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Count the Kicks Academy for Providers

A suite of resources to help maternal healthcare professionals educate expectant parents about fetal movement monitoring.
Count the Kicks brochures and app cards at the front desk of an OB/GYN office.

About Our Program

Count the Kicks is committed to preventing stillbirths and eliminating racial disparities by making fetal movement monitoring (kick counting) a common practice in the third trimester of pregnancy. Our program is an effective tool to help you talk with expectant parents about fetal movement monitoring.

Count the Kicks has been designated a Best Practice by the Association of Maternal Child Health Programs (AMCHP), and is endorsed by the International Childbirth Educators Association (ICEA).

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Count the Kicks Research

Research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology proves the effectiveness of Count the Kicks as a method for stillbirth prevention. “Information about fetal movements and stillbirth trends: analysis of time series data,” was led by Dr. Alexander Heazell, a prominent stillbirth researcher at the University of Manchester in England. In this video, Dr. Heazell explains the research in his own words.

We encourage you to read the research study in BJOG and help us raise awareness by sharing this information with your networks.

Read the Research

Get Started

By discussing Count the Kicks with expectant parents, you can help improve birth outcomes for moms and babies. 

  • Order Materials

    Count the Kicks has educational posters, brochures, and app reminder cards available to order in English and Spanish.

    Order Materials

  • CE Training

    This 4-hour training will help you learn more about our evidence-based program and ways to respond if a patient reports reduced fetal movement.

    Continuing Education

  • Talk with Parents

    Ask expectant parents to download the FREE Count the Kicks app starting at 28 weeks, and continue the conversation at every appointment in the third trimester. 

    Parent Academy

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Teaching parents to use Count the Kicks is simple. It only takes a couple of minutes, and it could save a baby’s life.

Best Practices for Count the Kicks Providers

How to Count Kicks

Having the Kick Counting Conversation with Patients
Videos Hub

Why Count

Research shows tracking fetal movements is an easy and effective way to monitor a baby’s well-being in the third trimester.

  • 1 in 177

    1 in every 177 of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in stillbirth, according to the CDC.

  • 1 in 100

    According to the CDC, Black pregnancies in the U.S. have a 1 in 100 chance of ending in stillbirth.

  • 32%

    In the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks campaign in Iowa, the state’s stillbirth rate decreased nearly 32%.

Learn more about stillbirth in the U.S. and how Count the Kicks can help improve outcomes.

Stillbirth in the U.S.

Research on Fetal Movement

The Count the Kicks campaign was created based on public health research in Norway that demonstrated a 30% reduction in stillbirth by teaching pregnant women how to monitor fetal movement during the third trimester of pregnancy by doing kick counts on a daily basis. Learn more about the evidence behind our campaign.

Latest Research

Count the Kicks App

Our pregnancy app is free and available in 20+ languages in the app store. It is a simple, non-invasive way for expectant parents to monitor their baby’s well-being every day in the third trimester.

<em>Count the Kicks</em> App

The FREE Count the Kicks app is available in 20+ languages: Amharic, Arabic, Burmese, Mandarin Chinese, Dari, English, French, Haitian-Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Marshallese, Mongolian, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese.

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Printable Charts

Our paper counting charts are a great option for expectant parents who don’t have access to strong internet, broadband or a smartphone and can’t access our free app.

Download Charts

Digital Education

Our digital How to Count flyers give expectant parents a simple overview of how to use the Count the Kicks program to get to know their baby’s normal movement patterns. These digital flyers are a simple and accessible way to share Count the Kicks with expectant parents.

Digital Education

The How to Count flyers are available in several languages, and can be shared digitally via email, link, or QR code. 

Digital Education

What Providers Say

Healthcare Providers Recommend Count the Kicks

Every expectant parent needs to learn how to Count the Kicks, which is why the support of healthcare professionals is essential to make kick counting a common practice. The best time to teach Count the Kicks is at the beginning of the third trimester so mothers can get started right away.

TESTIMONIALS

Dr. Neil Mandsager, Medical Director, MercyOne Perinatal Center

“There is no doubt that Count the Kicks was critically important in reducing the stillbirth rate here in Iowa and I am sure it’s going to do the same across the country and around the world.”

–Dr. Neil Mandsager, Medical Director, MercyOne Perinatal Center

TESTIMONIALS

Rose L. Horton

“There is no doubt that Count the Kicks is vitally important in eradicating preventable stillbirths. Informing the birthing community of this user-friendly app is a game changer as well as a life saver. I am wholeheartedly in support as this aligns so well with my hashtag #notonmywatch, a call to action for all nurses to eradicate preventable maternal mortality.”

– Rose L. Horton, MSM, RNC-OB, NEA-BC, Specialty Director, Emory Decatur Hospital; Founder & CEO, #NotOnMyWatch Consulting Partners

CE Training

Standardizing Care for Healthy Beginnings: A Healthcare Professional's Guide to Conversations with Expectant Parents on Counting Kicks and Fetal Monitoring to Save Babies

This 4-hour CE Training helps healthcare professionals and birth workers develop a deeper understanding of our evidence-based program and learn proven strategies for how to talk to expectant parents about fetal movement.

Learn More

Childbirth Education

Teaching expectant parents how to Count the Kicks should be as common as teaching them the importance of taking a prenatal vitamin or having a car seat installed before their baby arrives.

Childbirth education classes are a vital time to educate expectant parents about Count the Kicks.

Resources for Childbirth Educators

  • Childbirth Education Lesson Plan- English

    Download

  • Childbirth Education Lesson Plan- Spanish

    Download

TESTIMONIALS

Jennifer Callahan, MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center

“In all of our prenatal classes at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, we teach our families about the importance of tracking baby’s movements in the 3rd trimester and counting their kicks.”

-Jenn Callahan, Manager of Childbirth Education and Doula Services for MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center

Telehealth and Virtual Doctor Visits

Educating Parents on Count the Kicks

By paying attention to their baby’s movements every day in the third trimester, expectant parents will have the peace of mind to know when things are OK and when things have changed. It’s like having a data download for motherly intuition! 

With the Count the Kicks app, expectant parents can even download and share data via text or email directly with their healthcare provider. This data can serve as a helpful resource to determine the next best steps for mom and baby. 

App: How to Share a Kick Counting Session

Meet our Baby Saves

Through years of outreach and education, the babies we have helped still inspire us the most.

Meet our baby saves and learn how Count the Kicks helped save their lives.

Baby Saves

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Disclaimer

This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant for diagnosis or treatment. Use of this information should be done in accordance with your healthcare provider.

©2021-2024 Healthy Birth Day, Inc.® and Count the Kicks® All Rights Reserved.

Count the Kicks® is a program of Healthy Birth Day, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the prevention of stillbirth through education, advocacy and research.