Moms-to-Be: Count the Kicks

Today is International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. It’s an important day for Karina Bennett, whose son Milan died at 39 weeks in an umbilical cord accident. For women like Bennett having a day to officially honor a pregnancy loss or infant death (miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS) can be a comfort. But what’s really comforting, Bennett says, is an effort that came out of loss: Count the Kicks.

Created by five Iowa moms who’d lost an infant, this public health campaign aims to raise awareness about self-monitoring and tracking babies’ daily movements during the third trimester.

“The ultimate goal of Count the Kicks is to improve the chances of delivering a healthy baby and to reduce stillbirth rates, which occur in one out of every 150 pregnancies nationwide,” says Bennett.

How does counting the kicks work? The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that you begin counting kicks at your 28th week, or at 26 weeks if you are high risk or pregnant with multiples, Bennett says. A healthy baby should have 10 kicks, jabs, turns, swishes, or rolls (not hiccups) in less than 2 hours.

Count the Kicks helps moms-to-be do the monitoring with materials, posters and encouragement. To find out more, visit Count the Kicks for how-to videos and testimonials. You can get a free downloadable poster here.

File under: In the News