Counting fetal kicks

310mbr · August 2015

I'm 29 weeks and just started counting fetal kicks. After a day of freaking out cause I felt like my baby wasn't kicking enough. So I've read count at the baby's most active time of the day. 6 kicks in at least 2 hours. Well my baby kicked 20 times in 15 mins. Just wondering if any of you moms are doing this or perhaps doing it another way. Thanks!

tate62610 · August 2015

Yes. My OB said to count when baby is most active and see how long it takes to get 10 kicks over the course of an hour. He says do it once a day every day or you'll freak yourself out. The time it takes to get to 10 kicks will start to increase as baby grows so if you have 10 kicks in 1:30 and wait 2 or 3 weeks to count again and it's suddenly taking 15 minutes, you're gonna freak haha. I use an app on my phone and it keeps a log for me

MandahGirly · August 2015

I don't do kick counts and my OB is ok with that. She just said to pay attention and if you notice less movement then do a kick count. I pretty much know LOs active times of day and if she hasn't moved in a while I poke her a few times and that works.

kindlycrystal · August 2015

My OB isn't worried about doing daily kick counts, said that it just stresses moms out (her words). As long as there is movement, she told me not to worry, but if he hasn't moved in a while to lay on my left side and I should count at least 10 kicks in 2 hours. DS usually reaches that in about 20 minutes (or less!), so I'm not too worried about it. I only do them if he deviates from his normal movement routine.

Sballerina · August 2015

I don't want to do kick counts either. I don't think I've noticed super reliable times of day where baby is more active. I feel like every couple hours he moves, and a few times a day he throws a dance party in there! So rather than arbitrarily decide to sit down for an hour and count, I'd rather just make sure I feel t least one active time a day (often 10 movements within less than 15 minutes!). I don't necessarily have time to sit down and do nothing and pay attention to kicks, so I'd rather count when kicks actually happen.

BTDT moms: Does your OB office tell you to start taking them? My last appointment was at 27 weeks 6 days. They didn't tell me to start keeping counts. So they apparently thought it was ok to let me go two weeks without counting. Is that odd?

Lbloom · August 2015

Yes, I track fetal movement. I wish more doctors would ask their patients to because it really can save a life. I guess I'm just jaded because I have lost a baby (I'd say that was a bit of a stressor) and in my appointments leading up to that birth my doctor would just casually ask if I was feeling lots of movement. Yeah, life gets busy and sometimes casually taking notice is not enough. Luckily I am in the minority, bitter rant over.

plumpous · August 2015

I don't count because she is so active it's way more than 10 in two hours.

TheSouffleGirl · August 2015

I'm supposed to do 10 in one hour, once a day. However, my OB said not to stress, and that his "real" instructions were to make sure I am feeling good movement every 3-6 hours at least. (I have an anterior placenta, so maybe that seems like not much movement/a long time to everyone else?). He said if I couldn't get anything after about 6 hours, I could call him or just hop down to a doctor and get a heartbeat check. So far, I haven't had a problem getting the 10 kicks in some hour, because she does seem to have habits. If she wasn't active at the normal times, I might rely more on the chart for comfort.

wildbutterfli2001 · August 2015

No kick counts here. Baby is pretty active and especially at night. The have been a couple times that I got nervous and I would just poke at him enough and he'd kick back or move or something. It was the same with my first. It's like there is an alien about to bust out at any given time.

FrozenMommy · August 2015

I swear there was another post about this, but I do sort of the opposite. If I don't feel movement every 4 hours, I go poke at him and get a kick in return. I don't really count how many times he kicks me when he does, just make sure I wake him when he doesn't.

mommytobe1913 · August 2015

This would absolutely drive me insane!!!

leah665 · August 2015

I don't count kicks, but I am being conscious of movement.

h3speris · August 2015

I was never told to do kick counts but I did notice less movement all day yesterday and this morning. Midwife sent me to do an ultrasound just in case and I ended up in the hospital all day today cause they found out I was having preterm contractions. Being monitored now. I say just be aware of relative movement. Everyone's normal is different and if baby is moving less than his/her normal, then let your doc know!

beanie1977 · August 2015

I was just told to take a quiet half hour in bed in the morning and after dinner.

It's been fine so far since those are times I usually am low key anyway.

My doctor said the activity of the day lulls the baby so he may not be as active and if I'm busy I may not notice.

I'm supposed to feel about 5 kicks in 30 minutes. I usually have felt more.

kpgoncalves · August 2015

My OB told me yesterday to start counting kicks at 33 weeks; after breakfast and dinner for one hour. He explained that starting at 33 weeks the placenta might not keep growing as it should to support the baby and the lack of kicking might alert that is happening. I'm supposed to feel 7 or more in an hour, 6 or less I have to go to the hospital for testing.

AshleyEH1 · August 2015

Kick counting is stressful. My midwife had me start at 29 weeks - I'm supposed to have 10 kicks in an hour. It usually takes my guy 15-20 minutes to get the 10 movements. I just get really up in my head about it when I'm so focused on how much he's moving and it honestly seems like such an arbitrary test.

Ceridwen77 · August 2015

AshleyEH1 said:
Kick counting is stressful. My midwife had me start at 29 weeks - I'm supposed to have 10 kicks in an hour. It usually takes my guy 15-20 minutes to get the 10 movements. I just get really up in my head about it when I'm so focused on how much he's moving and it honestly seems like such an arbitrary test.

Lurking from N15.

This is what my OB recommends. The nurse said that as time goes on you'll be less likely to feel movement (due to lack of space) so that's why they want me to do the kick counts. Can any STMs confirm this? I thought kicks would get more prominent as baby gets bigger.

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