If you're pregnant, you’ll know that tracking your baby’s movements is all about their own personal pattern, but when do you need to get that checked? “If you are used to your baby moving 2 or 3 times a day, but that is the norm for your baby, then that is your pattern,” Unii midwife Leila Zahedi said in a recent episode of the Unii Babies podcast with Dr. Saranya. “If it’s more than that, that is your pattern. So my advice as a midwife to anybody who's listening is to make sure that you are just really tuning in with your body from 28 weeks onwards. That's the important thing, because from 25 weeks you should expect to feel daily movements with no true real patterns to them, but then by between 28 and 32, there should be a pattern that's established. Once you establish that pattern, it's about sticking to that pattern every single day. But that doesn't just mean a reduction in movements. That also means if the baby is overactive as well. So anything that is out of the baby's normal and out of the normal pattern needs to be checked.”

“If you think about it, it's the only way that your baby can tell you and communicate with you that actually something's not right here. And more often than not, that is not, you know, the baby is communicating that I just wanted to wriggle or I just wanted to sleep, and that's fine. But we don't know. And so that's why it's always better to be safe than sorry.”

“Always,” added Katie Benyohai. “Also, the guidance or the advice that used to have something cold or sugary to drink has been disproved. So waiting at home and having, you know, Mars Bar and some ice isn't going to make your baby move if there are concerns with regards to the placenta. So there's no point wasting time; you're to go in and don't overthink it if something is telling you. ‘Yeah, yeah, I think there's a change here.’ Go in. That's your indicator. There has been a change to the normal pattern.”

Don’t forget to tune in for a new episode of Unii Babies with Dr. Saranya Ravindran every Friday.

Unii Babies is created and owned by London-based family wellbeing educational platform Unii.com, which offers hundreds of episodes of expert-led video courses and a library of medically reviewed articles devoted to improving both baby and child health and your parenting journey. We can also have your parenting questions expertly answered. Contact us with what you want to know, and you may see one of our experts discuss it on our podcast or Unii.com: Because Family Matters.

This podcast is for reference and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice and should not be relied upon as such. Specific medical advice about your specific circumstances should always be sought separately before taking or deciding not to take any action.

Unii Midwives Leila Zahedi and Katie Benyohai: THIS is when to call the hospital about a baby’s movements.

Unii Midwives Leila Zahedi and Katie Benyohai: THIS is when to call the hospital about a baby’s movements.