How long is it appropriate for a woman to check her fetal heart rate during pregnancy?

Women need to do some check-ups after they become pregnant. The purpose of doing so is to ensure the health of the baby in the belly. Fetal heart rate monitoring is a routine item. Many women don’t know how long into the pregnancy it is appropriate to check the fetal heart rate. Today we have an expert in obstetrics and gynecology here, so let’s hear what they say about this! I hope that expectant mothers will be able to understand more through the following introduction.

Pregnant women inevitably have to undergo various examinations, and mothers have to endure more hardships for the sake of their baby's health. Fetal heart rate is a very important examination. It can detect whether the fetal heart rate changes are normal, which plays a very important role for the baby.

Counting the number of fetal movements is a means of following up the fetus in the uterus. Listening to the fetal heart rate is a way to estimate the safety of the fetus in the uterus. Using a fetal heart stethoscope or stethoscope to follow the changes in the fetal heart rate is an indispensable means of fetal monitoring before and during delivery. The normal fetal heart rate is 120~160 beats/minute. Generally, the average fetal heart rate is 162 beats/minute before 20 weeks of pregnancy, 147 beats/minute from 21 to 30 weeks of pregnancy, and 139 beats/minute from 31 to 40 weeks of pregnancy. Usually, the loudest fetal heartbeat is heard on the pregnant woman's abdominal wall above the fetus's back. Due to the different positions of the fetal head, the location of the loudest heartbeat is also different. Under the guidance of a doctor, the pregnant woman or her husband should be trained to learn to count the fetal heart rate per minute. If the fetal heart rate is less than 120 beats/minute or greater than 160 beats/minute, it means that the fetal heart rate is abnormal and further review and monitoring are required.

For a normal intrauterine pregnancy, an ultrasound examination can clearly show the embryo and fetal heartbeat in the uterus 42 days after menstruation. Some women with irregular menstrual cycles, late ovulation, and late implantation of the fertilized egg will have a relatively delayed appearance of a fetal bud in the uterus and fetal heart tube pulsation, but usually no more than 49 days after amenorrhea, and no later than 56 days. If more than 56 days pass without the appearance of a fetal bud in the uterus and no fetal heart tube pulsation, it should be diagnosed as embryonic arrest.

Measuring the fetal heart rate is a sign of whether the baby is alive or not. It is mainly used to detect whether the baby's heartbeat is normal. It is basically done at every prenatal check-up! If you feel uncomfortable, you can go to the local hospital for a fetal heart rate test to find out whether the baby is suffering from ischemia and hypoxia, so that you can know whether the baby is normal. A fetal heart rate that is too frequent or too low is not a good sign, indicating that the baby is in danger and needs medical treatment.

Experts say that pregnant women do not need to listen to the fetal heart rate too much or too frequently, which will add unnecessary psychological burden. Although a fetal heart rate of 120 to 160 beats per minute is normal, some pregnant women have good blood oxygen reserve capacity, and the fetal heart rate will temporarily increase and then return to normal. This is a normal reaction of the fetus during the development of the nervous system. When pregnant women see that the fetal heart rate is not within the normal range, they will unconsciously become nervous. The nervousness of pregnant women will cause the fetus to become restless, resulting in an increase in the fetal heart rate. If this happens frequently, it will increase the chance of fetal intrauterine hypoxia.

Now everyone should have a deep understanding of the basic knowledge of how long to check the fetal heart rate during pregnancy. I hope that women who are planning to become pregnant will pay more attention after reading the above article and do a fetal heart rate check at the right time, so that the chances of the fetus being born healthy will be much greater. However, we must pay attention to the fact that if abnormalities are found during fetal heart examination, they must be dealt with in a timely manner.