Q&A: What to Know Before Buying a Home Doppler to Hear Your Baby’s Heartbeat

Pregnancy Podcast

Vanessa Merten

Newborn, Parent, Homebirth, Vbac, Kids & Family, Doula, Firsttimemom, Midwife, Pregnancy, Doctor, Parenting, Pregnant, Vanessamerten, Physician, Csection, Prenatalcare, Breastfeeding, Naturalbirth, Nursing, Birthcenter, Family, Baby, Hospitalbirth, Health, Obgyn, Research, Trimester, Expecting, Labor, Mom, Diet, Dad, Birth

4.5 • 948 Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many expecting parents consider using a home Doppler to listen to their baby’s heartbeat between prenatal appointments. While this can seem like a simple way to ease anxiety and feel more connected to your baby, there are important considerations to keep in mind. This episode offers a closer look at how Dopplers work, the factors that can affect their accuracy, and what the research reveals about their safety. Explore the potential benefits and drawbacks of using a Doppler at home, including why some healthcare providers may advise caution. If you decide to purchase a home Doppler, hear tips for shopping for a device and using a home Doppler more responsibly.

Thank you to our sponsor

Zahler goes above and beyond to use high-quality bioavailable ingredients like the active form of folate, bioavailable iron, and omega 3s. The Zahler Prenatal +DHA is my #1 recommendation for a high-quality prenatal vitamin. Save 20% off the Zahler Prenatal +DHA on Amazon with the code PREPOD20. You can always see the details and the current promo code for the Zahler prenatal vitamin here.

Read the full article and resources that accompany this episode.

Join Pregnancy Podcast Premium to access the entire back catalog, listen to all episodes ad-free, get a copy of the Your Birth Plan Book, and more.

Check out the 40 Weeks podcast to learn how your baby grows each week and what is happening in your body. Plus, get a heads up on what to expect at your prenatal appointments and a tip for dads and partners.

For more evidence-based information, visit the Pregnancy Podcast website.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Merton.
0:10.7	Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast. Today's episode, we're going to talk about
0:17.6	what you need to know before buying a home dobbler to hear your baby's heartbeat.
0:23.6	A lot of expecting parents consider using a home dobbler to listen to the heartbeat in between prenatal appointments.
0:31.6	This can seem like a very simple way to ease anxiety and feel more connected to your baby, but there are important considerations
0:39.4	to keep in mind. We will take a closer look at how Doppler's work, the factors that can affect
0:45.8	their accuracy, and what the research reveals about their safety. Explore the potential benefits and
0:53.0	drawbacks of using a Doppler at home, including why
0:56.8	some health care providers advise caution. And if you decide to purchase a home Doppler, we'll go through
1:03.4	tips for shopping for a device and using it responsibly. You can find the complete article and all of the resources for this episode at
1:13.6	Pregnancypodcast.com slash home Doppler. You are currently listening to the public feed of the podcast,
1:22.3	which gives you access to the last year of episodes and you will hear advertisements.
1:29.1	Become a pregnancy podcast premium member to access every single episode of the podcast ad
1:35.8	free, plus you'll get a free copy of The Your Birth Plan book.
1:40.2	As you can imagine, it takes a tremendous amount of time to dig through research for episodes.
1:46.4	Your support of this podcast as a premium member makes it possible for me to spend many hours
1:52.9	and in some cases many weeks digging into a topic and distill it down into one podcast episode for you.
2:01.4	Check out Pregnancy Podcast Premium at Pregnancypodcast.com slash premium.
2:09.8	Thank you to Zoller for their support of this episode.
2:13.8	The Zoller Pranatal Plus DHA is my number one recommendation for a high quality vitamin.
2:20.1	And you can save 20% on Amazon with the code pre-pod 20.
2:25.5	You can always see the current promo code and more details for the Zoller prenatal
	...

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