6 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early to have one?

At 6 weeks, you’re right at the start of your pregnancy journey and might be feeling excited, happy, and anxious all at once. A 6 weeks pregnant ultrasound might be a tempting option. It’s totally normal to feel curious about your developing baby or to need some reassurance that everything is OK inside your pregnant belly. But how much can a scan at 6 weeks actually tell you? We spoke to Dr. Jennifer Boyle, obstetrician and gynecologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts, US, to find out. 

Key takeaways: 6 weeks pregnant ultrasound

• At 6 weeks pregnant, you might be able to see the white spec of an embryo and the flicker of your baby’s cardiac activity (a heartbeat). But depending on the person, it may be too early for a scan to pick up these tiny details. 
• Your doctor would only suggest a 6 weeks pregnant ultrasound if there were a medical issue, like bleeding or abdominal pain. However, some people may have a private scan this week for reassurance.
• Your doctor will likely schedule your 1st-trimester ultrasound for around 12 weeks pregnant, but it depends on your doctor and where you live.  
• You can use a pregnancy tracking app like Flo to follow your progress throughout the weeks and to learn what’s coming.

Is 6 weeks too early for an ultrasound? 

Six weeks is still pretty early when it comes to pregnancy ultrasounds, meaning it may be too soon to find out key information about your baby. “At 6 weeks, it is often still too early to be able to confirm pregnancy dating [which predicts your due date] or check the viability of a pregnancy,” says Dr. Boyle. 

For more context, the viability of your pregnancy in the 1st trimester means whether or not it’s expected to develop normally. There are several possible ways to check if a pregnancy is viable or not. Your doctor will make a call based on certain factors, such as your hormone levels and whether an ultrasound shows that your baby is developing in the right place and has cardiac activity. 

At 6 weeks pregnant, a scan will be able to show whether or not your baby is developing in your uterus, where it needs to be. However, it may still be too early to detect other important milestones. “Cardiac activity can be seen at 6 weeks, but not always,” says Dr. Boyle. Not having a cardiac activity at 6 weeks doesn’t mean your baby won’t have it at all; it just means you will need to wait longer to find out whether it develops.

Then, to calculate your due date, a doctor needs to measure the size of your baby. At this point in your pregnancy, this means looking for the embryo, which is the group of cells that form after you conceive. Again, at 6 weeks pregnant, it’s possible that an ultrasound could detect the first signs of an embryo, but there’s also a chance it may not show up on a scan this early. 

It goes without saying that it may be worrying and upsetting to go for a scan and not see a heartbeat or embryo — even if, at 6 weeks, it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is wrong. All this is why doctors tend to schedule ultrasounds slightly later, between 7 and 8 weeks pregnant at the earliest (and often a little later). 

Despite this, some people choose to pay for a scan privately at 6 weeks pregnant for reassurance. And fair enough — pregnancy is such an uncertain time. It’s totally understandable if you’re feeling on edge and want to get a closer look at how things are going. 

However, given that your doctor may not be able to see any cardiac activity or an embryo yet, it’s important to consider whether the experience will help or if it could make you more anxious. Take this Flo member, for example, who shares her feelings in the app’s Secret Chats space. “I’m so worried,” she says, a few days before her scan at 6 weeks and 2 days pregnant. “I have been wondering if I should wait a couple more weeks, but the suspense is killing me already. I just hope I’m [far] along enough to hear a heartbeat.” 

Meanwhile, another person explains that their scan at 6 weeks was a positive experience. “I’m 6 weeks and had my ultrasound yesterday,” they posted on Secret Chats. “Baby was looking good (even though there wasn’t much to see). We saw the heartbeat as well.”

Ultimately, whether or not to have a 6 weeks pregnant ultrasound for reassurance is a personal choice. The best thing you can do is arm yourself with the facts and manage your expectations about what it may or may not be able to tell you.

“The ultrasound will hopefully let you see a tiny white speck with a moving flicker, and you will know that, right now, everything is developing normally,” says Dr. Boyle. “But it might also turn out to be too early, or the results might be uncertain. And you will be strong enough to deal with it if that is the case.”

Whether you decide on an early ultrasound or not, it can be useful to use a pregnancy tracking app like Flo to follow the progress of your pregnancy. You can keep up to date with all your baby’s milestones, as well as see how your body will change in the coming weeks and months. Plus, if you have a partner, you can share it all with them using Flo for Partners.

Why get an ultrasound at 6 weeks?

So, a 6 weeks pregnant scan may not reveal a huge amount about your baby. But there are some instances when a scan at this point would be necessary for medical reasons. “Medical problems, such as bleeding or pain, are the main reasons for doing an ultrasound at 6 weeks,” says Dr. Boyle. 

Bleeding at this point in your pregnancy, with or without cramping, could be a sign of miscarriage. If this is happening, the bleeding usually starts light and gets heavier, and your doctor will likely want to check things out via an ultrasound. But bleeding doesn’t always mean miscarriage. It could happen for a number of reasons, so try not to panic, but you should always see a doctor if it happens to you. And be kind to yourself; it can be a stressful experience, whatever the cause.

“Bleeding and/or pain in early pregnancy can also be signs of ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy,” says Dr. Boyle. “This is when a pregnancy is growing in the fallopian tube or anywhere other than the uterus. This is not a viable pregnancy, meaning it can never result in the birth of a child.” 

As difficult as this news can be to receive, it’s really important that ectopic pregnancies are diagnosed as early as possible. Dr. Boyle continues: “Ectopic pregnancy can cause [complications]. Early ultrasound can identify ectopic pregnancy and literally save a woman’s life.”

This may be very worrying to think about when you’re pregnant, and you may feel that a 6-week ultrasound would be worth it just to rule out the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy. But please know that they are rare, accounting for less than 1% to 2% of pregnancies in the United States. 

And remember, while it’s important to get any bleeding or pain looked at as soon as possible, these 1st-trimester symptoms are actually common in early pregnancy and don’t always mean there’s a problem.

If you’ve found any of this triggering to read or are really struggling with anxiety about your pregnancy, please take a look at our crisis support page where you can find support, services, and helplines in your area. 

 What happens in an ultrasound at 6 weeks? 

There are two main types of pregnancy ultrasound: an abdominal ultrasound, where the sonographer will move a device around your belly, and a transvaginal ultrasound, where they’ll insert a device inside your vagina. “Six-week [scans] will include a transvaginal ultrasound,” says Dr. Boyle. “Things are still too small to be able to be seen just abdominally.”

If you’re wondering what a transvaginal ultrasound will feel like, it’s a bit like a wand that’s inserted into your vagina. It shouldn’t cause you any pain and may feel similar to a Pap smear but a little more comfortable.

Dr. Boyle continues: “An ultrasound at 6 weeks looks at the ovaries, the uterus, and the pelvis. Inside the uterus, at 6 weeks, it may be possible to see the embryo and measure its size, which is called crown-to-rump length.” 

Your doctor will also look for a heartbeat in your baby, which, as we now know, may or may not be picked up at this stage. “If we can see an embryo that measures 6 weeks in size but no cardiac activity, then we usually recommend returning in another week or two to check again,” says Dr. Boyle. 

When to expect your first ultrasound

Unless there are any medical issues, your doctor will likely schedule your first ultrasound appointment (also called your 1st-trimester ultrasound or dating scan because it’s when you’ll have your due date confirmed) when you’re around 12 weeks pregnant. However, the timing of this scan will depend on your doctor and where you live in the world. 

For example, in the United States, around 12 weeks is common, but some health care professionals will book it for seven to eight weeks. In Australia, it’s common for women to find out their due date by ultrasound at 8 to 9 weeks pregnant. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, your doctor will schedule your dating scan for between 10 to 14 weeks. In France, the first scan also happens around 12 weeks, whereas, in Germany, it can be between weeks 9 and 12. 

For some people, it can be hard to manage nerves when there are weeks to wait before the first scan. If that sounds like you, Dr. Boyle suggests: “Try to focus on the fact that this, like many other things about the pregnancy journey, is something that is beyond your control, and it will be what it will be.”

If you have any specific worries about your pregnancy or are unsure about the best time to get your first scan, make sure you chat with a health care professional. Tracking your baby’s development week by week with a pregnancy tracking app like Flo can also help you pass the time. With Flo, you’ll also get information on how to prepare for your appointments, and you can speak to others who are going through the same things on Secret Chats.