Electronic Fetal Heart Monitoring: What To Think About

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What To Think About

• Not everyone feels the same about fetal monitoring.
  • Some mothers think that fetal heart monitoring is not needed and interferes with the natural birthing process.
  • Other mothers think that fetal heart monitoring is reassuring. This may be true if they had problems with earlier pregnancies.
• Fetal monitoring cannot predict every type of problem, such as birth defects. Normal fetal heart monitoring test results do not mean that your baby is healthy.
• Continuous monitoring during labor is more likely to be useful for high-risk pregnancies. Intermittent fetal heart monitoring during labor is as effective as continuous monitoring in low-risk pregnancies.
• If your baby appears to be having problems, sometimes a blood sample is taken from a small blood vessel (capillary) in his or her scalp. The blood sample can help determine if your baby is receiving enough oxygen.
• Your baby may move more if you eat or drink juice before having a nonstress test. This may make the test results more useful.
• Sometimes other methods (such as ringing a bell near the uterus) are used to cause changes in your baby's heart rate.
• External fetal heart monitoring is used during other tests of fetal health, such as a nonstress test, contraction stress test, and biophysical profile. For more information, see the medical tests Contraction Stress Test and Biophysical Profile (BPP).

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