@Becoming Mrs. Bailey: Where exactly has anyone PROVED anything?!?

And what I probably should have said is it would be extremely DIFFICULT to RELIABLY hear a baby's heart beat with an ordinary stethescope (a pinnard stethescope is a different story). This is why doctors and midwives don't use ordinary stethescopes, they use pinnard horns or doppler. And as Transit has pointed out, attempting to use a stethescope to hear the baby's heart beat can lead to false reassurance (if a woman is actually hearing her own heartbeat) or unnecessary anxiety (because not being able to hear the heart beat probably doesn't mean it's not there, but rather you just can't hear it with the stethescope).

I grow tired of fighting with you all the time in here because you think you know everything and you don't. Didn't you see the post someone cited a MEDICAL SOURCE? Yes, you probably should have said extremely difficult rather than can't or impossible. And yes, I believe woman can be falsely reassured in hearing the heartbeat. But, back to her original question, it doesn't seem as though she's worried the baby isn't there, it seems more like she's curious and no one can fault her for that. If I were pregnant, I'd want to hear the baby on my own also. And maybe, they just aren't using the stethoscope correctly (not in the correct spot, etc). You're so full of doom and gloom sometimes.

@Becoming Mrs.Bailey: Fighting with me all the time?!? I don't know you, and don't remember ever even speaking to you before! I'm pretty sure if you were fighting with me "all the time" I'd remember you. So this comment makes me think I've probably corrected you at some point and you've taken such personal offence to it that you're still not over it. Which is kind of sad, but your problem, not mine.

I didn't disagree with the medical reference, I simply said that they were most likely referring to a pinard stethescope.

I have admitted that I should have been clearer in my original post.

Doom and gloom?!? WTF? Just because I told someone it's difficult to hear a baby's heartbeat with an ordinary stethescope?! Hahahahahaha. Goodness, if you think that's 'doom and gloom' you must have a pretty protected life.

OK, can't discuss this anymore, I have to get to a night shift!

@RedFraggle: "Fighting with me all the time?!?" LOL, when I read her post to you I thought I was pulling a stupid because I couldn't remember seeing you two fight ANYWHERE. ;D

Oh the delusions of grandeur some people have.

@Becoming Mrs Bailey - the only reason there is any debate between the two of you in here is because you made a snooty, bitchy comment and she responded to you. So you bought it on yourself, you dickhead.

@.Blue Bella. - thank you ;D

@BMB: Relax, yo. YOU made the comment. There's no need to turn this thread into yet another pointless bickering fest.

That being said, if there is a medical discussion, I tend to put my trust in Red Frag, seeing as she's a doctor, to help clarify and medical documents that are posted. Such as she has done in this thread, when she clarified the difference between the types of stethoscopes used to monitor fetal heartbeats.

I bought the Bebe Sounds prenatal heart listener and I was able to hear my daughter's heartbeat at 19 weeks. It was clearly different from my own, we felt my pulse while listening to her heartbeat to make sure. Sometimes they work well early on, sometimes they don't, but they do work. Good luck! :o)

I dont understand how people can confuse their heartbeat with the baby's. There is a DISTINCT difference, the baby's is faster and a different pitch then yours. I knew that my first pregnancy. Then again I did research on my pregnancy. And to answer the original question, my first doctor preferred to listen to the baby with a stethoscope. He was very old school, he was the doctor who delivered me, and he also delivered my daughter. The nurse would listen to it on the doppler, but he would use the stethoscope for his own personal check.

Yeah, I was at the dr today and even though I had that baby monitor strapped to my belly, the dr still used a stethoscope. She's probably better at finding a heartbeat than me though, it is her job. :p

@Mindi: But an ordinary stethescope, or a pinnard stethescope?

As far as I knew it was an ordinary one, the same one he used to check my lungs when I got pneumonia while I was pregnant with her.

My professors in class taught us that you can hear the heartbeat with a stethoscope at around 25 weeks or so. So did all the books we had to read and research we had to do. I mean, it makes total sense because what did people do without dopplers and ultrasounds and whatnot? It really wasn't that long ago, if you think about it. I haven't had children yet, so I'm not sure why it's not working.

i used that bebe sounds thingy ASH is talkin about.. i heard my daughter's heartbeat at idk how many weeks. but i stopped using it b.c she'd always push it off my belly! -le sigh- i miss that.. i wanted to get a stethescope with my son but i never got around to getting it.

@RedFraggle, the fetoscope is just EASIER to use.. but an ordinary stethoscope works just as well when used properly. My midwife used the ordinary stethoscope (same one used to listen to lungs & heart) on more than one occassion, which is how I knew it could be done and why I asked her to instruct me on how to do so. :) But you CAN hear with it just as well as a fetoscope (w/ the pinard horn) AS LONG as you find the correct spot on your tummy. Its not something I'd recommend for someone who has no idea what they are doing, but if you know how to locate your babies back, then it works just the same. :)

@BlessedMama: Actually, it shouldn't be any easier to use than an ordinary stethoscope in the sense that the hardest part is locating the right area to place it to pick up the sounds. But the fetoscope should give better quality sound (i.e. make the heart sounds easier to pick up) than an ordinary stethoscope because it has a larger bell.

Right.. but thats pretty much what I meant, lol. I was saying it is easier to use because w/ a standard stethoscope you pretty much have to find babies heart inside of your tummy. Meaning, you have to find an exact location of the back or chest area, through your belly... which isn't easy or even doable for those who don't know how to locate fetal position and know whats what in there.
As far as sound quality.. perhaps, I can't say for sure. I've heard a babies heartbeat through a regular stethoscope, but never a fetoscope. I would imagine it does sound a bit better given the pinard bell.

But I think the bottom line lies in the fact you can no doubt pick up fetal heartbeat w/ a standard stethoscope, per OP's original question. More difficult for some than others? Definitely. But, still possible. :)

A doctor couldn't find my sons heartbeat WITH a doppler at 13w.
Too much worry involved with listening in yourself, not to mention that unless you're a midwife or other trained professional, you wouldn't be able to recognise decelerations or accelerations. The best way to know if there's anything amiss is if you feel less than 10 movements over 12 hours, or if pre-foetal movement, trust your instincts.

A baby's heartbeat is around twice as fast as it's mothers and sounds like a steamtrain! Not sure how anyone could confuse that!

My husband once tried to listen to my son's heartbeat using a shure SM58 microphone and full PA rig. It failed.

You should take into consideration too that a few factors play into how "easy" it is to find the heartbeat WITH any sort of doppler device. Mothers weight, babies location, location of the placenta...etc. With my most recent pregnancy I had an anterior placenta (it attached in front of babe) which made it a bit more difficult to locate the heartbeat. I always had to let the nurses know so they didn't get all dramatic when & if they couldn't locate it right off.

I most certaintly don't have anything personal against Red Fraggle.. from what I can see, she makes her argument tactfully which is more than a lot of others here can say. And I am most certaintly not being snary when I say this... but in this case, doctor or not.. she is wrong. Because like I've said, (and experienced myself, many times) like MOST all doctors will tell you, you definitely can hear fetal heartbeat w/ a standard stethoscope. They have a stethoscope specifically meant for this, called a fetoscope, but a standard stethoscope works just the same.

@blessed mama. I don't know how many times I have to say this but I have already said I was wrong to be so blunt in my original post, that what I meant is that it's very difficult (not impossible) to hear a baby's heart beat with an ordinary stethoscope. And an ordinary stethoscope does not work "just the same" as a pinnard stethoscope because a pinnard stethoscope has a bigger horn, hence the reason it was designed in the first place (although it too is not as good as doppler).

You're right.. I missed that post but saw it once I skimmed over the entire discussion. I apologize for that. :)

When I say an ordinary stethoscope works just the same, I mean you use it the same.. as in you place the ear tips into your ears, and then place the bell/horn onto your stomach. The pinard version probably does make the sounds more clear and easier to hear, due to the horn.

Anon. Source said you are a doctor.. do you work in obstetrics?

And I meant to say it has a bigger bell not a bigger horn! Sorry, I'd just gotten up when I wrote my last response.

No, anaesthetics. But I do spend a fair bit of time on labour ward. When we learned how to examine the pregnant woman in medical school we were taught to only use a pinnard horn, and in all the time I spend on labour ward I have never seen a midwife or obstetrician ever use an ordinary stethoscope to listen to feral heart sounds.

Of course doesn't mean it can't be done, just that it generally isn't because it's so much less reliable.

The iPhone changes 'fetal' to 'feral'!