REALLY active baby - is it definitely ok?

[auburnlizzy78]

Am 32.5 weeks at the mo. I have read from numerous reliable sources stuff like: "you are supposed to count 4/6/10 movements in an hour, but not every hour." For me, if that's all I was getting I would be down to the hospital immediately. I get literally HUNDREDS of movements during the active periods, and apart from when I'm asleep (I assume!) there ARE no quiet periods. Not all kicks, just rolls, shunts, bony lumps popping up and then going again, and small pulsing movements.

I have felt this amount of movement for MONTHS (say, since 14 weeks). Of course now he's running out of room the movements are different from the kicks and flutters of the early stages. His heartrate a week ago was fine (130-140), my blood pressure is good, no other health complications. He is apparently head down, and the movements are generally where I think his bottom or elbows or knees should be. But I have now managed to convince myself that he is getting knotted up in his cord, and these movements are not a characteristic of a healthy baby but a frantic attempt to free himself, or that I'm not taking in enough oxygen and he's struggling in there.

Please tell me I am not unique, that you had this and your babies were totally fine, or just tell me sternly to stop worrying!!! Thanks.

All 3 of mine were very active, but the boys even more so.
I remember lying on my side in bed with ds2 repeatedly punching the mattress over and over, it was crazy.
All 3 are healthy and happy.

Movement is always a good sign

Midwife always put "very active baby" on my notes! He would kick the foetal monitor and that scanning thing at the ultrasound clinic. I would have Alien-like lumps and rolls around all the time.

He's now a very healthy 12 month old - who has only just started to crawl - so wasn't over active when he came out!

Sounds all very normal in my humble personal experience, and my 2nd preg was just as you describe... turns out dd2 is an EXCEPTIONALLY active baby (now 8months) and really never stops.. rolled early, crawling everywhere, never really did the whole sitting and playing stage... great fun though

Well i'm not an expert but every hcp i've seen has repeated the message 'an active baby is a healthy baby'. (i'm currently 37 weeks with number 4 so have met a few midwifes and Dr's!) The worry about the cord getting knotted is something i worry about as well but i think that it's a 'normal anxiety' of pregnancy and quite rare.
Maybe you are just very sensitive to the movement? Maybe mention it at your next appt? But in general STOP WORRYING!

All three of mine were frighteningly active in utero... they're all fine and ds1 for one can be extraordinarily lazy now at 4 and he was the worst of the three during pregnancy... my belly used to shift from side to side for hours on end and he regularly got himself stuck at odd angles and had to be prodded loose by me (as unpleasant for him as it was for me i'd imagine. The little sod actually tore my stomach muscles at 30 odd weeks pregnant

With all three i was convinced they'd rip holes in the amniotic sac well before their due dates but dd and ds1 had to be ARMed and ds2's waters broke literally 10 minutes before he was born.

They all also found my broken ribs early on and seemed to enjoy making me jump and flinch by digging their toes into that particular spot over and over. Two of the three used to brace their legs on my back a stick their bums out as par as they could go and hold that position for ages... I was convinced they're do a reenactment of that scene from Aliens ds1 was back to front and did a similar move but with feet stuck out to the front... you could have counted his toes!

DD wriggled so much she got tangled in her cord and was born with her arm over her face to boot. ds1 was born facing the wrong way round and also with an arm over his face.

The only thing i will say is that months of dealing with continuous activity is exhausting and it leaves you quite knackered for the birth and in the first weeks so be prepared for that and rest as much as possible now... if baby is quiet then use the opportunity to rest a while.

that last should have read:

if baby is quiet then use the opportunity to rest a while and not sit up worrying and prodding your bump like i did

I was given a kick chart to complete by my midwife, as I had suffered many miscarriages before. Within twenty minutes I had 137 kicks.

My baby was completely healthy. A baby starved of oxygen would be less active.
If it was distressed the heart beat would not be in the normal range.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily.

this sounds like both of my pregnancies,
I had two very active boys who would punch and kick me constantly and then just as i would think they had calmed down they would get violent hiccups!

this went on from the moment I could feel them move to the day they were born.

I have no real evidence but.....I believe that an active baby is stronger when they arrive as they have been 'working out' for 9 months.

Mine carried on being very active once born and would constantly kick and wave their arms around when in their cot, the pushchair, the baby carrier or when someone was holding them.

They could both hold their head up from birth, rolled over early and crawled before they were sixth months, and I think this had something to do with being active in the womb i.e. it seems to be in their personality

I love Mumsnet - thanks ladies, you're all fab. I finish work next week and fully intend to take it easy for as long as I have until he arrives. Sounds like I may have a feisty one on my hands.

SummerRain - he tore your stomach muscles?!!!

Like IWILLNOT, my 3DS were VERY active, and born strong (able to hold head up from birth), were very active, all 3 walked early (9 months,8 months and 9 months), so I think there might be something to the idea of "working out for 9 months"!

They have stayed active (now 16,15 and 13 yo), so maybe it's hard wired in to their personalities?

DS4 is 27 week fetus, and just as active as his brothers - so in for another interesting and active few years I think!

I've had very active babies both times. DS has always been an active baby and now toddler, no idea if it's linked to the fact he was so active before the birth, but it was always nice to have a lot of reassurance he was doing ok in there!

This one has been the same, am almost 37 weeks now. He kicks and rolls almost constantly, the one time we've had to go for monitoring there were so many movements I wasn't feeling either, so I really do wonder how many movements I would get if I did count!

I just always think I would rather have one like this than a very quiet one, I find the movements very reassuring, if painful at times The midwives have always said to me the he would be less movement if something was wrong, and that's good enough for me!

yep... I got an emergancy appointment at the hospital as i was in agonising pain, it felt like the front of my bump had been ripped asunder.

Consultant checked me over and announced... 'Everything's fine, you've probably just torn a few muscles'

me: 'Erm... well that's ok then Silly me thinking torn muscles were a bad thing then....'

They healed after the birth though and luckily my bump didn't get much bigger after that point (it happened at 33/34 weeks and he was born at 38)

IWNEEAT... I think you may be onto something there, all mine were very strong from birth (to the point where all doctors and nurses they encountered commented on it). They could all hold their heads up from birth and both ds' could lie on their bellies and lift their head and chest up from day one. ds1 rolled over at 4 days old and ds2 was only a few weeks old when he did it. Ds2 was in SCBU after the birth as he inhaled a load of blood and had to have blood drawn several times a day and IV lines sited... it took me, a nurse and a doctor to accomplish this each time and all the doctors went away with a dazed look on their faces muttering about 'strong baby that one'

SummerRain - My ds used to do something similar. He was breech and I had really bad SPD so what did he do? Put his feet on the front of my pelvis, bottom on my tailbone, head under my breastbone and stretch! It was so very comfy .

All of mine have been very active babies. If we were out having a meal with friends, it got to the point where across the table through clothes and napkins etc, friends would comment on my wierd shape shifting bump.

All fine and all natural births, all good babies - active yet good sleepers.

nothing wrong x im 33wks and my bump is constantly on the go, my dh said i was watching your belly move all over the place, when i was asleep, dont get much these days. my midwife wife when you cant feel her is the time to worry, movements mean shes ok.

@ summerrain!!!
My DS was like that (never tore anything though) - always moving - his in utero hiccups were weird to wath though. I remember him giving my fanjo a kick as he was being born
Like everyone says - movement is good (for the baby), not when you are trying to sleep though!

Can you tell me whether your kids were active at 22 weeks or is it too early? I don't get much kicking...

My older two moved from 10/12 weeks and by 17/18 were visable from across the room (hours of entertainment for dp watching lumps and bumps appear on my belly )

ds2 had an anterior placenta though so i could feel vague flutterings at 13/14 weeks but it was much later by the time the movement got more noticable.

while I was pregnant DS used to kick to hard that he'd make the bath water splash, not just ripple but actually splash - freaked the DH out!!!

DD was also very active, from 11 weeks I could feel her kicking. She used to do somersaults along with the usual fanjo kicks and protruding limbs/hands/feet. She would also do thumper kicks if DH annoyed her by talking to her when she was sleeping or if he lay his head on my belly to listen! Sometimes it felt like I was a washing machine not a mum to be . Like Iwillnot never she held head up from birth, crawled at 7 months and walked unaided at 11 months. She also has a forceful personality so maybe there is some truth in what Iwillnever says about the babies personality relating to how active they are in the womb

So should I be worried or happy that I am having such a relaxed baby?

LeylaHP - If it is your first I believe it is not unusual to not feel the baby much to begin with,

with my first I didn't really feel him until over 20 weeks and then he didn't stop!

my second I felt from about 12 weeks

so they may surprise you yet

But a calm baby will mean you get more sleep.

unless you are in pain of some kind other than that caused by the activity, STOP WORRYING!

mine has just pulled out from 'fully engaged' to spend another few days kicking me in the tummy. great.

Lol I know I should stop worrying. DH keeps telling me too. Thanks for the reassurance guys :-