Warning on Use of Fetal Heart Rate Monitors
August 21, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
You may be wondering what could be wrong with monitoring your baby’s heart rate yourself. Doctors say that women who do so may delay getting medical attention when they notice a decrease in fetal movement. Hearing a fetal heart rate 
may lead some women to believe everything is fine, when, in fact, help is needed.
The personal monitors (or Doppler devices) have UK medical professionals warning of the dangers in a recently published article in the British Medical Journal.
The authors explain that in untrained hands, what may be heard is blood flow through the placenta or maternal blood vessels, not fetal heart rate.
Dr. Thomas Aust and colleagues from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Arrowe Park Hospital describe the case of a 27-year-old pregnant woman who delayed treatment for reduced fetal movements for two days because she could hear her baby’s heart rate on a fetal monitor. As it turns out, she needed a c-section immediately.
Do you use a fetal heart monitor?
(Example monitor shown is a rental from BellyBeats. Image via BellyBeats.)
