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The 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 Campaign

Count the Kicks is committed to preventing stillbirths and eliminating racial disparities by making kick counting a common practice in the third trimester of pregnancy. Our campaign is an effective tool to help you talk to expectant parents about fetal movement. Together we can help more babies have a healthy birth day. 

Get Started

Count the Kicks is committed to preventing stillbirths and eliminating disparities, but we can’t do it without the help of dedicated healthcare professionals like you.

  • 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 90-minute training will help you learn more about our evidence-based campaign 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

Learn More

Teaching patients to 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 wellbeing in the third trimester.

  • 1 in 169

    1 in every 169 of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in stillbirth, according to the CDC.

  • 1 in 96

    For Black women 1 in every 96 pregnancies in the U.S. end in stillbirth, according to the CDC.

  • 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 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 percent 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

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 parents-to-be can get started right away.

TESTIMONIALS

“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

"If both the patient and the physician utilized the Count the Kicks program, the way it's designed to be utilized, I think there would be a significant reduction in the number of stillbirths across the country."

Dr. Stephen Hunter, Associate Director of the Iowa Statewide Perinatal Care Program

Download the App

By having a kick counting session each day in the third trimester with the free Count the Kicks app, you can monitor your baby’s health and get to know what’s normal for them.

Get the App
A woman's hand holds a smartphone with the Count the Kicks app on screen.

Paper Kick Counting Charts

CE Training

A Healthcare Professional’s Guide on Talking to Expectant Parents about Count the Kicks

This 90-minute 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

Showing parents-to-be 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.

Every patient needs to learn how to Count the Kicks — not just high-risk moms, which is why childbirth education classes are a vital time to educate expectant parents about Count the Kicks.

Resources for Childbirth Educators

TESTIMONIALS

“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

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there may be changes to regularly scheduled prenatal visits and an increase in telehealth appointments, which means expectant parents may not be seeing their provider in person as often.

 

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 howCount 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.