Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

Background: A change in the pattern of movement of her unborn baby could be indicative that the baby might die.

Aim: To study mothers' experiences during the time prior to receiving news that their baby has died.

Method: Interviews with 26 mothers.

Results: Premonition that something had happened to their baby, a sense based on a lack of movements were experienced. Six categories describe the mother's insight that the baby's life was threatened: not feeling in touch with their baby; worry' feeling something is wrong; not understanding the unbelievable; wanting information; and being certain that their baby had died. The overarching theme "There is something wrong" was formulated.

Conclusion: The mother could not understand the unbelievable: that the baby had died in utero. Implications: Mother's should be cautioned to trust their insights and seek medical advice if they are concerned over the lack of movement from the unborn baby.

Objective: To study women’s description of fetal movements in full-term pregnancy. Further to investigate if their descriptions could be sorted with regard to intensity and type of movements, using a matrix under development to be a tool for evaluating fetal movements in clinical praxis.

Methods: Data were collected by distributing questionnaires including an open question: “Please describe your perception of the baby’s movements during this gestational week.” A matrix listed seven categories of movements divided into powerful and non-powerful movements, was used for the content analysis.

Results: 393 (78%) women responded to the open question. The movements were split into two domains: Powerful movements and Non-powerful movements. Altogether, 383 (96%) women perceived fetal movements that were sorted as powerful movement: firm, slow stretching, large and side to side. Ten (4%) women described movements exclusively, i.e. movements that did not include any of the movements in the powerful domain. Most women perceived movements that corresponded to more than one type of category, and all movements described by the women could be referred to at least one of the categories in the matrix.

Conclusion: The matrix was useful for identification of the women’s perceptions of fetal movements in full-term pregnancy. Further studies are needed in order to develop the tool and its potential to evaluate the well-being of the fetus before it is to be used in clinical praxis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the magnitude of foetal movements and level of prenatal attachment within a 24h period among women in the third trimester of pregnancy.

DESIGN: a prospective population-based survey.

SETTING: A county in central Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS: Low risk pregnant women from 34 to 42 weeks gestation, N=456, 299 multiparous and 157 primiparous women.

MEASUREMENTS: The revised version of the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI-R) and assessment of the perception of foetal movements per 24h in the current gestational week.

FINDINGS: A total of 81 per cent of the eligible women completed the questionnaire. The overall sample of women found that the majority (96%) felt their baby move mostly in the evening. More than half of the respondents (55%) stated that they perceived frequent foetal movement on two occasions during a 24h period, while almost a fifth (18%) never or only once reported frequent foetal movement in a 24h period. Just over a quarter (26%) of respondents perceived frequent movement at least three times during a 24h period. Perceiving frequent foetal movements on three or more occasions during a 24h period, was associated with higher scores of prenatal attachment in all the three subscales.

KEY CONCLUSION: Perceiving frequent foetal movements at least during three occasions per 24h periods in late pregnancy was associated with prenatal attachment.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: encouraging women to focus on foetal movements may positively affect prenatal attachment, especially among multiparous women >35 years.

Background: Low maternal awareness of fetal movements is associated with negative birth outcomes. Knowledge regarding pregnant women's compliance with programs of systematic self-assessment of fetal movements is needed. The aim of this study was to investigate women's experiences using two different self-assessment methods for monitoring fetal movements and to determine if the women had a preference for one or the other method.

Methods: Data were collected by a crossover trial; 40 healthy women with an uncomplicated full-term pregnancy counted the fetal movements according to a Count-to-ten method and assessed the character of the movements according to the Mindfetalness method. Each self-assessment was observed by a midwife and followed by a questionnaire. A total of 80 self-assessments was performed; 40 with each method.

Results: Of the 40 women, only one did not find at least one method suitable. Twenty of the total of 39 reported a preference, 15 for the Mindfetalness method and five for the Count-to-ten method. All 39 said they felt calm, relaxed, mentally present and focused during the observations. Furthermore, the women described the observation of the movements as safe and reassuring and a moment for communication with their unborn baby.

Conclusions: In the 80 assessments all but one of the women found one or both methods suitable for self-assessment of fetal movements and they felt comfortable during the assessments. More women preferred the Mindfetalness method compared to the count-to-ten method, than vice versa.