How accurate are dopplers!?!

[baby.love]

Hi girls.

I am slightly baffled, when i use my doppler (hi.bebe with lcd) It shows a heartrate of around 148-150bpm. But at my scan on monday the sonographer measured the HB at 164bpm.. I used to get that rate on my doppler a couple of weeks ago but it seems to of come down.

Can the babies HB really change that much so quickly? I checked it monday night after my scan and it showed the 148-150bpm i know they say it depends if the baby is awake etc, but can it be that much different? or could it be my doppler isnt very accurate?

 

[babystar]

hmmm i wish i could help you but I dont have a fancy one I just have a bog standard angelsounds one and I am still trying to fathom that one out!

 

[AP]

My best friend explained a lot to me, general idea i got from her was when she was pregnant with her little one, it changed all the time and varied from 130 to 160.totally depends on your mood too remember, baby does pick it up!

 

[Tilly]

I have the same doppler and as far as I know the babies heartrate can fluctuate between 140-170 (hope thats right, this is what it says on my hibebe instructionsI think). This does depend on what baby is doing as you said, time of day or your activity. What i've found with mine is that the LCD will show really random heartbeats like 256bpm and then will go back to normal - apparently this is miscalculation as it picks up two heartbeats (eg, yours and the babies). Don't know how correct that is though!

Hope that helps

 

[baby.love]

Well girls i just done it another way and counted babies HB for 15 seconds and typed this into an online fetal HB calculator, according to that babies HB is in the 160's (going on an average as we counted a few times) but the doppler wasnt going over 150bpm

I am thinking my doppler may be faulty!

Thanks for all the replies xx

 

[Mary Jo]

Maybe you were anxious at the scan and baby picked up on that? The first time I heard baby on a doppler was after I'd been sent to the EPAU with anxiety over baby's wellbeing, and it was over 155bpm. When I got a doppler after that, and at subsequent midwife appointments, it's consistently about 140-ish. Not a big difference but I attributed the higher one off reading to my own state. Or baby was especially active...

 

[baby.love]

I wondered this too, but she took the HB a little way into the scan and by this time i was fine and not anxious at all.

 

[highlandlassi]

i was wondering the same thing and i have the hibebe with display as well. whenever i go to the docs they get such a different range between my babies. one is usuallly 135 and the other almost 150. with hi bebe i get 145 and 153. maybe they just arent totally accurate. still great to hear though. i am going to try counting myself too!

 

[charliesmom]

It fluctuates because when your baby is active, the HB is higher... when it's sleeping or idle, the HB is slower.

Mine is usually at 150-155.. but at times can get up to 164-167.

 

[baby.love]

Just incase anyone wants to use it this is the site i used to calculate it

https://www.fetaldopplerfacts.org/tools/bpm-calculator.php

Thanks for all the replies girls i appreciate it x

 

[Vici]

I don't have a doppler myself however, with having my BP checked every other day the MW has been listening lots. Ranges anywhere between 140 and just over 160 so really can vary that much