Is it normal for baby movements to slow down

You need to become aware of what is normal for your baby. Your baby will have their own pattern of movements that you will get to know. From 16 to 24 weeks on, you should feel your baby move more and more up until 32 weeks. From 32 onwards the movements stay roughly the same until you give birth.

Your baby's movements are important, because feeling your baby move is a sign they are well. If movements reduce or stop, it can sometimes be the first sign that your baby is unwell. If you do not feel your baby moving, talk to your GP or midwife. Even if this happens many times, get checked each time. Using a home doppler heartbeat monitor or an app is not recommended and should never replace getting checked by your doctor or midwife.

Clin Perinatol. Low maternal awareness of fetal movement is associated with small for gestational age infants. J Midwifery Womens Health. Malterud K. Shared understanding of the qualitative research process. Guidelines for the medical researcher. Fam Pract. Kvalitativa metoder i medicinsk forskning. Lund: Studentlitteratur; Google Scholar. Maternal perception of decreased fetal movements from maternal and fetal perspectives, a cohort study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth.

Number of episodes of reduced fetal movement at term: association with adverse perinatal outcome. Dynamics of fetal circulatory responses to hypoxia and asphyxia.

How pregnant women learn about foetal movements: sources and preferences for information. Women Birth. Risk factors for sudden intrauterine unexplained death: epidemiologic characteristics of singleton cases in Oslo, Norway, — Routine formal fetal movement counting and risk of antepartum late death in normally formed singletons. Major risk factors for stillbirth in high-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Download references. SH and EN carried out the first and main part of the analysis. KP contributed to the discussion of the analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The women gave consent to participate and permission to access supporting data when receiving information about the study. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Anders Linde.

Reprints and Permissions. Linde, A. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 16, Download citation. Received : 04 February Accepted : 25 May Published : 01 June Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Conclusion Women reported changes in fetal movement concerning frequency, intensity, character and duration.

Trial registration Not applicable. Background It is widely acknowledged that a pattern of regular movements is associated with fetal wellbeing [ 1 ]. Methods Settings and participants Women were recruited from all seven delivery wards in Stockholm, Sweden from 1st January to 31st December , and were asked to complete a questionnaire. Flow chart. Full size image.

Table 1 Age, level of education and country of birth among the women in the study Full size table. Table 2 Results Full size table. Discussion We are not aware of any studies that have categorized how women describe the changes they have perceived concerning fetal movements when they seek health care due to worry about their unborn baby. Strengths and limitations Women in this study had a normal CTG before they completed the questionnaire.

Clinical implications Increased knowledge about the normal changes in the fetal movement patterns in late pregnancy can be one way to lessen the number of visits to obstetric clinics from women over concerns that turn out to be unnecessary from a medical perspective. Conclusions Women reported changes in fetal movement concerning frequency, intensity, character and duration; they described decreased, absence, weaker, slower and changed pattern of the movements.

References 1. Your healthcare provider might even be able to put a hand on your belly and feel your baby moving underneath. Your partner may be able to see your baby moving under your skin is that a foot?

However, this is also the time in your pregnancy when your baby starts to run out of room to wiggle around in your uterus.

This is when your doctor might suggest doing a kick count. A kick count is exactly what it sounds like. You pick a time of day and you count the number of times your baby kicks or move during that time frame.

You can even use an app to help you keep track. If you reach 10 before the second hour is up, you and baby are good to stop the count. But if you consistently monitor a kick count on a daily basis and then notice a day when the movements drop off, call your doctor immediately. There can be benign harmless causes of decreased movement. For example, you might have unknowingly chosen to do a kick count while your baby was napping.

You might just try another time to launch a kick count when your baby seems to be more active. But there are other more potentially serious reasons that your baby might not be moving around as much. Your doctor may want to do some further evaluation if your kick counts are showing decreased movements.

If you're pregnant, hospitals and clinics are making sure it's safe for you to go to appointments. They will advise you what to do. Page last reviewed: 12 October Next review due: 12 October Home Pregnancy Keeping well in pregnancy Back to Keeping well in pregnancy. Your baby's movements. When you'll feel your baby move You should start to feel your baby move between around 16 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. You should feel your baby move right up to and during labour.

What your baby's movements feel like The movements can feel like a gentle swirling or fluttering.