Attention! The legal situation regarding the use of ultrasound during pregnancy has changed. Doctors and all other persons are forbidden to use ultrasound on unborn children if there is no medical necessity. This makes baby television - as a private, self-paid service - a misdemeanor, as do CTG measurements and fetal monitor applications. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety follows the recommendation of the Radiation Protection Commission (SSK) and places consumer protection above the economic interests of ultrasound users.
The three so-called "basic ultrasound examinations" continue to be offered as part of medical pregnancy monitoring. The parents decide whether they want to have their child examined with ultrasound or not.
You can find out more in this press release.

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Pregnant women, who look around the net attentively, ask themselves whether it can be that ultrasound can be harmful for your child due to proven heat development. Both, heat development and cavitation have been proven.
The expert Prof. Dr. Linderlamp illuminates the spectrum of effects of ultrasound.
Thermal effect of ultrasound
The fact of heat generation led to a press release of the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM) saying it is not allowed to use ultrasound for women who have a fever (see source below).
Cavitation occurs when steam escapes from a liquid-rich cell under the effect of ultrasound and bubbles rise. Cells react differently depending on the fluid content, strength and density of the tissue. The sound wave entering the tissue must be reflected in order to form an image.

The image on the monitor is therefore not a photo but the result of the sound waves reflected by the child.
The early ultrasound before the 20th week is to be evaluated differently than a later ultrasound in an almost full-grown baby. In any case, the highly sensitive and vulnerable germ cells, brain cells, tiny organs and vessels can be affected by the sound waves, especially in the case of so-called fine ultrasound, which lasts 40 - 60 minutes.
Questions from parents remain
What do different statements mean for the pregnant woman and her baby?
We have compiled various statements that remain contradictory. But all this means, experts do not give the all-clear.
Public announcements
The German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM) sees itself challenged to appease the worries of inquiring parents from time to time. This leads to ambiguous information that only leads to the conclusion: no all-clear.
Parents carry responsibility, which unfortunately nobody takes away from them.
dpa Wednesday, August 8, 2012 in Ärzteblatt
Parents should read the press release in the Ärzteblatt to the end.
"Bonn - For unborn children there are no health risks through ultrasound examinations. The German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM) has pointed this out.... There is also no risk that the prenatal ultrasound examination could lead to a dangerous warming of the fetus, unless the pregnant woman has a fever. Only with a longer, over several minutes lasting, pulsed Doppler investigation researchers in the animal experiment would have determined a temperature rise of up to four degrees celsius....
According to Merz, this method is only used in the context of prenatal care if the ultrasound specialist examines the heart and blood vessels of the unborn child. "This examination only takes a few seconds," explained the chief physician. "It is very unlikely that this will lead to a relevant local temperature increase."

Nevertheless: "Caution is the top priority in medicine,'' said Merz. In diagnostics, the principle applies: as much as necessary, as little as possible. Merz: "Ultrasound examinations during pregnancy should only be carried out by doctors with appropriate training and further education and only when they are really necessary.
In another interview:
"Nevertheless, the examinations should be carried out exclusively by specialised doctors and only for medical diagnostics, but not for so-called baby television," according to the specialists' association.