Ounora
How to Use Your Doppler
A plain guide to getting the most out of your Ounora Fetal Doppler — including the parts most sellers leave out.
Before your first session
- Wait until about twelve weeks. Earlier than that the baby is small and sits low in the pelvis, and most sessions are simply silent. That is not a fault and it is not a sign of anything.
- Pick a calm moment. Evenings tend to work better than mornings, and a quiet room helps because you are listening for something faint.
- Empty your bladder first. It is more comfortable and it helps.
- Lie back rather than sitting upright. Flat on a bed or reclined on a sofa, with your abdomen relaxed.
- Do not rush. Give yourself ten minutes and treat it as something you are doing together, not a test you need to pass.
The three steps
1. Gel, generously
Spread a layer of the Sound Enhancing Gel across your lower abdomen. Use more than feels necessary.
Sound will not pass from the probe into your body without it, and skimping on gel is the single most common reason a first session finds nothing. If you are getting nothing but static and rustling, the usual answer is more gel.
2. Go low, and go slow
Hold the probe flat against the skin — the whole face of it in contact, not tipped on an edge. Start just above the pubic bone, which is lower than most people expect.
Move in very small increments, pausing for a few seconds at each spot. Moving too fast is the other main reason people miss it. Angle the probe slightly rather than pressing harder.
3. Listen together
When you find it, stop moving and hold still. Bring the volume up and let the reading settle for a few seconds before you judge it.
This is the part worth waiting for. Put a phone on speaker if someone should be hearing this who is not in the room.
What it actually sounds like
Faster than you expect, and muffled — people usually describe it as being underwater, or like a small horse galloping. It is quick, which surprises nearly everyone the first time.
You will also hear other things, and it helps to know what they are:
- A slow, steady whoosh that matches your own pulse is your heartbeat, not the baby's. It is noticeably slower.
- A windy, rushing sound is usually blood flow through the placenta.
- Sudden thumps and scrapes are movement, or the probe shifting on the skin.
If you cannot find it
This happens to nearly everyone at some point, and it is not evidence of anything. Work through this list:
- Add more gel. Then add more again.
- Go lower than you think. Start at the pubic bone and work up.
- Slow down. Pause several seconds in each position.
- Keep the probe flat to the skin and angle it rather than pressing.
- Try again another day. Position changes week to week, and a spot that worked last week may find nothing this week.
An anterior placenta — one that has settled at the front — sits between the probe and the baby and can make this take several weeks longer. If your care team has mentioned one, expect more patience to be needed.
Stop after a few minutes rather than hunting for a long time. A long unsuccessful search makes people anxious, and anxiety is the thing we are most trying to avoid here.
About the number on the screen
The display shows a rate in beats per minute along with signal strength and battery level.
We are not able to tell you what any particular number means, and neither can the device. Rates vary with what the baby is doing, and a home doppler can also mis-count by picking up movement or your own pulse. Interpreting a reading is a job for your midwife, with proper equipment, in the context of your pregnancy.
Please do not treat the number as a score.
Looking after it
- Wipe the probe head with a soft dry or barely damp cloth after each session.
- Do not submerge any part of it, and do not run it under a tap.
- Clip the probe back into the holder on the side of the handset so the cable keeps its coil.
- Store it in the carry pouch with the gel so nothing goes missing in a drawer.
When to put it down and call someone
Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away — before reaching for the doppler, and regardless of anything you heard on it — if you notice:
- Reduced, slowed or changed movements
- Bleeding, fluid loss, or severe or persistent pain
- Anything at all that is worrying you
Hearing a heartbeat on this device does not mean everything is fine. It is the single most important thing to understand about owning one, and it is covered properly on our Health & Safety Information page.
Questions
Email support@ounora.com and a real person will answer within 24 hours on business days. We are glad to help with technique and with the device — we cannot give medical advice, and we will always point you to your midwife for that.