ever heard of this?

Mrs. TLC

My friend's OB believes too many u/s can be bad for the baby - she is 16 weeks and has not had one yet --- first one isnt scheduled until 20wks.... to determine the sex of the baby...

 

i personally have never heard of this theory -- just wondering your thoughts on this....

Sara_18

I have heard it before - but mostly from crunchier moms who are having non-traditional births.

Here are three quick articles I found, not saying I agree with any of them. But they do present another point of view:

 

http://www.compleatmother.com/ultrasound_danger.htm

 

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundwagner.asp?q=ultrasound

 

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/2001/ultrasoundandbraindamage19dec01.shtml

 

 

Mrs. TLC

thanks for the articles!

 

LOL at crunchier moms!!

rodiggity79

There are quite a few doctors out there who don't do ultrasounds until 20w if the pregnancy seems to be progressing healthy. They only like to do ultrasounds when medically necessary.

I had heard that there was a study that said multiple ultrasounds resulted in stunted growth of the baby compared to pregnancies that only had one ultrasound. But I don't think there was any real comprehensive data to back up that claim.

I know my dr doesn't do them until about 10-12 weeks unless there are signs of a problem.

 

Kml9876

I did not have an ultrasound until 20 weeks. At the office I go to unless you are high risk you do not have one until 20 weeks. I did have another one later one because my belly was measuring small and they wanted to check that the baby was growing properly and thankfully he was!

LeelaH

I was high risk and had ultrasounds every 4 weeks and Rylie is just fine. 

LOL at "crunchier moms"!

delta21

Ya my old OB from Atlanta didn't do U/S until 20 weeks unless there was a reason like high risk etc etc.   Would have been nice to know I was carrying 2 babies before 20 weeks though!! hehe!!

Mrs.DMC

As far as causing problems to unborn babies, we may never know the truth behind that.

Insurance will only cover so many unless there are medical reasons to have more so I think that is the bigger reason as to why doctors wait til 20 weeks, and then another towards the end. I really think it is a matter of getting paid over causing harm to the baby.

I have been getting them done every four weeks at a high risk fetal specialist. Insurance does pay for it because they are medically necessary. He has grown progressively at each visit, and it's always great to see him.

Mrs. TLC

delta21:

Ya my old OB from Atlanta didn't do U/S until 20 weeks unless there was a reason like high risk etc etc.   Would have been nice to know I was carrying 2 babies before 20 weeks though!! hehe!!

 

LOL! that is part of the reason i was hoping for her that she would have one sooner... she is a twin, her aunts are twins, and her grandmother was a twin -- so there is a high likelihood that she will be having twins! They have heard the HB and doc says there is only one -- but as you experienced i guess that is not always accurate

delta21

Mrs. TLC:

delta21:

Ya my old OB from Atlanta didn't do U/S until 20 weeks unless there was a reason like high risk etc etc.   Would have been nice to know I was carrying 2 babies before 20 weeks though!! hehe!!

 

LOL! that is part of the reason i was hoping for her that she would have one sooner... she is a twin, her aunts are twins, and her grandmother was a twin -- so there is a high likelihood that she will be having twins! They have heard the HB and doc says there is only one -- but as you experienced i guess that is not always accurate

 

Ya really!  And for the record we thought we only heard one heartbeat too!  That still baffles me to this day how she didn't recognize the 2 different heartbeats.  She would check the HB at every appointment and never once thought it was 2.  My DH even joked about it once and she was like...NO I only hear one, she is not measuring big...yada yada yada!!  Guess we proved her wrong!! 

Mrs.DMC

I also wanted to add that the 20 week u/s is not to find out the sex of the baby. They do them to determine if the baby is growing properly. They are measuring vital organs, weight, amount of amniotic fluid and count fingers and toes and look for any other birth defects that are noticable in an u/s.

Finding out the sex is a perk but definitly not the sole purpose of the ultrasound.

snr4jhjr

Due to being high risk I have had u/s every 4 wks also.  I have also had 2 in between when issues came up.  She is doing great however she refuses to cooperate.   They do it every month and she just likes to fold up like a pretzel.  The great thing is she is right on target. 

Mrs. TLC

Mrs.DMC:

I also wanted to add that the 20 week u/s is not to find out the sex of the baby. They do them to determine if the baby is growing properly. They are measuring vital organs, weight, amount of amniotic fluid and count fingers and toes and look for any other birth defects that are noticable in an u/s.

Finding out the sex is a perk but definitly not the sole purpose of the ultrasound.

 

i know that u/s serve a greater purpose than just determining the sex - which is why i found it odd that the OB would want to wait so long. And like I mentioned before, i think that, esp considering her history, that they would want to do an u/s to see if she is carrying more than one baby.