Seeking Recommendations on Quality Fetal Doppler/Home Fetal Monitoring System

As a nurse and a grandmother, I question the judgment of using these devices except for the occasions they are deemed medically necessary..... I think the old time best fetal monitor system is your belly feeling the wonderful kicks of your baby, and your husband's ear, hearing the movement and heartbeat with his head to your abdomen.... His warm arms around you, and the love shared between the 3 of you while he 'monitors' the fetus. I don't think this is the perfect gift.....but, perhaps a future promise to babysit for an evening as soon as the young couple feels they can get away for a little time alone???? Terri

S.,
What about the book "What to expect when you're expecting"
instead?

W. M.

i don't want to ruin your gift idea, but these systems are not reliable and can cause stress. we got one as a gift and were told it didn't work well, so we never used it. we waited to hear the baby at our doc appts and it made our appts so much more exciting.

They are VERY expensive (and like you said, the cheap bebe one doesn't work). You can rent a good one from www.storkradio.com for about $25 a month that will give you the heartrate display and everything. Good luck to your SIL!

I rented one for $25 a month from Bellybeats... I loved the fact that I was able to listen to my baby's heart beat and have that reassurance... being a firs time mom you always get scared and paranoid about not feeling the baby and so on..to me it was worth it..they do have some for sale as well..

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

I rented a really good one from bellybeats.com. Every night we listened to my son's heartbeat. And actually, for me, not to scare anybody, but I had a big problem late in my pregnancy that I was alerted to by my fetal doppler monitor. I went in asking questions about heart rate and was in an emergency c-section right away. That rental fee saved my baby's life...

So I recommend renting a good one just for that little extra insurance.

Ouch! I have real concerns about fetal monitoring, dopplers, and sonograms. 3D & 4D ultrasound are other technologies out there that are dangerous. Are you aware that sonar causes whales ears to bleed. There is a video out there which shows how a baby's cells are scrambled by contact with ultrasound. There is also concern about the amount of autism we are seeing in children today since the advent and increasing use of ultrasound. I think this is a really concerning idea. You can check out information about this through natural childbirth resources such as Bradley Method or Lamaze. Even if you don't subscribe to a natural childbirth there are still resources available in regard to pregnancy safety. Many of the pregnancy practices of the past did not realize the inherent safety issues for baby. With our fast growing technology there is growing evidence of associated risk to unborn babes, although this has not yet been widely publicized. Unfortunately, we give up so much power to medical professionals that change doesn't really happen until they decide to care. Often financial (i.e. ultrasounds) and other interests may actually lead to the medical establishment turning a blind eye to what is safe. I realize that your idea comes from a place of wanting to do something nice to help your sister-in-law connect with her child, but I would recommend a non-sonar or ultrasound based item. How about a baby monitor tv or special music to play to baby during pregnancy & after?

R. Faridnia, MSW, LCSW

I haven't had experience with fetal doppler monitors, but when I was pregnant, I got my husband (as a present) a medical-grade stethoscope. It was fun "playing" with it and listening closely to make out the baby's heartbeat, and we did manage to hear it, but mostly it was fun just trying. The cool thing is that now I have a real stethoscope to listen to my kids' lungs when they have colds, and my kids themselves have had a great learning experience using it to listen to our hearts, lungs, stomachs.... I got mine from allheart.com.