okaforpeacee

@ladyprowess · 05 Dec 2021

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When does a foetus have a heartbeat?

By week 5, a baby’s heart tube begins to beat spontaneously, though you quite can't hear it yet. If you get a first trimester ultrasound (sometime between weeks 6 and 9 of pregnancy), your doctor or a trained sonographer will get a visual on your baby to check that his heart is beating. The ultrasound will also confirm your estimated due date along with how many babies you're carrying.

What is a Foetus Heartbeat

A foetus heartbeat also known as a fetal heartbeat is the heartbeat of a growing Foetus in the womb and how it responds and adapts to the womb environment.

How To know A Normal Heartbeat

A normal fetal heart is between 120 and 160 beats per minute. (source) This is a lot faster than most parents expect to hear. In fact, it’s almost twice that of an adult heartbeat. But it’s important to note that the heart rate can, and does, change depending on the gestational age of the baby.

When the heart is first beating and still developing, it is normal for the fetal heart rate to start out at a much slower rate, increasing daily, until it starts to stabilize and beat within the expected range around the 12th week of pregnancy.

Once your baby is born, he/she will maintain the 120-160 bpm average range for the first few hours, but after that ,the neonate (first 28 days of life): 100-165 bpm while awake and 90-160 bpm while asleep (source) From 1-2 months: 100-150 bpm while awake and 90-160 bpm while sleeping.

The foetus heartbeat can sometimes become above or below the normal due to some factors caused by the mother (host). An abnormal foetus heartbeat is called fetal arrhythmia.

Fetal arrhythmias are detected in around 2 of pregnancies. You are at risk of having it if you have the following;

• Have autoantibodies to Ro/SSA and La/SSB, which are found in people with certain autoimmune diseases, like lupus or Sjogren’s disease.
• Have phenylketonuria
• Have pre-existing diabetes or gestational diabetes.
• Had a fetal heart block in previous pregnancy.
• If you have taken a teratogenic medications or drugs.
• If you had infections in the first trimester, such as rubella, parvovirus b19, or cytomegalovirus.
• If you had a fetal abnormality detected on an ultrasound.
• If you became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
• If you're pregnant with monochorionic twins (identical twins sharing a placenta).