Are Pregnancy Trackers Safe? Everything You Need to Know

Posted August 27, 2019 by in Lifestyle
pregnancy trackers

Technology has made so many things possible these days and a great example of this would be pregnancy trackers, which gives pregnant women the opportunity to monitor all sorts of aspects of their pregnancy.

It is already the case that a pregnancy tracker is a clinically-validated device and there is a lot to be said for that extra peace of mind you can potentially obtain from monitoring yours and your baby’s health at such a critical time. 

But are they safe and reliable? Below we discuss their safety and reliability as well as what pregnancy trackers do in general:

Listen to their heartbeat

There is little doubt that the first time you hear your baby’s heartbeat and get that all-important confirmation that everything seems to be going ok, it is a life-changing moment and a key stage in your pregnancy journey.

Once you got pregnant, your health is doubly important as you have to take care of two now. You ought to find ways to de-stress, consume a healthy diet, keep safety rules straight, stick to safe workouts routine, and even use your favorite pregnancy tracker for a healthy pregnancy. Also, you can try this best pregnancy calculator to know the key milestones of your pregnancy process, pregnancy week by week along with trimester chart, and this efficient tool also estimates your pregnancy due date!

There is no way that a device attached to your smartphone should be considered as a viable alternative to having the heartbeat checked by a medical professional during your visit to a doctor or the hospital, but if want the comfort of being able to view a fetal heart rate monitor, there are apps for your smartphone that will allow you to do that.

However, you should also be mindful that not being able to hear the heartbeat for whatever reason could be stressful, and that is why it is a good idea to decide if this sort of app is suitable for you. If you suffer from anxiety, you may want to reconsider.

Fetal development

 If a heartbeat monitor is not what you are looking for, a week-by-week pregnancy tracker may be better for you. There are quite a few of these apps available at the moment, all a tad different, so you need to know whats important to you. You may want to track the progress of your pregnancy with a fetal development chart, or you may want an app that can help you choose the best foods to eat during your pregnancy. 

You should be able to customize the apps once you have entered your due date and even the gender, once you know that information. These types of apps can be very helpful!

Again, it should be stressed that these tracking devices are designed to complement your visits to the doctor and hospital, not replace them.

Counting down with kicks

Once you get into the latter stages of your pregnancy and move beyond at least week 16, it might be useful to use an app that allows you to monitor the number of kicks your baby is doing.

It is unlikely that you will feel the baby kicking until at last week 16, and sometimes it can be anything up to 25 weeks before this happens, but once you clearly notice this activity, it might be a useful backup to have an app that helps you track your baby’s progress in terms of kicking activity.

Pregnancy trackers should be safe to use if you intend to use them as an additional source of data and monitoring for reassurance and as long as you remember to always take the guidance of medical professionals as the primary source of data concerning your baby’s progress. 

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