Reduced movements - have I misunderstood?

[TinyTerror1]

Hi all. So, baby normally has a good old wriggle at bedtime, and/or after I've got up for a wee in the night, and/or just after breakfast. I felt her after dinner last night (I think, although I was quite gassy 😳) then overnight a couple of very gentle prods and nothing else really by 11am (possibly another little prod when I was on the bus). I'm 23+6 so I called triage and she said "oh if you've felt her today (referring to half 4 this morning) you've no need to worry. If you don't get feel any movement again by your usual bedtime movements tonight call again". Well since then thankfully baby has had a good wriggle so I'm ok but I thought reduced movements meant less than normal, not nothing at all? Would be good to know in case it happens again. TIA x

Hm. This guide here says to watch out for anything different to usual.

www.tommys.org/sites/default/files/RFM-Infographic.pdf

It’s possible your baby has just moved position but it would be good to get some reassurance. Have you tried the cold sugary drink and lying still?

Sorry, I see you have had some movements since!

Yes thanks I would have been tearing my hair out otherwise. I think she must have been facing my back because she suddenly started kicking me in the bottom 😄 I was just surprised about the response from triage and wondered if I'd got the wrong end of the stick x

It's probably because they don't monitor movements until around 27 weeks, the baby is quite tiny at your gestation and can move into positions where you can feel things less or not at all. That's not to say you shouldn't call them if worries, but I'm guessing that may be why they said that, always go with your gut though

I thought it was from 24 weeks, which is tomorrow for me. The lady on the phone said it wasn't too early for me to be calling if I was getting regular movements in general. She literally just said it's no movement I should be looking for not reduced movements. Maybe that advice will change later though.

They do check from 24 weeks with a doppler but won’t monitor you on the CTG until 28 weeks in my trust (and most others from what I gather) so although pre 28 weeks they’re always happy to have you in for reassurance it’s literaly just a listen with the Doppler. Also as others have said even at 24 weeks baby is small enough to hide and change position to change how you feel movement. From 28 weeks they tend to be large enough for a more established pattern / you feel them moving position easier

You’re not really going to be able to tell so early whether there are no movements (ie they’ll mainly be too light for you to feel) I had a check for reduced movements at a little later than that and then a few more times later on and there is a big difference - my last check at 40 weeks the baby was constantly doing something and had stayed still for about 5 hours.

So the short answer is both, but you’re unlikely to get reduced movements so early because you’re not feeling most of the movement anyway if that makes sense

According to Tommy's - information which my Trust include in my maternity notes - from 24-28 weeks I should contact midwife and they should see me the same day if possible. I got the same message from triage, that I was not calling too soon. My question isn't when I should start calling but what exactly reduced movements means. If someone could clarify that for me I would be grateful. Thank you.

As someone who is nearly 30 weeks (29+3) and has an anterior placenta, I clarify reduced movement as like one kick a day. I don’t feel my baby (him) very often and do worry constantly. However if I have managed to get at least 2 or more kicks from my babe then I just presume he’s fine. He tends to kick more now but at your stage I was just literally determining by how many kicks I felt. I tend not to worry now even if he doesn’t kick much because I just have that feeling that everything is fine and if anything was wrong my body would deffo let me know.
For example I went into 28 week midwife appt nearly a week and a bit ago and when measured she said I was too small for my no of weeks. I did worry lots but knew deep down he’s okay and growing properly (which the growth scan later showed anyway) because i didn’t have any signs of him not being okay.
Sorry probably rambling.. my advice is just don’t worry about any movements unless you have virtually zero all day xx

Mine have always said if she’s not following her normal pattern or a reduce in the number of times I would usually feel her then that’s what they class as reduced. However they won’t do anything other than Doppler until after 28w here as they always told me she was too small before then (I have anterior placenta and have had loads of panicked times where I couldn’t feel her at all) luckily I was same as you and she’d turned away from me! X

@sugarnotsweetener thanks. That fits with what I thought. I've felt significant wriggles/kicks daily for three weeks so it's very obvious to me when she doesn't move for over 12 hours. Glad she did start kicking again though and hopefully she won't scare me again! X

sometimes I still can’t feel her but can physically see my tummy moving so that comes as the reassurance now she’s big!
Hopefully she won’t but I think they’ll carry on scaring us until they’re adults 😉x

I should have said when she doesn't move normally.

Lol well that's true 😂

Reduced movements to me means less than the normal pattern/amount.

My second was born by EMCS due to reduced (zero) movement. He was born on Saturday lunchtime. On the Thursday his movements seemed a little less than normal but not enough to worry about. On Friday I had the usual pattern of movements but much reduced. I went to bed on Friday night aware of it and somewhat worried. I had an appointment on the Saturday morning for a BP check so thought if he still wasn't moving as much that I would mention it then. On Saturday morning I had no movements, even after breakfast which was the usual time for lots of kicks. Cold drinks, chocolate etc produced nothing. Fortunately they got me on a monitor ASAP and I heard his heartbeat so I knew he was still alive fairly quickly, thankfully. Worst few hours of my life though.

Don't know if that helps at all, but that was my experience of reduced movements.

@AssassinatedBeauty that sounds scary. How far along were you? Glad it turned out ok xx

Just to say that this thing about reduced movements is a bit of a red herring. The real issue is a significant change in movements to an established pattern- i.e that can also include lots of very frenzied movement, reduced movement, absence of movement.... if it’s different enough for you to go “hmm” then it’s different enough to call a midwife.

I was 37+4, so he was term, thankfully. I was incredibly impressed by how quickly everything happened when the decision was made to go for the EMCS.

DS2 was very poorly when he was born, there had been a problem with the placenta and most of his blood had flowed back into me, so he was massively anaemic. Grey and limp initially but I heard a little cry before he was whisked away. He had an immediate blood transfusion and after a week in hospital (with a few ups and downs) he was well enough to go home. Thankfully no long term damage seems evident. I am quite sure that had it been any longer before the EMCS then he would have had some long term consequences or worse.

I also get confused with this whole ‘what’s normal for you thing’. I am 28w and baby just doesn’t seem to have a pattern, it will have really active days where it seems on the move constantly, quieter days where it barely seems to move at all, sometimes it will be super active when I’m in bed but other days it won’t. It is really starting to worry me that I won’t be able to identify reduced movements as the movements seem to be all over the place at the minute

Unfortunately, as confirmed by my triage doctor, the term "reduced movements" is subjective and differs from person to person. Doesn't really help I know! But you don't need to worry until 28 weeks about regular movements. Even then, my baby didn't find a rhythm and kept me worrying! But I always felt them every 2 hours.. Or whenever I felt it had been 'a while' for my baby.

I’m only 21+4 but have been feeling regular movements since about 18 weeks. However, I haven’t felt much since yesterday lunchtime - a few very light flutters but that’s it. That’s definitely less than normal! It’s noticeably different, because we had a busy day and I still noticed the change in pattern. Still not feeling much this morning, despite having a drink, getting out of bed etc which would usually get some activity going.
I know people will say it’s too early to worry and the baby has probably just moved away from the spot where I feel kicks, but what if something is wrong? Should I be ringing the hospital to ask for advice?

yorkshire if you’re worried I would definitely call your midwife/triage. Be guided by them.

My first was induced due to 2 episodes of reduced movement at 40 weeks.
With dc2 it took a long while for me to feel a ‘pattern’ and I felt he moved less than dc1 in general.
I was monitored 3 times for reduced movements over all for dc1 and midwives always said it was the best thing to come in and get checked out. One said ‘your baby is inside you and you know best’

Thanks @nervous. I decided to have some breakfast and do a few bits round the house and baby woke up too. Now attempting to catch up in lost sleep and there’s some sort of zumba party going on in there - all back to normal! Phew!

@YorkshireBee glad all is ok. It's so hard to judge isn't it?!