Monitoring fetal movement is important to assess its health and development. Aside from building a bond between mother and baby, this monitoring is useful for detecting if something happens to the fetus.
Generally, baby movements start to move in the first trimester or in 12-13 weeks of age. However, some pregnant women can feel after entering 16-25 weeks of gestational age. This is certainly different for each mother.
Several things that affect are weight of pregnant women and pregnancy history. But in general, pregnant women should have felt the baby’s kick in the second trimester.
What time is fetus most active?
Generally the fetus is more active at night, when the mother is going to rest. But it is not uncommon for pregnant women to feel more frequent baby kicking in the morning.
Besides that, baby kicking very actively after the mother ate. Some foods that can stimulate the movement are sweet and cold foods!
The baby movement’s range from smooth to strong, which can be done starting from punches, kicks to rolling over to change positions.
How to monitoring fetal movement?
The fetus is certainly not active for 24 hours. There are times when the baby in womb is resting. In the second trimester, the fetus will roll over very actively! Once entering the third trimester, the movement is slightly reduced because the space for movement is limited as the baby grows.
Pregnant women need to carefully monitor the movements by counting kicks of the baby as a way to ensure the fetal development. Do these following steps to monitor the fetal movement:
- Take your time to lie down comfortably. Tilt to the left is preferred.
- Put your hands on your stomach to count the baby’s movements.
- Record every time the fetus moves. Within 1-2 hours, the fetus can move at least 10 times.
- Do it every day to monitor the consistency of fetal movement.
Currently pregnant women can also use several applications available to monitor fetal movements. Thus the movement history can be seen graphically from day to day.
All pregnant women need pay attention when feeling reduced fetal movement. If the fetal movement within 1-2 hours does not reach 10 movements and this happens for 2 days in a row, then immediately consult your doctor. This is very important to detect the condition of the baby in womb and immediately be treated if a problem occurs.
Notes from DeveHealth:
Counting the fetal movements are important to monitor the baby development. Take your time to relax and feel the baby’s kicking!
