My sister lives in Canada and is pregnant, and we were discussing the number of ultrasounds. Here in India, it's usually 3-4, but I was wondering how many ultrasounds are typically recommended or done during a normal pregnancy in Canada?
I totally panicked when my midwife said no more scans after the 20th week! I kept thinking how will they know if the baby is okay, but they check the heartbeat at every appointment, which is completely sufficient and normal.
I can only share my own journey, but during my pregnancy in Vancouver, I only had two ultrasounds. It felt like too little compared to what my friends back home had, but both scans were very detailed and my baby was born perfectly healthy.
If you have a normal pregnancy, they only do 2 or maybe 3 scans, unlike in India where we get scanned almost every month! But for my twin pregnancy, I felt like I lived at the ultrasound clinic, they scanned me every two weeks to keep an eye on both my gold-medalists!
Based on standard Canadian health guidelines, a low-risk pregnancy typically has 2 ultrasounds—a dating scan around 8-12 weeks and an anatomy scan around 18-22 weeks. My doctor in Toronto explained that extra scans are only ordered if there are specific concerns like gestational diabetes or growth tracking.
My mother-in-law was so shocked when I told her they only do 2 scans here in Canada! She kept saying 'India mein toh har month check karte hain', but honestly, the system here is very systematic and they only do more if there is a real need.
I just delivered my baby in Ontario three months ago. I had my first dating scan at 9 weeks, then the big 20-week anatomy scan, and that was it! They didn't do any more scans after that because my checkups were all normal.
