By the 28th week of pregnancy, you should be feeling your baby move regularly. Counting the number of movements in a specific time period can help you monitor the health of your growing baby. This is called a “kick count”, and any movement can be considered a “kick”.

Your baby will sleep part of each day, and of course, will move less during that time. It’s important that you pick a time period when your baby is typically active to monitor your kick counts. Babies tend to be most active in the evening, and so a good time to perform “kick counts” might be after dinner. Regardless of when you do them, it’s important that you monitor the “kicks” at the same time each day.

Daily kick counts are the key to early detection of any potential problems with your baby. If your provider feels that additional evaluation is needed, you may be asked to come in to the clinic or hospital. More sophisticated testing can be done there, which will determine if your baby is having any real difficulty. The good news is, that in most cases nothing will be wrong with your baby. On the other hand, if your provider feels it’s in your baby’s best interest to consider the use of certain medications or even early delivery, you’ll be able to weigh those options together. Technological advances in the care of premature infants have steadily increased “preemie” survival rates over the years.

A good rule of thumb is this: after the 28th week, if the baby takes longer than 2 hours for 10 movements, you should contact your provider immediately.