source: total mommy

ULTRASOUND

Most pregnant women in the United States will receive at least one ultrasound during pregnancy. They will probably be very excited about seeing the first images of their unborn child. They will probably even discover the baby's gender so they can have a name and clothes all picked out before the baby's arrival. But are ultrasounds safe? Are ultrasounds even an effective diagnostic tool?

Ultrasound is a form of radiation. Since the human fetus is sensitive to other forms of radiation, it is very possible that it is also sensitive to ultrasound radiation. Many women report their babies squirming or jumping away from the wand during prenatal ultrasounds.

Conventional medicine has a history of routinely using diagnostic radiation procedures during pregnancy only to discover that those procedures were in fact harmful for developing babies. Years ago routine x-rays were used for diagnostic purposes on pregnant women. Years later they discovered that these x-rays were resulting in cancer, deformities, and possibly even sterility. What if in the future we discover that even though ultrasound was considered to be safe, it was actually causing horrible side effects.

Even though doctors and other health care providers claim ultrasound is a safe and effective diagnostic tool, many people believe that it is causing horrible side effects. There is a higher incidence of childhood leukemia in children exposed to ultrasound in the womb. Some other concerns linked to ultrasound radiation are suppression of the immune response, congenital malformations, delayed neurological development, altered emotional and behavioral effects, fetal abnormalities, and blood and vascular changes.

Of another concern is the stress a diagnosis of a fetal abnormality can place on the expectant mother. After a mother has been told her child is at risk of being born with a medical condition or abnormality, she will probably spend the remaining months of her pregnancy worry about her unborn child. The stress she feels effects her baby. These mothers worry over nothing since many babies thought to possess these abnormalities are born healthier than expected. The mother may also be counseled to abort the baby. . In one study comparing patients receiving ultrasound screening to those in a control group who did not, 11 induced abortions were performed because of ultrasound findings and two babies died with major anomalies, compared to no abortions and 10 deaths with anomalies in the control group. No studies have evaluated whether routine screening improves outcomes in newborns with non-lethal anomalies.

Ultrasound isn't just used in sonograms. The Doptones doctors use to listen to the baby's heartbeat uses ultrasound as do both internal and external fetal monitoring. A study of 70,000 pregnancies found no difference in outcome between monitored and unmonitored patients, and other studies have shown that monitoring results in an increase in infant mortality. So at the very best, electronic fetal monitoring has no positive effect on the outcome. My suggestion would be to have your doctor or midwife use an old-fashioned fetoscope or a regular stethoscope to monitor your baby's heartbeat. Unfortunately this takes a lot more time and there are few that are willing to do it. But it is your body and your baby. Your care provider is employed by you, so you have the right to demand he not use ultrasound.

Let me finish by pointing out that neither the WHO or the AMA support routine ultrasounds. No technology can guarantee a perfect outcome. The mother plays the primary role in ensuring the health of her baby. So unless there is a major concern for the health of the baby or matter, this is probably a procedure you should consider skipping.