Anyone here not going to scans

[Lina]

I am unsure if this is the correct area to post but it seemed the more appropriate. Has anyone here not attended or is not intending to attend 12wk/20wk scans, or deliberately delaying such appointments?

 

[bettny]

no but why would u?
they are important checks the first 12week to measure how big baby is and give u ur estimated due date and the 20week scan to see if baby has any problems.

 

[Lina]

Not really that crucial, especially if an abnormality had no bearing on you ending a pregnancy.

 

[bettny]

still the 12week scan is how u know ur EDD as goin by ur period can be weeks out. plus those 2scans are free in the UK why would u not wanna go and see ur baby. i dont see any reason to skip or put them off, like i said why would u?

 

[SawD]

I did not. I booked a private scan at 27 weeks cause I wanted to know the sex. I went private also cause I got more out of it. Looking back on it I would not have changed what I did. Hearing all the scares women had during those scans were not even an option for me. FOR ME mind you. To each thier own. The whole part of knowing the exact due date by scan does not in anyway make it exact. they come when they come. It always good to know a basic date though. I had a scan at 6 weeks just cause we had NO clue how far I was (got of depo and had not cycle for 3 years so that was the only way we could get a ball park figure how far I was) since I did not have a 12 or 20 week scan I could be 1-1 1/2 weeks off give or take on the date. My midwife is good and I trust her. She checks my fundamental height and location of the baby. Making sure I am in good health first. so far this way is working for ME. not to say this way will work for others or not.

 

[silver_penny]

I went without scans for my pregnancies. They are not necessary, IMO. There is no evidence of their safety, and I'm not going to let my children be lab rats in the grand scheme of society.

Ultrasound, sonograms, and dopplers use high frequency sound waves to produce an image of the baby on a viewing screen or amplify the baby's heartbeat so it can be heard more easily. NO STUDIES have been done which prove the safety of these devices, and the American Medical Association recommends AGAINST unnecessary exposure.

"Unnecessary Exposure" includes the use of ultrasound to:

1. Confirm the sex of the baby.

2. Assess gestational age (how many weeks old the baby is).

3. Assess fetal size and growth.

4. Confirm multiple pregnancy.

5. Determine fetal presentation (the position of the baby in the womb).

 

[bettny]

but isnt it true that if u go over due to long it can have serious health risks for u and bub as the placenta starts to break down?
as for me i was in serbia for 3 months and they scan u there at every midwife appointment and tbh i loved seeing her.

like i always say each to their own but for me i really enjoyed seeing her in there and even had a 4d scan that i found amazing. i would have atleast the 12week just to get dates BUT again each to their own

 

[Tacey]

I was really uncertain. I'm not convinced of their safety at all. In the end, I decided to go for them as we're planning a home birth, and I felt that having all the knowledge I could on things like the position if the placenta, number of babies and whether the baby had any defects would help me feel more confident about delivery. It was a tough decision though, and I'm still not sure I made the right one.

 

[NuKe]

Not really that crucial, especially if an abnormality had no bearing on you ending a pregnancy.

but what if the abnormality could be prepared for, or even corrected before the baby was born? there's very little that could be wrong with a baby that would make me end a pregnancy, but there's no way I'd not go to the 20wk scan.

Ultrasounds have never been proven to be harmful in any way. It's just soundwaves!

 

[imagine13]

Totally your choice I had my dating and 20 week scans but declined all tests - we wouldn't have terminated the pregnancy either way.

The big worry would be the placental location. If it was obstructing your cervix it could be life threatening to you both. They check this at the 20 weeks scan - so maybe just go for this

 

[silver_penny]

Ultrasounds have never been proven to be harmful in any way. It's just soundwaves!

They have done studies on rats that have shown damage. "Prenatal exposure to ultrasound waves impacts neuronal migration in mice," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006 103: 12903-12910.

There is evidence that the exposure of pregnant mice and nonhuman primates to ultrasound waves may affect the behavior of their exposed offspring. Additionally, studies have shown that the frequent exposure of the human fetus to ultrasound waves is associated with a decrease in newborn body weight, an increase in the frequency of left-handedness, and delayed speech.

Because ultrasound energy is a high-frequency mechanical vibration, researchers hypothesized that it might influence the migration of neurons in a developing fetus. Neurons in mammals multiply early in fetal development and then migrate to their final destinations. Any interference or disruption in the process could result in abnormal brain function.

In the study, researchers injected more than 335 fetal mice at embryonic day 16 with special markers to track neuronal development. Exposure to ultrasound waves for 30 minutes or longer caused a small but statistically significant number of neurons to remain scattered within inappropriate cortical layers and in the adjacent white matter. The magnitude of dispersion of labeled neurons was highly variable but increased with duration of exposure to ultrasound waves.



Newnham, J.P., Evans, S.F., Michael, C.A., Stanley, F.J., & Landau, L. I. (1993). Effects of Frequent Ultrasound During Pregnancy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Lancet, 342(Oct.9), 887-891.

A study of over 1400 women in Perth, Western Australia compared pregnant mothers who had ultrasound only once during gestation with mothers who had five monthly ultrasounds from 18 weeks to 38 weeks. They found significantly higher intrauterine growth restriction in the intensive ultrasound group. These mothers gave birth to lower weight babies.

The researchers concluded that prenatal ultrasound imaging and Doppler flow exams should be restricted to clinically necessary situations. This recommendation comes at a time when ultrasound during prenatal visits has become increasingly popular and serves as a kind of entertainment feature of office check-up visits.


Campbell, J.D., Elford, R.W. & Brant, R.F. (1993). Case-Controlled Study of Prenatal Ultrasound Exposure in Children with Delayed Speech. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 149(10), 1435-1440.

Delayed speech is not a pathological or organic syndrome but developmentally defined symptom complex. Clinicians have noted an increased incidence of delayed speech in pediatric patients.

This is a matched-case control study of 72 children 2 to 8 years old presenting with delayed speech of unknown cause. The children were measured for articulation, language comprehension, language production, meta-linguisticskills, and verbal memory. When checked for ultrasound exposure, the speech-delayed children were about twice as likely to have been exposed to ultrasound than the matched controls.

The authors believe that delayed speech is a sensitive measure reflecting sub-optimal conditions for development. If ultrasound can cause developmental delays, the authors are concerned about the routine use of ultrasound and they warn against it.


Devi, P.U., Suresh, R., & Hande, M.P. (1995). Effect of fetal exposure to ultrasound on the behavior of the adult mouse. Radiat Res (QMP), 141(3), 314-7.

Pregnant Swiss albino mice were exposed to diagnostic ultrasound. There were significant alterations in behavior in all three exposed groups as revealed by the decreased locomotor and exploratory activity and the increase in the number of trials needed for learning. These results indicate that ultrasound exposure during the early fetal period can impair brain function in the adult mouse.


Hande, M.P., & Devi, P.U. (1995). Teratogenic effects of repeated exposures to X-rays and/or ultrasound in mice. Neurotoxicol Teratol (NAT), 17(2), 179-88.

Pregnant Swiss mice were exposed to ultrasound, x-rays, and combinations of the two. Effects on prenatal development, postnatal growth and adult behavior were studied. U + U group showed an increase in percent growth ******** fetuses. The postnatal mortality was significantly higher only in the U + U group. In the X + U group, the exploratory activity was affected at 6 months of age. There was a significant change in the locomotor activity with a reduction in the total activity as 3 and 6 months of age in the U + U group. Latency in learning capacity was also noticed in this group. The results indicate that repeated exposures to ultrasound or its combination with X-rays could be detrimental to the embryonic development and can impair adult brain function when administered at certain stages of organogenesis.

There are many other studies that have been done, but no one seems to be paying attention to them.

This is from unhinderedliving.com

So yes, they are soundwaves. But X-rays were once thought to be okay for pregnant women, as there were no studies done to prove them not harmful.