For expecting parents, the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the normal stresses of pregnancy in a wide variety of ways. Some doctors and midwives have found new ways to allow the monitoring of a baby’s health at home.
Dagamma manufactures Baby Doppler Sonoline B, a device that monitors the fetal heartbeat at home using ultrasound technology. The device is simple to use. You apply a sound-enhancing gel to reduce static and rock the probe back and forth until you find the heartbeat. The expectant parent can then read the heartbeat, displayed in beats per minute, on the device’s screen. They can then share these numbers with a healthcare provider.
Mithu Kuna, CEO and Founder of Baby Doppler, says it was actually a personal experience of his own that inspired the company to begin with. “When my wife was pregnant with our first child, there was decreased movement toward the end of the pregnancy, and absolutely no kicks,” he says. “But luckily, we were able to call our midwife, and the midwife came over with a similar device and was able to hear the heartbeat. She was able to quickly derive that [the baby had] an intermittent heartbeat, and [my wife] had to be induced to get him out right away.”
Kuna says that the ability to check the heartbeat on their own might have been able to calm their worries or alert them to danger earlier. To learn more about Baby Doppler Sonoline B, visit https://www.babydoppler.com/.