Electronic Fetal Heart Monitoring: What Affects The Test
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What Affects the Test
Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include:
- Smoking cigarettes or using other tobacco products and drinking or eating large amounts of caffeine (such as from several cups of strong coffee), which can falsely raise your baby's heart rate.
- Extra noises such as your heartbeat or your stomach rumbling.
- Your baby is sleeping during a nonstress test.
- Problems with the placement of the external monitoring device. These problems may include:
- Your baby is moving a lot during the test.
- You are pregnant with more than one baby, such as twins or triplets.
- You are overweight.
| Last updated: | June 28, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Sandy Jocoy, RN |
| Reviewed By: | Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine, Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology |
| Editors: | Kathleen M. Ariss, MS, Pat Truman, MATC |
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