Fitbit not accurate on steps due to rocking baby

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Has anyone else found that their Fitbit doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between them taking actual steps or just jigging/rocking their baby?!

How do you think your Fitbit would know, it doesn't have a camera 😂

Does it matter? Jiggling a baby might use similar energy to walking so your net equal

*you're

Put it round your ankle? 😂

My Garmin counts rocking my baby as steps, but it doesn't count the steps I do when I push the pram so I figure it all evens out...!

This

I almost emailed Apple and Vitality in a post baby haze (with vitality health insurance you can get a free Apple Watch if you do so many steps per day) about it not registering steps whilst pushing a pram and thought it incredibly discriminatory 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

So true - I never thought of that!!

I definitely think it matters, I don't think I'm expending the same energy the way I am jigging my baby. It does it even when I'm sat down!
I thought they were more sophisticated than that is all 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ooh I'll have to keep an eye on that on my next pram walk!
I'm really keen to shed the baby weight before my wedding in September and tracking steps is about as much exercise as I can currently face, so I'm just a bit disheartened that I can't get an accurate measure!

Mine doesn't count steps if I'm holding a bag in my hand, which was annoying to find out after walking all day at a show/fair carrying various purchases.

I find step counts more accurate with fitbit in a pocket, but it then doesn't record activity in the same way.

Pushing a trolley, pushing a oram, it won't pick it up. I was obsessed with mine for a while but when I realised I could just shake my arm up and down for a bit to hit target it kind of lost its appeal. They're that accurate all.

Mine doesn't count steps if I'm carrying my enormous baby on my hip! Very annoying!

Mine does detect pram pushing but not trolley pushing. It's a mystery!

You don't need accurate step count to know about your energy expenditure. Fitbit also gives you ...
... active minutes (heart rate above certain threshold)
... calories burnt (based on heart rate, mass, age, sex)

Mine adds quite a few steps with a bit of piano playing. The pirates of the Caribbean theme tune seems to do the most, it adds a few thousand steps on every time

I was so obsessed I was removing mine when I used a hair dryer.

it’s on your arm, it detects your arm moving.

I wear my garmin on my ankle.

Well congratulations on having a baby that will be jiggled sitting down 😄 Not my experience!

I would try not to become obsessed with the number of steps. Even Fitbit say you need 10,000 extra steps per day to lose weight. Walking faster so you're out of breath will be better for this than counting the number of steps as pp said.

I use the setting on my watch which means it doesn't start counting steps until I've done at least 15. That way it only records when I'm actually walking rather than cooking/waving/driving/etc.

I did that after MIL gleefully told me she'd racked up almost 2,500 steps just cooking dinner, and she couldn't understand how it didn't really count.

Means it's harder to actually get to 10,000, but at least I know I'm actually moving.

Thank you all. Think I'll be relying on different ways to track my activity in future!

My Apple Watch doesn’t recognize doing dishes as “standing” again a bent arm thing similar to pushing a shopping trolly. It irrationally pisses me off.

Shhhh, but I’m on the cheap watch deal with Vitality too and often fake steps to make my daily goal🤐I quite like that it can be cheated! I sit on the sofa and move my arm back and forth to get the remaining steps for the day.

My husband recorded 11000 steps during a very heated phone call. He was sitting at his desk.

Fitbit and other wearables are very inaccurate.

Mine counts my filing at work!

Then it doesn't count my steps if punching trolley round Tesco.

It's a pain esp with the rocking when you can't predict when you're going to be doing it.

When mine were babies I had the little clip on one they did and clipped it to my bra. It's a shame they don't to a clip accessory. Might mention to them!

I've just got a cheap one. I take it off for rocking, although mine requires less rocking these days. If I'm pushing a buggy/trolley I can just tell the watch I'm walking and it uses GPS to measure the distance I've travelled and estimate steps, instead of relying on arm movement.

Hit my target whilst trying to wriggle out of my wet swimming costume one handed the other day though

playing a Beethoven sonata on the piano is the equivalent of a 3k walk according to my garmin.