Your whole world changes once you are pregnant, and so does your life and your daily routine. There are multiple trips to your OBGYN to ensure that your little munchkin is doing fine and growing well, multiple blood and urine tests to ensure that all parameters like hemoglobin, blood sugar levels, and other nutritional levels are at the recommended levels. And your doctor will also put you through multiple ultrasound scans. While all the other procedures are routine and totally safe, when it comes to ultrasounds, you may worry if repeated ultrasound scans during pregnancy are safe.
Ultrasound scans are done to assess the growth and development of your baby. While a doctor routinely may recommend 5 to 6 scans for a healthy mother and a healthy fetus, the number may go up if they not
In This Article
- How Safe Are Repeated Ultrasound Scans During Pregnancy?
- Can Ultrasound Scans Be Dangerous For My Baby?
- My Doctor Has Advised More Than 5 Scans During Pregnancy. What Do I Do?
How Safe Are Repeated Ultrasound Scans During Pregnancy?
Usually, a pregnant woman with no complications is advised to have at least five scans during her pregnancy. Millions of women give birth to healthy babies after these five scans – so it is definitely safe.
But more importantly, a scan helps the doctor assess your baby’s heartbeat, the growth, the position of the baby, the amount of amniotic fluid inside your womb and like the position of the placenta. Scans are an excellent diagnostic tool to detect birth defects. They also help in screening for genetic disorders Down syndrome in unborn babies.
So, if you weigh the benefits against the possible risk factors, then ultrasound scans get a green flag. This is the reason we say that as long as you have your scans done as per the recommendations of your gynecologist, both you and your baby will be safe.
[Read : Sonography During Pregnancy]
Can Ultrasound Scans Be Dangerous For My Baby?
Ultrasound scans are safe during pregnancy because the basis for these scans is sound waves which have minimal chances of causing harm to the fetus. Any testing involving tradition is harmful to the mother and the fetus, which is not the case with ultrasound scans.
Here is how an ultrasound works.
- The transducer which the doctor uses to perform the scan produces ultrasound waves and also detects the ultrasound echoes that are reflected back.
- In most cases, the ultrasound transducers are made up of specialized materials called piezoelectric. When sound waves hit this material, it creates an electric field.
- In both the above cases, the transducer sends out sound waves into the pregnant woman’s body. The whole process of back-and-forth sound waves and reflections results in the creation of 2 and 3-dimensional images of the fetus.
The same principle applies for 2D and 3D scans making both safe for your baby.
[Read : What Is A High-Risk Pregnancy?]
My Doctor Has Advised More Than 5 Scans During Pregnancy. What Do I Do?
A greater number of scans are advised when it is a high-risk pregnancy. For instance, your gynecologist will demand more scans if you:
- Are 35 years or above
- Are carrying twins, triplets or multiple gestations
- Have Placenta Previa
- Had miscarriages before
- Experienced a stillbirth before
- Have some medical condition that makes your pregnancy high risk
- Have some other kind of pregnancy complication
In these cases, the doctor advises more scans because the benefit of the scan outweighs the risk involved.
It is important for the doctor to ensure at all times that your pregnancy is viable and for this, the doctor might need more number of scans.
If you are worried or have more questions on why you require a more-than-usual number of scans, then please talk to your doctor. Ensure that there is a medical reason to do more scans.
Apart from this, ensure you get your scan done by well-trained and experienced radiologists sitting in reputable clinics with good infrastructure.
Hope you have a safe pregnancy and delivery!
Read Also: 3D And 4D Ultrasound Scans During Pregnancy
