Stethoscopes HQ

do stethoscopes really work to hear the babys heartbeat?

I dont wanna rent a doppler or go get a cheap one cause i herd they dont work well. But a stethoscope is like 15 bucks at target but do they really work?

Public Comments

1. I dont know but I would love to hear the answer to this one too!
2. sometimes, it depends if you know where to place it and make sure you have the ear pieces in good.
3. stethoscopes generally dont work, because the baby has to be really far along, and has to be positioned in the right spot. they sell take home dopplers, those work really good, and are pretty cheat. try babies are us
4. When you are far along you probably have a better shot. I haven't tried with a stethoscope but when my baby pokes her butt/back out a lot I can feel her heartbeat sometimes, and my husband can hear it if he listens with his ear. I'm 9 months though, I dont remember how early she was big enough in there.
5. yes sometimes if you get it in the right spot.. yours will be louder and the babies will be a tiny lttle thud sound...
6. go to the doctor The embryonic heart starts beating 22 days after conception, or about five weeks after the last menstrual period After the 9th or 10th week after your last menstrual period, you might be able to hear your baby's heartbeat at your prenatal appointment. Your obstetrical practitioner probably uses a Doppler instrument for this purpose, which bounces harmless sound waves off the fetal heart. The way the sound comes back is affected by motion, so a beating heart creates a change in the sound that can be picked up by the receiver in the Doppler. Whether you actually hear the heartbeat at 9 or 10 weeks depends partly on luck-the instrument must be placed at just the right angle. It also depends on the position of your uterus, and if you're slim or heavy. By the 12th week, the heartbeat can usually be heard consistently, using the Doppler instrument for amplification.
7. I hear that they work once you are far along. But No I never did hear mine. I had the stethoscope but I could never hear anything. You can get a doppler thinggy at target too for like 35$
8. i have a stethoscope and I cant even hear MY OWN heartbeat. or my kids or anyone elses. Dont know why...so I havent even attempted to hear my babys heart beat with it. i hear it all the time at the doctors anyways.
9. It kinda does but then it don't, my friend is a MA and she tried it already on me. all she can here is when my baby moves but no heartbeat.
10. Well I tried this once...I think I was around 35 weeks and I was in the exam room waiting for my doctor. The steth. was hanging right there on the wall so I quickly grabbed it, and gave it a shot. I didn't hear a heartbeat, I only heard like a gurgling sound, not a whooshing sound like with the doppler. I didn't take the time to move it around my belly to find a heartbeat though b/c I didn't want my doctor to see me with his steth. in my ears!! lol
11. if ur far enough along then yes
12. that is the way my doctor checked my baby's back in 1984 and 1985 .