hello, Using a hand-held Doppler at home to locate your baby's heartbeat isn't recommended s for these reasons: If you can't find your baby's heartbeat, you may become unnecessarily stressed and anxious. Pressing on your stomach as you try to find the heartbeat may be uncomfortable for you. Even if you think you've found your baby's heartbeat, it could just be the sound of blood flowing through the placenta or your own vessels. It takes nurses a lot of training to be able to find a baby's heartbeat. They don't try to listen to the heartbeat until well into the second trimester, as your uterus (womb) is too low in your pelvis before then. And even in their expert hands, trying to hear it before about 18 weeks may just cause anxiety. At 17 weeks your baby's heartbeat would be low down between your pubic bone, at the front of your pelvis. It would sound like a fast drumming that's about twice as fast as your own heartbeat. It may be harder to pick up the heartbeat if you have a lot of tummy fat, or if your baby is very active and keeps moving out of the way. The Doppler needs to be placed just over your baby’s chest to hear the heart, and it’s difficult to know the right place to listen in.

Yes. If you are trained to detect it. You can. In many of my thin patients i can find Fetal heart rate from 10 weeks onwards.... But at 17 weeks its more easy......but if you are going to do this at home.....be aware that sometimes it may not be heard and in such instances you may have to visit a gynec for detecting it.......but this 'not finding' may add stress till it is detected..... Why not leave the fhs finding to the gynecs....when u visit them, rather than buying a doppler and doing ' monitoring' yourself..? Most women almost 99.99% dont do it by themselves !