BABY MOVEMENTS DURING THIRD TRIMESTER
Baby kicking, punching, and moving is more often felt in the early weeks of the third trimester. Later, as your baby grows larger, you’ll feel more stretches and rolls, and fewer kicks and punches.
As your uterus gets more crowded due to the growing baby, you may feel less baby movements as there will not be enough space for the baby to roll.
This is when you have to keep doing a kick count.
Counting baby’s kicks ( DFKC- Daily Fetal Kick Count)
To ensure that everything is progressing as expected, you have to “count kicks,” or fetal movements, starting in week 28 through the end of your pregnancy.
COUNTING METHOD
How often to count: Fix some quiet time thrice a day to count kicks, once in the morning, when fetal kicks and punches tend to be less frequent, once in the afternoon after lunch and once in the more active evening hours, when there’s usually an increase in baby’s movement.
What has to be done: Check the time and start counting. Count movements of any kind (fetal kicks, flutters, swishes, rolls). Stop counting when you reach 10, and note the time.
Look for the following: 10 movements of any kind in an hour or less is normal, though sometimes it may take longer.
What to do if you haven’t felt 10 movements within an hour:
Have a snack or some fruit juice, lie down on to your left, and continue counting.
Get up and move around.
Talk to your baby.
Push or poke gently at your belly where you can feel your baby.
If it takes more than two hours to get a count of 10, contact your doctor immediately.
Absence of activity doesn’t necessarily mean something’s wrong, but it can occasionally be a red flag symptom that needs quick evaluation or monitoring.
Keep in mind: The closer you are to your due date, regular checking of baby movements becomes important. By month 9, you’ll want to count several times a day and get in touch with your doctor if you notice a sudden decrease in movement.
CAUSES OF DECREASED MOVEMENTS
Harmless cause: When the baby is sleeping.
Harmful and dangerous causes:
- Slowing down of baby’s growth
- Problem with placenta or with your uterus.
- Your baby’s umbilical cord could have gotten wrapped around it’s neck, a condition called as Nuchal cord.
Contact your doctor immediately if you notice any obvious change in the baby movement pattern.
Further evaluation may be advised by your doctor.
1.A non stress test can provide useful information about your baby’s heart rate and movements during the third trimester.
2.Three-dimensional ultrasound, which can give good information about your baby movements, as well as it’s growth and development to make sure they’re on track.