How to do 'kick counts'?

[WifeofAnt]

Okay I've read how to do it (mark start time, count to 10, mark end time) and I'm still confused. I am (or was) pretty tiny so I started feeling him at 14.5 weeks. I'm 26 weeks, two weeks away from the official 28 week 'start counting' week, but I think I feel almost everything he does. When he's awake and playing I could feel him move 10 times in 15 seconds. If I only need 10 movements in 2 hours I don't think I even have to keep track. He's awake now and moving strong enough and enough times to make ME have 10 movements in much sooner.

[MaerynPearl]

generally I don't even keep track as long as she is moving enough that I am comfortable with it (but if I do get worried and do a kick count she can usually pass in 5 minutes easily even if shes being lazy)

but doing it that way does mean being sure to make a note (even mentally) that you have indeed felt easily more than 10 kicks in the time frame given at some point in the day.

And of course, hiccups don't count (or baby girl would have woke me up passing for most of the beginning of the third tri lol)

[gradstudentmommy]

The midwife group I'm seeing doesn't even ask me to do kick counts. They told me to just make sure the baby is moving every 3-4 hours. I only do them if I feel like it's been a while since I felt the baby move. I don't think I've ever had to count past 10 minutes. But yes, once you get 10-12 movements in the same two hour period, you can stop counting.

[Ambyrkatt]

I have GD, so my doc (and the nurses doing the NSTs) make a big deal of always asking me what my kick counts are. That being said, I don't do them unless I start to feel nervous, which ends up being about once a week. I'll drink a little bit of cold water and go lie down and have never had to lie there counting for more than 10 minutes, usually just 5. I don't write any of it down, though and I never both with a kick count on the same day as an NST. I just always report in with "less than 10 minutes." Based on what I am seeing at my NSTs, I feel pretty much everything this little ones does, but she does like to sleep a lot!

[Naomismom]

It seems like it's only worth checking if you have not been feeling movement or if something seems off. With my last pregnancy, DS was not moving very much one day. I did a kick count and got ZERO kicks in 2 hours (and he was usually doing 10 kicks in 5 minutes or so). I went to the hospital to make sure he was okay (he was).

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

I'm with you! Never really had to do kick counts, from pretty early on I could feel him moving and grooving. He passed his 10 kick hour within minutes and didn't seen to wear out. He established a pretty set schedule pretty early. Now that he is bigger and his movements are more restricted, he may take half an hour to an hour to get his 10 "kicks" in.

[mamamille]

I have never heard of kick counts...
something else that mommas have to be neurotic and worried about???

[Multimomma]

I was always told kick counts were for later in the pg, when the baby is a bit more crowded and not as mobile. Isn't it mostly for the last few weeks to kind of track general baby health?

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by mamamille

I have never heard of kick counts...
something else that mommas have to be neurotic and worried about???

In some cases, I have heard of them potentially saving the babies life so while we do worry about them... sometimes they are VERY helpful!

[idigchaitea]

I never did kick counts with my first two sons, and because of that I learned the hard way WHY they're so important. My second son was stillborn a day after my due date, and they think he passed away about a week before. I always felt like they weren't that big of a deal because I always felt him move before that. Then one day I suddenly realized that I hadn't felt him move in awhile. I don't know how long it had been before I realized that. My mind was in other places and I wasn't consistently keeping track of the movements. I THOUGHT I felt him move that night, so I ignored my gut feeling. At my next prenatal appointment, the doctor confirmed my worst fear--that he was no longer alive.

The point of my sad story is that if you consistently keep track of kicks, then you'd be able to notice a dramatic change in movement. Like if the baby is always kicking at a certain time and then one night isn't or if the movements are DRAMATICALLY reduced--then you may want to get it checked out just in case.

Sorry to scare anyone--but they really are important to do.

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

I am so very sorry for your loss.