Patient's question:
How long into pregnancy can you hear the fetal heartbeat?Doctor's answer:
Generally speaking, the fetal heartbeat can be detected by instruments as early as the 10th week of pregnancy. Currently, the Doppler high-sensitivity instruments commonly used can detect the heartbeat, which sounds like a galloping horse, as early as the 10th or 12th week of pregnancy. However, some hospitals may still use a regular stethoscope, in which case it may take until the 17th-18th week to track the fetal heartbeat.There is also a situation where, in the early stages of pregnancy, due to the position of the fetus or other various interfering factors, such as excessive maternal fat, even highly precise instruments may fail to detect the fetal heartbeat. This is because, during embryonic development, the gestational sac forms between 30-40 days, the embryo forms between 40-50 days, and the fetal heartbeat develops between 50-60 days. Therefore, routine ultrasound examinations are usually performed around the 60th day to check whether the gestational sac, embryo, and fetal heartbeat are normal.