Mamas, did you have sonogram/doptone use during your pregnancy?

I had lots of ultrasounds throughout both of my pregnancies because of a few complications. I think they are great tools to find out the health of your baby and Id much rather know ahead of time if something is going to be wrong with my baby instead of not finding out until he's born!

It is used as standard practice in the UK and I had it twice with each pregnancy. At the time there was a few people saying it wasn't safe, but I didn't really think about it. Now I wish I had.

Many years ago (27-30), when I was pregnant, they didn't do them. They are a great tool to find out problems right away, but like so many new technologies, the long term-effects may not show up til far in the future.

I believe that different countries use different equipment, methods and standards in regards to ultrasounds. I've heard that ultrasounds can affect the baby but if it was true - i'm sure you'd get a stack of information about it and you'd have to sign forms to make sure you don't sue them later!! I had 3 ultrasounds with both of my boys - with the last one being at 5 months. I know countries in Europe do some later but they don't here in Australia unless there is some kind of emergency. Doptones [or doppler scan] are used all the time - i believe that it is urban legend about it being on a higher frequency. I believe there are doptones that are on a higher frequency but they are used for other things. According to the book i received when first pregnant from my doctor there are no reported problems or risks associated with the use of using after 12 weeks.

i don't think I gave it much thought either, my doctor said he did two standard ultrasounds one at 18 weeks to see just how far along you are and then one at 28 weeks to make sure everything is developing normamly! I guess maybe I should have given it more thought!

My opinion is to avoid them if possible. I had them done twice in my last pregnancy. Once to confirm that my baby was breech at 38 weeks(he was) and then to confirm that he had flipped head down at 39 weeks(he did!). I found this article from mothering to be very informative: http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/ultrasound-risks.html

I have had 4 kids. I had several sonograms with them. All of my children turned out fine. I do not understand why they would show that at a birth class. It is alarming to hear the risks but they can also be a lot of help to diagnose problems. The doppler is a good instrument to use bc it monitors your baby's heartbeat.

Oh no! I've been pregnant twice and on both pregnancies my doctor, who is a sonologist, used her machine a lot to check on the baby. She used on during my monthly check-ups and at that time I found nothing wrong about it, until I read this post. I hope this is not accurate as I fear for my children's health now. I just wonder why doctors continue using the machine when they know its harmful effects. Is doptone the device used to check on the baby's heartbeat? If that's the one, then, I've also used that too, but not as much us the ultrasound.

My girls are 13 and 16 and I had one with my first pregnancy because I was spotting... but that was at 8 weeks. I didn't have any other sonograms... my doctor would only do them if he felt they were medically necessary. I have no idea if they will harm you or not... I sure hope not cause there are a lot of women who get quite a few of them with each pregnancy!

Well, with my oldest my doctor also used a doptone with my oldest at about 6 weeks or so and i recieved an ultra sound also with her at around 18 weeks! My baby i recieved one early as a check up about 23 weeks or so and another one when i was almost 8 months or 34 weeks maybe!! This is scary though and this is the first time that i have ever heard this! Maybe i will think twice with my next child ... LOL! Although they also have soo many benefits when we do get one as we get to check on our childs development and this helps to relieve some pregnancy pressures! Thank you for sharing such imformative advice and good luck with your pregnancy. I loved both of mine and i wish the best!! God Bless!

I had ultrasounds with all my pregnancies (three of them ) and I had more than one with each pregnancy. I didn't really thing about the risks involved as it wasn't really something my doctor believed in I guess so the topic never came up. It's general practice here in Canada for women to have ultrasounds when they are pregnant...I guess you have to weigh the pros and cons of the situation before agreeing to it. I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with my babies though.

thank you for that information. i don't know regarding that matter.i did my first ultrasound during my 8 weeks and have my second at 26 weeks.during my monthly check-up my OB uses doptone.and she did not inform me the cause and effect. how bad...what i am concerned during my pregnancy is to take good care of myself and keep myself healthy and clean. i will ask my doctor regarding to that so that when we want to have my second baby,i am aware of what she is using.

I don't think that's true at all. Women don't have eggs in their bodies as babies, I think they develop one at a time and if it's not fertilized it's expelled as menses. I've had to many ultrasounds, all my babies are okay.

I had two done. The first one was early in pregnancy, only for a few minutes to measure him-they had no clue how far along I was. Due to my own health problems, I had a high risk pregnancy and they wanted to be sure to know these things. I had a second one done at 20 weeks, we have a history of birth defects in my family and I really wanted to be prepared to know if anything was going to happen. Especially since I was delivering in a hospital that didn't have a neonatal intensive care unit, if there was a problem, they were going to send me a couple hours away when I got further along in my pregnancy. It was scary but I have a healthy happy son now. I do however think that some ob's use sonograms too much. My sister got them every 4 weeks, once that it was established that there were no health problems-they did it just for pictures. I think that is ridiculous, now wonder why health insurance is so expensive if they cover trivial stuff like this. I also believe there are a lot of environmental factors now in days that cause more cancer, the air we breather, our soil, our food, and the immunizations have lots of toxins and some heavy metals in some things. That's not good for our bodies at all.

I have never heard about this ultrasound damages.Also, i have a 15 yrs old girl, i've made some ultrasounds during pregnacy and guess what!.... she's perfect, not problems at all in her brain (and for car accident reasons she made an ex-r to the brain, and nothing, its just as perfect as any other brain). I also made ultrasounds for my boy and he's 2 yrs old now, he's vary smart and no signs of problems. one of my relatives is gnycologist and never told me about these ultrasound effects. So, dont know where the truth is....

i had three ultrasounds during my pregnancy with my son. the first one was i didnt know i was pregnant and i was having really bad pains. i went to the ER and they did a pregnancy test and it confirmed i was pregnant. well since i was having real bad pains they thought it was an etopic pregnancy, so i had to have an ultrasound done. it wasnt thank goodness. the second time was cause i was still having the pains and they had to make sure everything was alright with the baby, and it was. the thrid time was just a check up to see how my son was doing, make sure nothing was wrong, and he was gowing alright, and he was. he came out not crying only cause while i was in labor, induced due to high blood pressure, his heart rate went down, cause he was laying on the umbilacord and each time i had a contraction my uturs pressed the cord, which gave him lack of oxygen. the cord ended up being wrapped around his neck once. my doctor turned me on my other side and his heart rate went back up. but right now he is a healthy big baby! full of smiles and laughs!!

My son was born in August 2005. I had ultrasounds done twice. They thought he was growing abnormally and that they had the due date wrong so they did a second one. I think that they can be a good thing in moderation but they are still unproven and there might be side effects that we do not know about yet. I do think that they are needed sometimes when things need to be checked out, like checking for a birth deffect that you know runs in your family anyway. I don't think that there should be anymore done than are absolutely necessary to check for deffects and growth patterns though for fear of doing more harm than good.

Yes, I have had ultrasounds during my pregnancy. I didn't know that there are such side effects. If it really is true, why is it that it's a standard procedure for all pregnant (and even non-pregnant) women? If they had known theses effects, i suppose they should do away with this tool then.

nice topic of discussion

I used this during my pregnancy and i have a nice, healthy baby (touch wood) My doctor uncle (himself a gynaec) has used on his children and done these tests (for his grand children). I don't think that it could be that unsafe that docs all over are using these things. also if u think abt incurring cancer- we all are so exposed to this danger as it is. But u have to think of the benefits of taking the doppler tests, etc. so be postive in life.