Count the Kicks

Recently, one of our doulas was speaking with her birth doula clients about the clients’ goals for her labor and delivery experience. The client shared all that matters to her and her partner was for both her, and their baby, to come through the experience alive.  Given the very real concerns the client expressed, her doula told her directly that she should consider using the Count the Kick app, because it’s an evidence-based way to reduce preventable stillbirths. To this the client replied that she knew about Count the Kicks, and had discussed it with her doctor, but that they felt it would cause her unnecessary stress and anxiety, so she decided not to use it, since she felt her baby move all the time anyway. 

This is a really common thing doulas might hear from clients. That is, the idea that too much information might cause them to have increased or unwarranted anxiety. We understand the struggle our clients might feel when it comes to wanting enough information to make informed decisions but not so much as to increase anxiety throughout pregnancy!

However, when we spoke with former Doulas of Capitol Hill client, Liz O’Donnell, mother to Aaliyah who was stillborn, and founder of Aaliyah in Action, she shared her own experience as someone who had a low-risk, healthy pregnancy and yet had a stillbirth. Liz told us, “CTK is a form of bonding with your baby - not a source of anxiety or a fear-based tool. It really disappoints me to hear that (a healthcare) provider deter(red) a parent from using a tool that could have strengthened my bond with Aaliyah and potentially save her life.”   

The good news that we know from evidence and experience: knowledge is power! 

In the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks campaign in Iowa, the state’s stillbirth rate went down 32% while rates in the rest of the country remained relatively stagnant. According to the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs,  “If every state implemented our Count the Kicks program, we have the potential of saving 7,500 babies from preventable stillbirths each year.”

The Count the Kicks app has several benefits to people who are having healthy pregnancies and want to be more empowered, as well as for those who have a history of loss or concern for complications. 

The Count the Kicks app is for anyone who wants to exercise every opportunity in their power to prevent stillbirth!

1. Count the Kicks increases bonding and attachment with both the mother/birthing person and their partner with the baby!  How do we know this?  Well we know that physical touch releases oxytocin, which is the love hormone and the hormone responsible for attachment and bonding in mammals. When parents set-aside time together to learn what their baby’s normal rhythms and patterns are, this increases the attachment and bonding parents will feel toward their baby.

2. The Count the Kicks method is effective at reducing stillbirths.

3. Count the Kicks is a non-invasive way to monitor their baby’s health.

4. Research has shown that expectant parents of color are more likely to experience the tragedy of stillbirth.  Healthy Birth Day, the organization behind Count the Kicks app, makes health equity the center of their focus.  Their mission, as shared on their website, is “to improve birth outcomes through programming, advocacy, and research. Health Equity is at the center of our work, with a goal to reduce the racial disparities that persist. We help save babies using the evidence-based Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program, which educates expectant parents on the importance of tracking their babies’ movements in the third trimester of pregnancy and to speak up if they notice a change.”

Download the App - Count the Kicks today!

Count the Kicks is an easy, free, reliable way for expectant parents to monitor their baby’s well-being in the third trimester in addition to regular prenatal visits.