FAQ: Kick Counters

[paintdadanta]

Tried to post earlier but guess it never went through from my mobile so better late than never. 

This week's FAQ is kick counters. What are they, how and why are they done, when should you start, etc. Feel free to expand outside of these question and address anything kick counter related. Ready, set, go . . .

[Deleted]

I didn't count baby kicks with my first and won't this time either. My doctor never emphasized it as important. He does say I should just make sure there is movement every day but not to actually count movement or record it etc.

[trixi282]

Similar to poppy, I didn't really "count" as much as just track that there was movement of some sort daily. My doc the 1st time wanted to just know that I noticed movement and asked if I noticed patterns or not. But just overall wanted me to be aware of the movement or lack of.

This time docs haven't been all that vocal about it, but I'm also getting an U/S at least weekly at this point because of other stuff, but they do ask some about when I last felt baby move, or where I last felt movement/kicks.

ETA: I do think about it on a regular basis, but now that I'm feeling baby more, I still don't count, I just keep track and take a look at the clock when I feel baby move so I know around the time of day to have an idea of patterns again.

[billyhorrible]

I'm not going to stress people out about the stories of people who had issues based on lack of movement, of all the studies that show the correlation between tracking movement and fetal demise, but suffice to say, I count kicks.

I think we're all feeling movement around now, so this is probably a good time to start paying attention to when you usually feel movement - after lunch? Late at night? Babies start developing routines/patterns around 24/25 weeks. Kick counting starts 3rd trimester, and there are a ton of apps to download to help you keep track.

*You'll track kicks over a 2 hour period and you want 10 "kicks" (rolls or movement counts)
*If you don't have 10 kicks in that time period, you should do something to get the baby moving - cold water, exercise, what works for you (Fun fact: There are numerous studies that show sugar has absolutely no effect on a baby's movement) and try again.
*If you're still not getting movement during a time period when you usually feel movement, call your provider.

[Widget123]

billyhorrible provided some good information.

I didn't count kicks at all with DD. As long as I felt movement with her during the usual times of day I wasn't too concerned. I also had an anterior placenta and was used to feeling limited / muffled movement most of the time. This was a blessing and a curse towards the end of my pregnancy.

My SIL was obsessed with counting kicks during her pregnancies and it led to a lot of paranoia on her part. I think I am going to try to pay attention a little bit more this time, but I'm not going to drive myself crazy over it.

[Deleted]

I haven't started counting kicks yet, but I have been very aware of the baby's movements and when/how often they happen.

My OB told me that as my pregnancy progresses we would discuss counting kicks and what is considered "normal". Most of the pregnancy apps that I have seem to have a feature for this.

I'm also a little confused as to what would be considered a kick that should be counted. Sometimes I feel the baby rolling around (like in the morning or after a meal) and sometimes I feel straight up kicks (at night when I'm watching TV). So I guess those are things I'm going to bring up to the doctor when we discuss this in more detail.