Subjective recording of fetal movements. I. Limits and acceptability in normal pregnancies

Maternal counting of fetal movements is increasingly used as a clinical method for assessment of fetal health. The present study established normal limits for two methods of subjective fetal movement recording. Four hundred-and-seventeen randomly selected women with low-risk pregnancies recorded the time necessary for 10 fetal movements every morning and also the number of fetal movements during 15 min every evening. The study was carried out between gestational week 34 and parturition. Two hundred-and-twenty-two consecutive women answered a questionnaire after the end of the study. 70% of the women counted fetal movements every day; 66.5% preferred the evening to the morning recording. In a strictly selected normal group (n = 129), no significant change was found in the number of fetal movements or in the time for 10 fetal movements with advancing gestation or approaching parturition. The results of the evening sessions were not influenced by maternal parity, fetal weight, or fetal sex. The great interindividual variation in the results does not allow the application of general normal limits. A method for establishing individual normal low limits for each pregnancy was designed.