Often there aren't any noticeable symptoms or signs before a stillbirth. But there are some things that you should look out for during your pregnancy.
Despite the scale of stillbirths – and the fact that many of these deaths are preventable — they remain a largely invisible, unrecognized and underresourced issue. Stillbirths are often absent from current national and global policies and programmes.
Before birth, the only way to know for sure whether a stillbirth has occurred is to determine if the fetus's heart is beating. This is often done using ultrasound,2 a type of imaging that projects harmless sound waves through the mother's body to create an image.
How long can you keep a stillborn baby? Generally, it is medically safe for the mother to continue carrying her baby until labor begins which is normally about 2 weeks after the baby has died. This lapse in time can have an effect on the baby's appearance at delivery and it is best to be prepared for this.
Most women less than 20 weeks of pregnancy do not notice any symptoms of a fetal demise. The test used to check for a fetal demise in the second trimester is an ultrasound examination to see if the baby is moving and growing. Fetal demise is diagnosed when the ultrasound examination shows no fetal heart activity.
The heart of the baby starts to beat around the fifth week of pregnancy. To confirm the heartbeat of your baby, the doctor may conduct a non-stress test. The test monitors the heart rate of the baby and provides information about the potential threat, if any. A healthy heartbeat is between 110 to 160 per minute.
In the United States, there are similar numbers of stillbirth deaths and deaths of infants during their first year of life. That is, about one-half of all deaths between 20 weeks of pregnancy and the first birthday occur before delivery.
Some women find out that their baby has died only when they go for a routine scan. If they have not experienced any pain or bleeding, this can be a terrible shock, especially if the scan shows the baby died days or weeks before. This is sometimes called a missed or silent miscarriage.
Stillbirth can occur without symptoms, but the main one is not feeling fetal movement. 2 Doctors often instruct women who are past 28 weeks pregnant to track fetal kick counts at least once a day.
Research has shown that in the third trimester (after 28 weeks of pregnancy) going to sleep on your back increases your risk of stillbirth. As the link has now been shown in four separate research trials, our advice is to go to sleep on your side in the third trimester because it is safer for your baby.
Confirming the baby has died
Sometimes a mother may still feel her baby moving after the death has been confirmed. This can happen when the mother changes position. In this case, the mother may be offered another ultrasound scan.
Sleeping for more than nine hours per night, without disturbance, during pregnancy may be associated with late stillbirth, according to US researchers. Their study suggested that maternal sleep habits, including lengthy periods of sleep without waking more than once in the night, may be associated with foetal health.
The baby may also benefit. The risk of an unexplained or unexpected stillbirth may be reduced by cesarean section, as may be the risk of complications of labour such as clinical chorioamnionitis, fetal heart rate abnormalities and cord prolapse.
In more than 1 of every 10 stillbirths, the fetus had a genetic or structural birth defect that probably or possibly caused the death. Infection. In more than 1 of every 10 stillbirths, the death was likely caused either by an infection in the fetus or in the placenta, or by a serious infection in the mother.
Unemployed mothers were similarly more likely to have stillborn babies (2.85x higher risk - 6.12% vs 1.32%). High levels of perceived stress were shown to double the risk of stillbirth (3.57% vs 1.17%) independent of other social factors and pregnancy complications that can put pressure on mothers.
Stillbirth can be diagnosed by ultrasound examination to show that the baby's heart is no longer beating. After delivery, the baby is found to be stillborn if there are no signs of life such as breathing, heartbeat, and movements.
Sudden or severe swelling in your face, hands or fingers. A severe headache or one that doesn't go away. Pain or cramping in your lower abdomen or severe back pain. Pain or burning when you urinate or decreased urine output.
In general, call your baby's doctor if your infant seems especially sluggish, is refusing food or drink, is vomiting (not just spitting-up), has diarrhea, or has a fever. Remember, if you're worried, there's probably a good reason even if you don't recognize it, so don't hesitate to call your baby's doctor.
A gestational sac with a yolk sac is observed in a scan but, 11 or more days later, there is no embryo with a heartbeat. A gestational sac without a yolk sac is observed in a scan but, two or more weeks later, there is no embryo with a heartbeat (this means the pregnancy has stopped progressing)
Approximately 1-5% of all pregnancies will result in a missed miscarriage.