Product Review of the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener

I bought the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener during my second trimester of pregnancy. This is a device that is supposed to amplify the sounds in your belly so that you can hear the baby’s heartbeat through a set of headphones. We knew it was likely too early in the pregnancy to be able to use it, as even the directions say that the baby’s heartbeat is usually too weak to be heard until the end of the second or the third trimester. However, as I was new to pregnancy and a first-time expecting mama, I was eager to buy a few baby gadgets. Plus, there had been a slight scare in early pregnancy, and I thought that the chance to hear the baby’s heartbeat at home would reassure us that it was healthy. The BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener seemed to be in the baby section of every store, so I figured it would be a “safe bet”.

The first time we took the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener out of the package, we dutifully read the directions as “You must read our instruction manual to enjoy this product!” was written on the monitor itself and the packaging in about five different places. We quickly realized why it advised that you should only use the Prenatal Heart Listener in a quiet room–when the TV was on even quietly, it was all the device would pick up. Even with as quiet an environment as possible, little noises like our cat landing on the floor in the other end of the house would echo in the device strangely. Also, it’s very difficult to hold the thing so still that the tiniest movements in your hand or of the heart monitor touching your belly don’t get picked up as distractingly loud sounds. I have since heard another consumer of the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener comment that you shouldn’t even think about using it in a city, as all you’ll hear is traffic noises.

After working out of these background noises and figuring out how to hold the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener as still as possible, we searched for the baby’s heartbeat by moving it around an inch at a time–just as the directions had instructed. All we could pick up were bowel sounds and digestive noises in my pregnant belly. I was not discouraged, though, as I knew it was still a little early in the pregnancy to be using it. Week after week I would get out the Prenatal Heart Monitor to see if I could hear an actual heartbeat, with no luck. My initial excitement at the idea of being able to hear the heartbeat and feel closer to the baby whenever I wished turned to frustration. I eventually gave up on the thing when I realized that it was stressing me out. Whenever I would use it a couple of times without being able to find a heartbeat, I’d worry about the baby’s health until the next doctor appointment. The last thing I needed during my first pregnancy was more stress and worry.

BebeSounds claims that it may be difficult for overweight pregnant women to pick up their baby’s heartbeat with the Prenatal Heart Listener. I was 5’7″ and 135 pounds before pregnancy, so that couldn’t have been an issue. Their other explanation is that it may not work if the baby is facing the wrong direction. For one thing, I have a difficult time believing that my baby was turned away from the heart monitor 100% of the time. Also, after my experiences with the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener, I began doing a little research and asking for others’ opinions on the device. I wish I had done this before I bought it because about 90% of the people I heard from claimed it was “useless” and “a waste of money.” Granted, the other 10% did seem very pleased, but those aren’t very good odds. Again, I highly doubt that all of those babies were turned away from the Heart Listener all the time.

There is a reason why the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener doesn’t work for the vast majority of people, and I believe that reason is that it’s simply a bad product. The way they market this thing to pregnant couples everywhere as something that will improve bonding with your unborn child, especially for the father who can’t feel the baby move. Instead, it leaves many expecting parents unnecessarily worried about their babies. My advice? If you want to be able hear your unborn baby’s heartbeat during pregnancy, skip the BebeSounds Prenatal Heart Listener because all you’ll hear is your own digestive system. Save that $20 to rent an actual Doppler, which is what doctors use at prenatal appointments.