeat can be detected in some women between weeks 10 and 12 of the pregnancy, while for other women it may take a bit longer to hear the heartbeat in this way.
Step 3
Ask for fetal heart monitoring during labor. In some cases, external monitoring may be used by placing bands around the woman's abdomen that hold electrodes to the stomach. A machine next to the bed attaches to the electrodes and reads and monitors the baby's heartbeat. Sometimes, internal heartbeat monitoring is also used during labor. To internally monitor the baby's heartbeat, an electrode is threaded inside the vagina and through the cervix to attach directly to the top of the baby's head. A wire transmits information from the electrode to a monitor next to the bed, explains Pregnancy-Info.net.
