The child calms down before childbirth. Is it worth worrying if the child before childbirth has reduced activity and calms down

Most women note that before childbirth, the child calms down. If this happened in the middle of pregnancy, then in this case it would certainly alert the pregnant woman. Therefore, it is very important to know how long before the birth the baby calms down, and how exactly this manifests itself.

Causes of a decrease in the motor activity of the child before childbirth

The child calms down before childbirth for a number of reasons that affect the baby closer to the end of the pregnancy:

1. Free space in the uterus is reduced. And the baby gets cramped. This is due to the fact that the child has already fully formed, and its weight ranges from 2.5 to 4 kg. In addition, closer to the date of birth, the bottom of the uterus begins to sink.
2. Closer to childbirth, the very nature of fetal movements also changes. The baby's head is located at the entrance of the small pelvis, so the child is placed strictly along the vertical axis. As a result, the kicks are no longer felt so strongly, since they are directed towards the bottom of the uterus, where there are much fewer sensitive nerve receptors. Against the background of the fact that the movements are felt very weakly, an illusion is created that the baby is calming down.
3. By the end of pregnancy, the number of amniotic fluid. And closer to the 40th week, physiological oligohydramnios develops.

Most often, a decrease in the motor activity of the child is observed 2-3 weeks before the onset of childbirth. This process coincides with the beginning of the biological preparation of the woman's body for childbirth, when the lower segment unfolds. During this period, the processes inside the pregnant woman slightly limit the movement of the fetus.

What symptoms are worrisome?

Firstly, before childbirth, the baby does not always calm down. Secondly, even if you have become less aware of the movements of the baby, this is not a reason to start worrying. However, a change in the child's motor activity can also be an alarming bell, which includes:

• the movements of the child have become painful and cause significant discomfort to the pregnant woman;
• the number of movements that the pregnant woman feels has become less than three per day;
• the baby has become too restless, usually the expectant mother feels a similar state of the child.

If a pregnant woman feels at least one of the above alarming symptoms, then you should immediately consult a doctor.

In such cases, an additional examination is prescribed, which will help to establish the specific cause of the changes. Among the reasons for this condition of the baby may be a lack of nutrients, oxygen, and many others.

Once again, we note that a decrease in the child's motor activity before childbirth is usually an absolutely natural phenomenon, since there is a change in the nature of fetal movements in connection with the preparation of the body for childbirth. Therefore, if a pregnant woman is not worried about alarming symptoms, then you should not worry about this. And it’s better to start preparing for childbirth, and for this we suggest you watch a useful video on this topic:

Video:

Pregnancy is perhaps the most important stage in the life of every woman. The expectant mother makes every effort to ensure that the baby is born healthy. She notes any changes that occur in the tummy.

Starting from about 28 weeks, character is added to all the main diagnostic indicators of the baby's health. From this moment, doctors recommend that a woman always carefully monitor their intensity and frequency. This allows you to get some idea of ​​the intrauterine life of the child.

Throughout pregnancy, the nature of the movements changes. So, for example, the greatest activity of the fetus falls on the first or second week of the third trimester. During this period, the child is not too big, he has enough space, and the arms and legs are already well strengthened. All this allows the baby to tumble and “dance” for his own pleasure, sometimes causing severe discomfort to the mother.

The activity of the child before childbirth begins to gradually subside. This is due, first of all, to the small space of the fetal bladder. The baby grows up, and it becomes cramped in his mother's stomach, so he is no longer as free in his body movements as before. In addition, the way children behave before childbirth is affected by the need to get stronger, gain the right weight. The child, like the mother, is preparing for labor activity, because he will have to spend a lot of energy to be born.

Some women are afraid of changes in the behavior of the crumbs. They suspect something is wrong and re-read a lot of literature about how the baby moves before childbirth. However, there is no cause for concern. It is quite normal for the baby to calm down on the eve of the birth. The mother may not even notice individual movements of the baby, since they are characterized by a rotational-translational nature, they become less sharp and slower than usual. The way children behave before childbirth is, in principle, natural. They move towards the cervix, the head of the crumbs falls lower and lower. All this will stimulate contractions, which will make childbirth faster and easier.

Expectant mothers very often at the subconscious level understand how children behave before childbirth. Many, without even feeling strong movements, still feel how the baby sank into the pelvis in order to take a comfortable position there. At this time, it becomes more difficult for a woman to walk, but it is easier to breathe, as it does not “support” the chest.

Taking into account the fact that pregnancy in each individual case has many individual differences, and the behavior of babies also manifests itself in different ways, it is impossible to unambiguously and specifically say how children behave before childbirth. Approximately at 38-39 weeks, the mother should feel about 10 movements for 6 hours. Thus, 1-2 movements per hour are considered the norm. However, do not forget that the baby can sleep, and therefore not move at all for an hour. In this case, you should not panic. Waking up, the baby will definitely tell his mother that everything is in order with him, with the help of another push.

Sometimes women just before childbirth, on the contrary, note the excessive activity of the baby. The reason for this phenomenon may be the strong excitement of the expectant mother, which is transmitted to the baby. That is why a woman should always remain calm: neither she nor the child needs stress.

Doctors add to the list of important indicators when examining the movement of the child. From the same period, the doctor insists that the mother also monitor the baby's movements and their frequency, as this may indicate the intrauterine life of the baby. Of course, these indicators will be different throughout the entire period of pregnancy. For example, the most active child is considered to be at the beginning of the third trimester. After all, it is during this period that there is still quite a lot of room for the child to tumble around, and his limbs have become much stronger and he begins to test them with might and main and kick his mother. But the less time left before delivery, the less space there is in the uterus and this will affect the movements of the child, which becomes very difficult to move. But this will not affect his height and weight gain in any way. This will be especially evident in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy, because in order to be born you need to accumulate a lot of strength.

It is quite normal that before childbirth the child cannot move very actively, and this does not bring much pleasure. Therefore, the movements before childbirth become somewhat different than they were before. The baby moves very little, but at the same time all his blows are very strong and clear. And it is in this position that most babies show how dissatisfied they are with this state of affairs and how they do not like that there is so little space inside. In addition, mom will clearly feel every movement, because there is absolutely no room left for a normal turn.

Also, the next very important point is that all the movements of the child will be directed down to the cervix. Just before birth, he takes a position with his head down, preparing for birth. At the same time, the mother will feel that walking has become completely uncomfortable, but at the same time it has become much easier to breathe. At the same time, the huge belly does not support the chest and shortness of breath has disappeared somewhere. By the movements of the child before childbirth, one can also understand how soon this event will occur. Usually, a couple of weeks before the birth, most babies begin to move very little, and already when there are a few days left before the birth, their activity increases very sharply. Therefore, when this happens, you can safely prepare for the road to the hospital.

Of course, childbirth may not begin immediately, it may take a few more weeks. But still, one must be extremely careful and not go anywhere alone, and things should already be fully assembled.

Prenatal control of fetal movements

Therefore, if after the examination the doctor says that you should not worry about the frequent or not very movements of the baby, then you should heed his advice. After all, this most likely means that there is very little time left before meeting with the baby and you need to start preparing hard for this important event.

Any woman wants to know how the fetus should behave during pregnancy and before contractions. To calm herself, the girl must understand and feel the behavior of the child before childbirth. She has a lot of questions: in what position should the fetus be, how long before birth does the child calm down, how does its activity change during labor?

If the gynecologist notes that everything is fine with the unborn child, the expectant mother still wants to understand his signals. She calms down when the fetus begins to move for the first time. With peculiar movements, he communicates with his future mother, reports on his condition. If you listen to the movements of the child, you can understand how the pregnancy is going.

Experts note that until the 5th month, a woman does not have to feel tremors. But in some cases, the future baby manifests itself within a couple of months after conception. If you pass, it will be noticeable how the child begins to move his limbs. If a woman is pregnant for the first time, then she can confuse the first movements with the rapid digestion of food.

Sensations appear as a result of the fact that the development of the nervous system in the fetus, which is responsible for activity, begins. As the body forms, the brain sends signals to the muscle fibers, so they begin to contract. The activity of the fetus is unconscious. When it is still small, it is not able to reach the uterus, so the woman takes these movements for the digestive process.

Prenatal behavior of the fetus

If a woman is pregnant for the first time, then she still does not know if the child is quiet or active before giving birth? At the 24th week, there is not enough space for the unborn child. But the activity of the child before childbirth can noticeably decrease. This happens for several reasons:

1. The baby is developing rapidly. Despite the fact that throughout pregnancy, the uterus stretches and increases in size, closer to childbirth, there is less space. Therefore, the fetus simply does not have enough space to be active. Plus, in the last months, the uterus prolapses, so the fetus is fixed in one position between the pelvic bones.
2. Over time, the child takes a vertical position upside down, so the uterus experiences strong pressure, and its upper part has practically no nerve endings, so the woman does not feel anything. In fact, the baby is constantly moving. As a result, the expectant mother does not understand if the baby is moving before childbirth.

If you want to check that the unborn child is moving, then you can go for little tricks:

• You need to eat cake, sweets or drink sweet tea.
• After that, you need to sit comfortably on a chair. After about an hour, the woman will feel that the fetus has begun to manifest itself.

Read also: How to recognize an ectopic pregnancy early

But if the child is in the sleep stage, then such a trick may not work. In this case, the procedure must be repeated after a few hours. If after that the child did not become active, then it is recommended to contact a professional gynecologist to assess the situation. In addition, you need to know how many days before the birth the child calms down. If there are about 10 days left before the birth of the baby, then his activity may decrease significantly.

You also need to understand that the child begins to form an individual character, and the sensitivity of women can be different. In one future mother, the fetus can constantly move, while in the other, behave more calmly.

In the stomach, boys are more active than calm girls. So there is no need to worry about such things. But if the behavior has changed dramatically, then this may indicate certain problems. If the child is active for a long time before giving birth, then you need to urgently contact your doctor.

In this case, the doctor prescribes cardiography to assess the health of the fetus and check its heartbeat, that is, it checks the work of the cardiovascular system. Thanks to such diagnostics, it is possible to determine the risk of oxygen starvation. This pathology is called hypoxia, which can lead to serious complications. There are several causes of hypoxia:

• Rh blood conflict.
• Some diseases of the expectant mother.
• Bleeding.
• Compression of the umbilical cord.

If hypoxia is at an early stage, then the fetus dramatically changes its behavior towards constant activity, in some cases, tremors lead to pain. If the pathology continues to develop, then the future baby may calm down for a long time, which is very dangerous, since the fetus may die. Therefore, a woman needs to constantly check the activity of the child.

However, the active behavior of the child before childbirth is not always evidence of complications and problems. If a woman lies on her back, crosses her legs or sits in a chair, then the supply of the required amount of oxygen to the fetus is reduced, so it does not calm down for a long time. In this case, expectant mother need to change position. Experts recommend checking activity at least twice a day after the 28th week of pregnancy.

Fetal position

With the approach of the term, the baby takes a vertical position, the limbs are pressed to the body, the buttocks look up, the chin is pressed to the chest. This position is good for getting out.

Only in 5% of cases, the fetus does not change the horizontal position. Also, the baby can be in a transverse position, in practice this is rare. In these cases, you have to do a caesarean section.

The expectant mother determines the position of the fetus without an ultrasound. At the last stages of the course of pregnancy, a woman can understand which part, the baby wants to come out into the world. If it is in the correct position, then the mother feels tremors in the upper abdomen. But if movements are felt in the lower abdomen, then most likely the fetus has taken a sitting position.

At the 9th month, the doctor prescribes an ultrasound to determine the position of the fetus. There are times when the baby takes the correct position almost before childbirth. The following factors contribute to the pelvic position of the child:

• Low water.
• The placenta takes a lower position.
• Small fruit size.
• And others.

A woman can contribute to the correct adoption of the position of the crumbs:

1. Exercise regularly with a fitball. You can perform various exercises that stimulate the activity of the pelvic organs.
2. Lower your belly naturally. To do this, you need to sit on the very edge of the chair, spread your legs so that the stomach with the baby hangs down.
3. In the last months of pregnancy, you need to lead an active lifestyle, without heavy loads. It is recommended to spend more time walking outdoors.
4. Pregnant women are advised to visit the swimming pool. Such activity helps if the child calms down before childbirth, but you need to consider how many days before he was born, he became passive. After all, in about 2 weeks, the fetus is at rest.
5. Lie on one side for 15 minutes, then roll over to the other side. Repeat the movements at least 5 times.
6. It is also useful to swing the hips in the knee-elbow position.