1st Trimester

11 weeks and no heartbeat on doppler

Hi all!

Today I had my first doctors appointment, and she used the Doppler to try and find baby's heart beat but didn't have any success. She kept telling me not to worry, but it's so hard not to! This is my second pregnancy and with my first I heard the heart beat at 10 weeks. Has anyone else had this happen? My ultrasound isn't until December 1st, so I just feel like I'll be living in limbo until then.

Re: 11 weeks and no heartbeat on doppler

  • My OB couldn't find this LOs heartbeat with the doppler consistently until almost 16 weeks, and even then she had to search for 2-3 minutes before finding it. It was nerve-wracking every single time. I had a retroverted uterus and he was sitting wayyy back, so there was too much tissue for the doppler to have to go through to pick it up in the early stages. 11 weeks is still pretty early; baby is very small and just may not have been in a good position for her to find the HB. Try not to stress too much!
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  • Thank you for the words of encouragement! It's just so hard because it's easy to compare everything to my previous pregnancy!
  • I'm 21 weeks and my doctor still can't find my son's heartbeat on doppler. I'm not worried because I feel him moving around and have had ultrasounds that show a healthy heartbeat, so I'm not likening my experience to yours, just saying that it's very common to not be able to pick this up on doppler due to a LOT of reasons. Try not to worry. 
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  • It's still really early to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler; remember baby is still tiny and moving around a ton.
  • If you're fluffy (plus sized) it could also play a part. I'm heavier (size 20) and my Dr had a hard time finding my son's heartbeat one time when I was like 34 weeks. Took several minutes and was a bit scary.
  • when i went in for my first prenatal appointment, my doctor said she would try to find the heartbeat on the doppler, but before week 12 they have a hard time finding the heartbeat. she did eventually find it after several minutes of searching. i wouldn't worry every pregnancy is completely unique (:
  • When my midwife tried to find the heartbeat at 14 weeks she warned me not to freak out becuase its quite early . . . Definitely no cause for worry just yet. My sister always had trouble with the doppler in her first pregnancy but she had a heathy baby
  • With ds they couldn't find the heart beat on the Doppler at 11 weeks. Sent us straight for a viability ultrasound and there he was wiggling around like crazy. He was so squirmy it was hard to get a good measure. Last week the nurse practitioner could barely get a read on ds's heart rate because he kept moving away from the Doppler and I'm 25 weeks. Of course we knew everything was fine because he kept kicking the Doppler but she didn't get the heart rate.
  • Hi all! Today I had my first doctors appointment, and she used the Doppler to try and find baby's heart beat but didn't have any success. She kept telling me not to worry, but it's so hard not to! This is my second pregnancy and with my first I heard the heart beat at 10 weeks. Has anyone else had this happen? My ultrasound isn't until December 1st, so I just feel like I'll be living in limbo until then.
    All of my pregnancies that made it past first trimester-- we had to wait until at least 16 weeks to hear baby's heartbeat consistently on the external, handheld Doppler wand. Even then, they would "run" from it every time.


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  • Had it happen at 14 weeks. At that point I've had two US where I got to see and hear the heartbeat so not being able to hear on the Doppler freaked me out too. Dr pulled out the US machine and there he was, "waving" at us. As many pps have said its not always easy to find on Doppler (and exactly why I won't get a home Doppler). When is your first US?

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