Twenty years ago, the only way a person could determine how their unborn baby was doing was through a hospital visit. Through the use of an ultrasound – that some insurance companies don’t cover in their plan- you could also hear your baby’s heartbeat at home. Hearing the heartbeat of your baby was near impossible unless you made a visit to the doctor and he used ultrasound machines to listen. Baby products have become popular, and continue to develop a following as mothers-to-be realize that they don’t need to visit their obstetrician regularly. Also, with questionable health care costs, parents are looking for other options to monitor their baby’s health.

Another advantage to this monitor is that it can be shared with family members that could not actually go to the doctor visit and hear it for themselves. Living in a culture that prides itself on ‘quick’ service, baby heart monitors have become one of the newest products that boast this ‘quick’ service. Recently, not only baby heart monitors, but also monitors determining the sex of your baby have been very popular among expectant parents. With the wide array of monitors making its way to pharmacy shelves, and even more being invented everyday, heart monitors have been investigated thoroughly. It has been said that baby heart monitors accurately determine the heart rate of the unborn baby.

Fetal Beats Belly Doppler, Bebe Sounds Heart Listener, Sonotrax Basic LCD Fetal Doppler, and Summer Infant Heart to Heart Baby Prenatal Listening System are some of the new baby heart monitors that are on the market. You can also rent one.
The prices range from twenty dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars. To purchase the one that your obstetrician uses, you could pay anywhere from two thousand dollars. Ultrasound lotion applied to the mother’s stomach and ultrasound machine help the sound to travel. When using the heartbeat machine, doctors have advised that if the heartbeat is not between 120 – 160 beats per minute, it may be an indication that something is wrong.

As with any health product that may be inaccurate, many of these manufacturers have stated that you should contact your obstetrician after using the baby heart monitor for extra precaution if you detect an abnormality. Yet, despite the occasional inaccuracy, many are still interested in purchasing these products to have a chance to hear their baby’s heartbeat.

Expectant parents like to use new technology to keep an eye on their growing baby, and the innovations in baby heart monitors have indulged that protective urge to the fullest. But technology is only helpful so long as it’s fully understood, and people who want to make use of baby heart monitors need to know roughly how they work and what they can and can’t do. If you have a baby coming along and you’re interesting in knowing more, keep reading.

Baby heart monitoring devices are ultrasound-based products that amplify the sound of an infant’s heartbeat while simultaneously filtering out other bodily sounds. In this sense, it is distinguished clearly from microphones that simply amplify all sounds without discretion. A baby heart monitor can be used to detect heartbeats as soon as two and a half months in the course of pregnancy. This ultrasound works in a manner similar to that of how bats see, or submarines navigate. A frequency is sent out to bounce from point to point. The device then analyzes the speeds of these bounces, and translates it into the equivalent heartbeat.

It’s a very safe and trustworthy means of discerning and interpreting sounds and objects, without being unpleasant or physically invasive. A heart monitor will result in a sound not dissimilar to the ‘Doppler effect’ of a train whistle. The sound becomes gradually louder, and then quickly drops in volume and tone. A decent heart monitor will track the frequency and general rhythm of the baby’s heartbeat, giving expectant mothers a limited ability to track the growing baby’s wellbeing while it’s still inside them. In fact, baby heart monitors are sufficiently effective and versatile that even medical professionals use them for tracking other things via ultrasound.

However, baby heart monitors aren’t perfect. Casual users who aren’t trained in the use of ultrasound can misunderstand heartbeat sounds. You shouldn’t assume that your baby is healthy just because you hear a heartbeat! A baby heart monitor isn’t meant to replace regular checkups by professional doctors, so use them as a supplement for your baby’s wellbeing, not a substitute for medical experts. In addition, not all baby heart monitors are made equal.

When shopping for a heart monitor, it’s important to do background research on the company and the product model, to make sure you’re getting a good deal for the money you put down. A poor baby heart rate monitor is worse than not buying one in the first place. Remember that you get what you pay for! Heart monitors can be had for as little as fifteen dollars, but if you want a quality device, you should be ready to spend anywhere from thirty to sixty, at a minimum. If you want to be absolutely sure you’re getting a good heart monitor, look for one that specifically has FDA approval.

If you are an expectant parent you know what a wonderful feeling it is to hear your baby’s heart beat for the first time. Prenatal heart monitors allow parents to monitor their baby’s heartbeat on a regular basis. Many obstetricians today recommend that expectant parents monitor their baby’s heartbeat to ensure a healthy and stress free pregnancy. Even parents who don’t have any known health issues or concerns are encouraged to use baby heart monitors. There is no concern too unreasonable when it comes to the health and well being of your baby.

By monitoring your baby’s heartbeat you will be able to pick up any differences or irregularities that may occur. A heartbeat that is too rapid, known as tachycardia, can signal distress in your developing baby. In contrast, a heartbeat that is too slow, called bradycardia, can also mean trouble for your baby. For expectant parents who have a history of health concerns associated with pregnancy, a baby heartbeat monitor would be an essential item to have. People who have family histories of diabetes or other potentially life threatening illnesses to an infant could safely monitor the baby’s heartbeat. This is also good for people who expect twins or multiple births. Often it is difficult to get a handle on the heartbeat of a multiple pregnancy. Having your own baby heart monitor would allow you to listen at regular intervals in the quiet of your own home.

Baby heart monitors work through the use ultrasonic waves. These waves can safely pass through the mother’s body as well as the developing fetus and detect movement within the fetal tissue. Although most baby heart rate monitors used in the physician’s office are very technical, there are many simpler models available for home use. One type of home use baby heart monitor is the digital fetal Doppler monitor. This device has a digital display to make checking your baby’s heartbeat easy. The digital monitor calculates the heartbeat and gives a digital readout so you don’t have to count the heartbeat yourself. You can even use it as early as 8 to 10 weeks into your pregnancy. When choosing a baby heart monitor for use at home make sure you are purchasing from a reliable company.

There are many products available with instructions and manuals included. There are also models made especially for the monitoring of twins. A good quality monitor can be quite expensive. Baby heart monitors range anywhere from forty dollars to thousands of dollars, so it is important to shop around. There are always sales and specials and some companies even rent out fetal monitors. Make sure the one you choose has been FDA approved to ensure that it has passed inspection and testing. When it comes to your baby’s health and well being there’s no such thing as being too careful.

Are you just coming back from your last prenatal appointment where your doctor hooked you up to one of those baby heart monitors? Are you wondering if there are home versions of fetal heart monitors that you could have at home? Well in today’s day of technological advances there are many different versions of baby heartbeat monitors that can be used at home by an expecting mom. These monitors can reduce trips to the doctor for fear of complications by having a way to monitor your fetus at home. They can also identify problems quickly for moms who have a history of complications or have a high risk baby who may need immediate attention. No matter what your need for a baby heart monitor, tracking your unborn child’s heart rate can be a wonderful memory that you will never forget.

On the market today, there are many different versions of baby heart rate monitors. Pocket Dopplers like the Baby Sound B can cost as little as $59.99 while others can be rented for use during your pregnancy if you don’t want to purchase one of your own. Ones similar to the ones in the doctor’s office may include ultrasound gel, probes and color screens and cost up to the range of $100 each.

Prenatal heart monitors can also be money savers. Especially in first time moms, any fear of something being wrong with your child can send you to the doctor’s office. Having a baby heart monitor at home will allow you to monitor your baby’s heart rate and let you know when there a concern is not as serious as you had thought. Having the monitors at home are also ways to help you feel connected with your baby in between your prenatal appointments.

For high risk pregnancies, baby heartbeat monitors may be a factor in saving your baby’s life. Research has shown as many as 25% of pregnancies end in a miscarriage. Some miscarriages occur as far along as full term. Having a heart rate monitor at home will alert you to a sign of a serious complication. Knowing at the moment a concern arises that it is serious and your child needs medical attention may be the factor in saving their life. Getting the child attention immediately can prevent the problem from escalating until it is too late to do anything to save them.

Having a baby heart monitor at home can be a calming thing for an expecting mother. The ability to monitor your baby’s heart rate at anytime can prevent extra trips to the emergency room, and also save your baby’s life if an emergency complication arises. Purchase your baby heart monitor today and connect on a different level with your unborn child before their delivery day arrives.