What to do before your 4D baby bonding scan

Please drink 2 extra glasses of water every day starting the week before your 4D scan this will help to keep you well hydrated. Try not to poke and prod your baby most don’t like it.

If you are coming for a gender scan it is REALLY important that you have a full bladder. This helps to lift baby up out of your pelvis to get the best pictures possible. Without a full bladder, gender confirmation may not be possible.

Try to find half an hour a day to relax gently stroke and massage your bump get dad to join in, pop on some soothing music.

On day of 4D scan have a meal around 2hrs before you arrive with us. 10-20 mins before your 4D scan have something sweet to eat / drink, this will hopefully help to get baby moving.

Please arrive 15 mins early and have a walk around just to try and get baby to wake up. Please bring along your hospital notes. Please note due to new health & safety regs we can only allow upto 5 guests in scan room, not including your children. Any problems please give us a ring 0115 8776945.

Do you help with Gender Reveals?

We can accommodate any gender reveal options, balloons, canons, scratch cards are all available to pre-order or buy on the day. Please let the team know on arrival and in the scan room.

Can my baby be hurt in any way?

No. Despite extensive studies over the last 30 years ultrasound has not been shown to cause any harm to mother or baby.

More details here at BMUS.

How long will my appointment last?

Our appointments are scheduled for 45 minutes, but if baby is not co-operating it could take longer. Our aim is to get the best possible views of your baby.

What if you find a problem?

All our clients must have had a diagnostic hospital scan as this substantially reduces the risk of our finding problems. We do not look for defects but there is a very small possibility that we may find something. When this situations arises we handle it with the same professional restraint typically see in all diagnostic settings.

What if you can’t get a scan of my baby or it’s not very good?

Many things are important in getting good clear images of your baby. We use a state-of-the-art Voluson ultrasound scanner that is used in most bonding studios.

Fetal position plays a large part and we do all we can to encourage baby to turn our way for the best pictures. To encourage babies activities we suggest a little fresh orange juice or lemonade just before your appointment, but no caffeine or a heavy meal.

If for any reason we are unable to do your scan at your appointment time we encourage you to take a stroll around before trying again, if that doesn’t work we will rearrange your appointment and try again.

Can I have a scan before 16 weeks?

Yes! 🙂 – we can scan from 15 weeks and 3 days!

Technology and Safety

Ultrasound is very high frequency sound waves, well above the perception of the human ear. 3D and 4D ultrasound uses the same technology as 2D ultrasound.

2D ultrasound gives imaging in 2 dimensions and is used in diagnostic examinations.
3D ultrasound gives images in 3-dimensions, still pictures.
4D ultrasound gives imaging in the fourth dimension, giving us real-time movement of your baby in the womb.

We take safety very seriously and have adopted the A.L.A.R.A protocol when scanning: As Low As Reasonably Achievable. We also follow BMUS new guidelines for non-diagnostic bonding scans, which means we have lowered the output levels on our Voluson and do not scan before 16 weeks, or repeat measurements/screening done on your hospital scan.

At all times we endeavour to say abreast of all safety studies and reports reviewed by the “British Medical Ultrasound Society”.

We strongly advise that you have attended your hospital anomaly scan before your visit to us.

Please feel free to ask advise from your own Dr or Midwife about visiting us.

Duty of care

We are a 4D Ultrasound baby Bonding Studio and as such do not carry out any diagnostic or clinical scanning. Our staff are trained in all aspects of foetal ultrasound and in the very unlikely event of finding a problem we will explain as fully as we are able and will speak to your midwife or Dr on your behalf.

When is the best time for my scan?

Gender Scans

The earliest you can have a gender scan is 15 weeks and 3 days. Before this time sexing baby is unreliable and we always aim to provide you the right answer! Why does 24 hours make such a difference? Good question. Baby actually grows the fastest between weeks 15-16 so every day makes a huge difference. Just think, at this stage we are looking for girl/boy bits that are smaller than your little finger nail!

4D Scans
We recommend between 28 and 32 weeks!

Your baby now has beautiful chubby cheeks and is using all sorts of facial expressions! It also gives us plenty of time to bing you back we cannot get the desired images 1st time round!

Can I bring my guide dog with me?

Assistance Dogs are very welcome. Please give us a ring to arrange the best time to welcome your family to our studio. 01158776945.

I don’t want to know my baby’s sex, can I still have a scan?

Yes, of course!

You do not have to find the gender on any of our scans including our sneak peek gender scan.

Please make our staff aware when you arrive and we will arrange it for you!

Will I need to drink a lot of water?

You can eat and drink as usual. We recommend to hydrate your body, drink 2 extra glasses of water a day for 6/7 days, this will help us get better results. It is really important to have a full bladder for gender scans. This is important to push baby up out of your pelvis’s. We also scan through the bladder which helps give the clarity and quality of the pictures you receive.

Can I bring family and friends?

At our Nottingham studio you may bring up to 6 guests plus mum.

At our Sheffield studio you may bring up to 8 guests plus mum.

Is there any parking available?

There is plenty of free parking available at both our Nottingham and Sheffield studios.

What happens in a 4D scan?

We start off in 2D mode similar to your hospital scan and the Doctor or Sonographer will check that all is well with baby – please note we do not look for abnormalities but if we see something that we feel could be a problem we will explain fully and even speak to your Doctor or midwife on your behalf.

You will show you your baby’s heart beating and at this point we can look for babys sex. This is done from 3 angles and we will explain fully why we think it’s a boy or girl. If you do not want to discover the sex of your baby we simply won’t look.

Next we will position the baby ready for 4D. 4D is dependent on the position your baby is in, either profile or full face, and the amount of fluid in front of the face – the more fluid the better the scan images are.

You will see baby’s movements and facial expressions. It is difficult to say whether baby is awake or sleeping as they move all the time and its rare to see their eyes open, occasionally we may see them blink.If baby is laying face down or is tucked behind your placenta it will be hard to get good images and if this is the case we will ask you to change position or even take a walk, eat more chocolate and have a drink to hopefully encourage babies movement.

If your baby’s position is good, a box will appear around your baby’s face, lay back and relax for the most breath taking and precious time as we… celebrate your miracle of life.

Rescan information

We offer one free rescan on all our 4D baby scan packages.

4D ultrasound depends on the position of baby and the amount of fluid around babies face.

Sometimes baby is lying in such a position that it is impossible to obtain any imaging, if this is the case we will automatically rebook you for a rescan.

We try really hard to obtain the best possible imaging but if your baby is snuggled in and wont move we will not be able to get you any pictures.

Our FREE RESCAN is offered on the understanding that you acknowledge that we are unable to guarantee babies position will be good for 4D.

Free rescans do not have any monitory value and cannot be passed on or sold to a 3rd party.

Voluson 4D scanner

Our ultrasound scanner is basically a very powerful computer, its processor interprets the reflected high frequency sound waves into 3D pictures and adds the fourth-dimension to give us real time imaging.

Is there a limit to those visiting (Covid-19 related)

Yes: alas because of Covid-19, guests will be limited to Mum plus one, Sadly no children are able to attend.
This will of course change, Depending on the goverment announcements and tiers.

We are quite strict on how many people we have in our studio at one time! !So please do be prepared to wait outside before and after your scan. What ever the weather!

FAQs