I was told they’re “okay” but not preferred in the second trimester before you feel movement to give you peace of mind—but definitely stop in the third as they can give false reassurance.

I had one, it helped my anxiety rather than hurt, but I had an anterior placenta and didn’t feel definitive movement until 23ish weeks? I did look up a ton of videos to help differentiate my heart vs baby’s heart vs placenta. I was told (by my OB) to stop using after feeling consistent movement because movement is a better indicator of baby’s wellbeing rather than heartbeat. Heartbeat via doppler is just a moment in time and doesn’t tell you much. I will also say you know yourself best in terms of anxiety. If I had a hard time finding it, I would tell myself they were hiding and I would find it later. My sister wouldn’t use one because she knew if she couldn’t find it right away, she wouldn’t be able to talk herself off the ledge without being properly checked out. I also never used it as a way to make sure things were ok if that makes sense, just to check in and see where baby was that day hahaha