‘Quiet’ babies linked to stillbirths
Six years ago, Laura Rowney’s baby stopped moving in her womb.
At the time, Rowney thought it was because her first child, Hazel Karina, had grown and had no space to move around.
She went into labour the next day at 37 weeks and four days. But as her daughter was monitored during labour, medical staff couldn’t find a heartbeat and Hazel was stillborn.
‘‘For as long as I live, I don’t think I’ll get over the fact my child died,’’ she said.
‘‘But I have learned to give her little life meaning. I live everyday for her, to give her life purpose and that helps me.’’
Her children, aged five, four and 18 months, have been told about their older sister and friends and family help keep her memory alive.
Rowney believed the more we talk about stillbirths and miscarriages, the more information we can spread.
Hutt midwife and PhD student Billie Bradford has recently completed research into still births, finding women who report their unborn baby is ‘‘quieter’’ in the evening have a significantly increased risk of stillbirth.
In the womb, a baby is described as ‘‘quiet’’ when they move less and those movements are weaker than normal.
She wants to increase awareness for pregnant mothers to seek help as early as possible.
‘‘If we do more research around time of day and normal patterns we might get better at assessing women who are concerned about movements and hopefully save babies’ lives.’’
There were 305 stillbirths in New Zealand in 2015.
‘‘That might sound like a small number but that’s 10 classrooms of kids. That’s about one stillbirth per 190 live births. The impact on families is huge.’’
Bradford was one of the researchers from the University of Auckland collaborating on the Multi-Centre Stillbirth Study.
The case-control study was conducted across seven of the country’s largest DHBs and explored potential risk factors for stillbirths.
For the study, 164 women who had a stillbirth at 28 weeks or later were interviewed, as well as 569 control women at the same stage with an ongoing pregnancy.
Bradford said they were trying to find more information about what was different about a baby’s movement in women who had a stillbirth compared to women with an ongoing pregnancy.
Previous studies had shown a decrease in both the frequency and strength of movement were associated with an increased risk of late stillbirth.
Bradford’s research built on that, finding women who reported their babies were ‘‘quiet’’ in the evening had a more than threefold increased risk of stillbirth. Evening was a time when babies were usually more active.
‘‘Babies in the womb tend to be a bit like newborns. They’re party animals - they have little naps during the day and then want to stay up late at night,’’ she said.
The majority of stillbirths were normally formed and Bradford said in almost a third of cases, the reason for the death was unexplained.
Both pregnant women and bereaved mothers taking part in the study reported they were glad to be involved in something that could help women in the future, Bradford said.
She presented her findings at the annual congress of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand. Her presentation netted her an award for best oral presentation.