Is too MUCH movement a bad thing???

[NewMaMaZenLovin]

So in all my pre and perinatal study, I have found increasing evidence that babies who are really active in the womb tend to show more anxiety in the next few following years. I started feeling LO move at about 15w. first it was a flutter then it moved to a nightly and morn. session every day, with a few bumbs. 2 days ago it just started BOUNCING. I mean I think this kid was trying stuff from Cirque du soleil!! Then yesterday after a really bumby car ride as soon as we pull up to the house my lower abdomen tightens up and cramps. it lasts for about 10 min... then the kid just resumed acobatics. Today. Baby has been REALLY active and at one point for about a half hour my cervix up to my uterus started to contract( sorta like when you orgasm but went farther up) like just pulsing periodically. I took a hot shower and had DF give me a relaxing rub down with my Body butter. and it chilled out. The baby started just doing a moderated amount of kicking but nothing like earlier.

Was all that frantic activity something to wory about? Or am i being over analytical again? Sometimes my "knowledge" gets me in trouble and neurotic.


Would any of you moms with new ones (0-3yrs) say that the amount of movement the baby had in the womb translated into ability to handle stress or their overall mood maybe?? (im 22w btw)

[texmati]

my ds is extremely high strung-- I don't think he moved especially much. I did have a very stressful pregnancy, though.

[NewMaMaZenLovin]

Yeah there were alot of sources said stress on mom during PG was a big part of it too. I think Ive endured about the biggest heartache and loss of my life 3 days after I concieved. And its something that has continued to cause alot of sadness and anxiety. I worry sometimes too often about what my mental state now will do to to my child later. Its for my childs sake that I couldnt do anything about this loss too. No resentment towards the baby on that but Im at such a loss sometimes how to cope.

I worry (overly Im sure) that im already becoming that head case mother that inadvertantly messes her kid up, no matter how much she loves the little tyke.

[~Demeter~]

O_o Too much movement...a bad thing?? I don't know, my two babes that weren't as active are actually my more high strung kids. My first pregnancy I was 15, I had a lot of tumult and upheaval as I'm sure you can imagine... he was the happiest, easy going baby. My second pregnancy I was happy, didn't really have any huge stress going on in my life and he was my most high strung kid... very intense and high needs. I think a lot of that is personality, something you have to work with no matter what.. you know? This is one thing I would not worry about, not a bit.

[lifeguard]

Ds was SUPER active in the womb. I laughed at the idea of doing kick counts 'cause I would have been seriously worried if he ever only kicked 10 times in an hour! He is a pretty laid back confident little guy.

[Cujobunny]

My ds was a very active fetus. He's 5yo now and he's still very active, he's also highly intelligent and very verbal, started talking at 9mo. He's an extrovert with TONS of energy but I wouldn't say he's anxious or hyperactive. He's a beauty

[WifeofAnt]

With as much as this little guy moves I think I'm giving birth to a kung fu expert! It gets painful but its still extremely cute.

[DanielleT]

I have two girls both were quite similar pregnancy's (no problems)--7 year apart, the first one wasn't planned, i was still in college and i wasn't with dad anymore so quite stressful. The second wasn't planned but i was married and we were ready for another child, both babies moved around at normal rates (i think) and now my olderst is very high energy, social and happy while the other has alot of anxiety even towards people she sees all the time...it's getting better but it still takes her quite awhile to warm up to people; that's people we already know strangers well that's a whole different story...

[Galatea]

Dd was the most active in the womb, and she is definitely the most active out of it, too. She is not neurotic or anything, but she doesn't really sit still unless she is sick and she requires a lot of attention.

My quietest baby was ds2 and he is also a quiet child, content to play by himself for hours. But he is also very sensitive and that can be tough to deal with.

My current fetus is not very active, so I am hoping he will be a quiet child!

[2goingon2]

I've never heard that before. I am pregnant with my 5th child and he is starting to get just as busy as his four older siblings. They were incredibly active and had a very predictable play/sleep pattern. None were anxious with the exception of #2. We lost our home and most of our belongings in a tornado (we were in the house) when I was 7 months pregnant with him. He was a little bit more high-strung than his laid-back big sister but in the big scheme of things...still not anything out of the ordinary to me.

[Lady Lilya]

I had a really low stress pregnancy. DS didn't move around particularly much during the pregnancy. But he was a very anxious baby.

I think much more of it had to do with him having a traumatic first week of life than anything else.

[NewMaMaZenLovin]

First I wanna say this :

now that being said, Trauma Through a Childs Eye's is an awesome book. Its one of my areas of interest right now; how the months in the womb, the birth expereince, the following few moments after the birth, and the few following months after that, ALL play more of a major role in shaping the childs menatllity than any medical proffesional has ever given credit to in past observations on pre/perinatal psychology. Do you realize how many thousands of factors and variables your child comes into contact with even at the moments of conception? And then children go on to act out (in only a way a child can) these factors in other areas. such as tempermant, play, eating habits, things said, preferences. We are all a product of environmetal conditioning.


I cant wait for classes to start again....

[katroshka]

My first daughter was ridiculously active in the womb, my second was so chill I was constantly freaking out that she had died.... My older daughter was born with legs like a speed-skater, but she was a very chill baby and toddler. She still is pretty chill. My younger daughter was a pain in the butt as a baby and toddler, awful screaming fits, couldn't take her to restaurants, etc. But she is now very, very chill.

So I can't really draw any parallels to their womb movements.

[cchrissyy]

My extra-active baby definitely turned into the newborn/toddler/bigkid who can't sit still, won't sleep, cried tons, etc.

That said, I didn't know as a 1st time mom that his level of prenatal movement was more than normal. I needed #2 and #3 to show me "normal". So for you, I'd reverse it - of course flips and kicks and turns seem like "lots of movement" if it's your first time but it might be a perfectly normal amount to be feeling.

[NewMoonMum]

I'm suspicious of this as well.
My DS is now 2.5. He was SO freakishly active in the womb-1st pregnancy, I felt him move at 14 weeks. Even at his 11 week scan, my OB laughed out loud and said "WHAT are you doing in there? You're only 11 weeks old!!"
Add to that I was high-risk, and spent the last couple weeks of my pregnancy hearing my OB's words over and over, that with my condition, my perfectly healthy baby could simply die. I had to be induced and the labor was 30 hours, very painful. All a great deal of stress, and though he ended up perfectly fine, he was taken away from me after about 5 minutes because the nurses were a bit concerned. Not a great start to his life!!

He is definitely insanely active now-but high anxiety? Not at all. He is actually (when not being purposefully defiant as of late ) extremely laid back, takes well to being re-directed, told to wait or share...I mean we had a disastrous attempt to go to the county fair last weekend-he was basically stuck in one area, in the shade at least, in triple-degree heat for over 2 hours, with nothing to do but sit on an ice pack and sing some songs. And he was giggling the whole time.

[donutmolly]

Hmm, all my 3 have been very active in the womb, but DD1 was my high-strung, high needs baby (but much more mellow now) while DD3 is my super-chill baby who I had the most stressful time of my entire life while I was pregnant with her, but despite all that she is calm and easy (mostly!). So no correlation here --

[HRJ]

My DS was extremely active in utero. I mean, I was feeling a lot of small movement around 14-15 weeks and the midwife thought I was CRAZY. Then he gave me a gigantic thump at 16 weeks. We would just sit and watch my stomach move all night in the evenings. He was insanely busy in there.

I wouldn't say he is unable to deal with stress or has anxiety at all. However, he did have the cord wrapped around his neck and had some distress during labor bc the cord would get crimped and his hb would plummet.

Also, he did everything physically VERY early. He was sitting up at 5 mos, crawling at 6 mos, and he was walking at 9 1/2 mos. he was running by 1 yr. Ditched bike training wheels at age 4.

He hated to be swaddled, hated to be confined in the carseat, hated riding in the car (bc of the carseat).

I would say still at age 5 he is a very active boy - but he's also very athletic (he's the best skateboarder and biker in the neighborhood and he's the youngest boy in the neighborhood). He has an amazing sense of balance (some of this could be the fact that we started tummy time when he was 2 weeks old too).

But stress, anxiety, inability to cope - not at all.

[mistymama]

My ds was pretty active in the womb and I also spent most of my pregnancy with him very stressed out. My Dad was pretty much dying in ICU a majority of my pregnancy and we lived up there by his side, going through several very scary, dramatic episodes. Top that off with being married to an abusive jerk, and it was not the most calm, relaxing pregnancy. I had HBP the entire time, mostly controlled with meds. He was actually a pretty chill baby - happy to be held and we were very in tune. He was (and still is) a very active child though - he's also got ADHD and Aspergers.

This baby has been EVEN MORE active than ds. It's insane how much this guy moves. I'm emotionally in such a better place .. very happy, relaxed, healthy, good marriage, etc. It will be interesting to see how he turns out... I also plan to make much more baby friendly choices this time for birth and post partum, which I do believe will make a difference as well.

But I wouldn't change my active ADHD kiddo for anything. He's brilliant, and wonderful.

[kblackstone444]

Subbing.

My first son was very active in the womb, more active outside the womb, and a VERY high energy, high needs child. This pregnancy... my little son, is so much more active than my first one was. He literally kicks and flips so much that he gives me Braxton Hicks and nausea... and I'm only 20 weeks! I'm hoping he's not quite as active once he hits the outside!

[MyFullHouse]

My 3yo was an acrobat in the womb (and had the cord to prove it!), but was by far my "chillest" baby (so far). He's a tad bit hyper now, but with a very laid back personality. I chalk all that up to him being a boy with 3 older siblings though.