Kick Counts During Pregnancy

Waiting For Baby: Did You Do Routine Kick Counts?

August 1, 2010

My babies were born big and it seemed like they never stopped kicking (while in utero) so I didn't do specific kick counts. When I noticed a decline in movement with my little guy once he was eight days overdue, I headed for the hospital. He was born the next morning. My expectant sister's doctor has her patients chart their baby's movements starting at the 28th week of pregnancy. The mom-to-be monitors 10 kicks or jabs in a two-hour interval. Did you keep track of your child's kicks?

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11 Comments

MissSushi 2 years 41 weeks

lol.... this was small town oklahoma, it was hardly the most ridiculous thing I ran into.

2 years 41 weeks

Asking even a high risk pregnancy to do it for an hour every other hour is absolutely ridiculous. There's a doctor I'd be leaving in a hurry.

MissSushi 2 years 42 weeks

the ob's in my office, (5 of them on a rotation) all advised their patients to count kicks for an hour every other hour. I thought it was ridiculous and didn't do it. So, yes, in my case it would have been counting constantly because my kids were extremely active.

2 years 42 weeks

No. In fact, the drs I work with don't recommend it unless it's a high risk pregnancy, because it greatly increases the after hours phone calls and L&D visits where women are insisting something's wrong because they only felt 7 kicks instead of 8. And in the case of high risk, it's not a constant thing, there's just a time set aside each day, usually the evening, where you stop and count. It's not "spending the majority of your time counting." They get really annoyed when non high risk patients decide to get their own monitors too. It happens very rarely, but those patients are inevitably the ones who end up in the office constantly with questions and concerns that have no basis, because they're the ones who obsess about every tiny detail.

2 years 42 weeks

I didnt keep a kick count with any of my 3 children. I did, however, have a medical grade fetal doppler so I could check things out if I had any concerns.

MonkiChriz 2 years 42 weeks

I was so by-the-book. I made sure to do it at the same time every night. =) It was fun to do it -- I so, so, so enjoyed my pregnancy. (Helps when I skipped all the symptoms!)

Girl Jen 2 years 42 weeks

I tried to do kick counts. I really wanted to. I would remember once every few days, and then break down crying because I had forgotten to do them the last few days!

runningesq 2 years 42 weeks

Nope, my doctor hasn't asked me to do this.

MissSushi 2 years 42 weeks

Id have spent the majority of my time counting if I had done this. Neither kiddo spent very much downtime.

Niami 2 years 42 weeks

My pregnancy was high risk and there was a chance of losing my son. So, yes I did them several times a day.

mstrauss 2 years 42 weeks

Oh man, I would hate to count kicks! Just one more thing to think about during the day...my baby is kicking as I write this comment :) I guess if my baby weren't kicking so much, I can understand wanting to make sure your baby is kicking so you know he/she is healthy.

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