Kick chart

A kick chart is a form or graph used by a pregnant woman in the later stages to record the activity of her foetus. If too few kicks are felt within a specified time (usually 12 hours) this could indicate a problem. Once routine, use of these charts has declined, since women often forgot to complete them and foetal movement patterns are very varied, leading to unnecessary concern.

A more recent trend has been to use a pregnancy bracelet; a wearable form of kick counter.

Foetal Kick Counters

A recent idea in the United Kingdom has been the replacement of the kick chart with jewelry based counters.

A frequent question posed by midwives is how "many times has the baby kicked in the last twelve hours ?", in the UK this is regarded as best indication of the health of the baby from the second trimester and the unborn foetus should kick ten times in any twelve hour period.

The bracelets available work on similar principles, the baby kicks, the mother moves a marker. The idea being that this is more practical than using a pen and paper.

The two most widely advertised bracelets are currently undergoing the patent application process.

External links

* [http://www.nct.org.uk/info/Kick_Chart The National Childbirth trust definition]
* [http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/physicalhealth/babysmovements/ Babycentre info on foetal movement]
* [http://www.stillnomore.org/goal7.htm Why Kicks Count]