How Many Babies Are Stillborn? Stillbirth affects about 1 in 175 births, and each year about 21,000 babies are stillborn in the United States. That is about the same as the number of babies that die during the first year of life.
Stillbirth in Australia
In Australia, 6 babies are stillborn each day, affecting more than 2,000 Australian families each year.
At or after 40 weeks, the risk of stillbirth increases, especially for women 35 or older. Their risk, research shows, is doubled from 39 weeks to 40 and is more than six times as high at 42 weeks.
While the risk of stillbirth is increased in pregnancies that go beyond 42 weeks, it is still relatively small, at 4 to 7 deaths per 1000 deliveries, as opposed to 2 to 3 deaths per 1000 deliveries in women who deliver between 37 and 42 weeks.
Stopping of fetal movement and kicks. Spotting or bleeding. No fetal heartbeat heard with stethoscope or Doppler. No fetal movement or heartbeat seen on ultrasound, which makes the definitive diagnosis that a baby is stillborn.
What causes a stillbirth? There can be a number of reasons why a baby is stillborn however sometimes a cause cannot be found. In Australia, the major causes of stillbirth are infection, the health of the mother, bleeding, a premature labour that cannot be stopped or an abnormality with the developing baby.
In the SCRN study, placental problems were the leading cause of stillbirths that took place before birth, and these deaths tended to occur after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Birth defects. In more than 1 of every 10 stillbirths, the fetus had a genetic or structural birth defect that probably or possibly caused the death.
Most babies (91%) in Australia are born at term (37–41 weeks). This is similar across the states and territories and has been stable over time.
The 39-week rule means that a pregnant woman who has an identifiable risk factor for stillbirth but who does not have an accepted “indication” for labor induction has no choice but to wait until at least 39 weeks 0 days before she can be delivered.
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. A low, absent, or especially high kick count can be a cause for concern.
In 2020, there were: 295,976 babies born to 291,712 women. 3,004 perinatal deaths (1% of babies born). Of these deaths, just over three-quarters (76%) were stillbirths (2,273) and 24% (731) were neonatal deaths.
More than 40% of stillbirths occur during labour and birth and are preventable with high quality care during pregnancy and birth.
Women in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia bear the greatest burden of stillbirths in the world. More than three-quarters of estimated stillbirths in 2021 occurred in these two regions, with 47 per cent of the global total in sub-Saharan Africa and 32 per cent in South Asia.
Previous studies have shown that maternal factors alone can predict about 16% of all stillbirths at a 5% FPR, and that the addition of screening tests and biomarkers can improve the prediction rate to one third of all stillbirths at the end of first trimester and to nearly half of all stillbirths at the end of second ...
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.
Your nausea and vomiting may be worse than ever: Morning sickness peaks around 9 or 10 weeks of pregnancy for many women. That's when levels of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are highest (morning sickness is thought to be linked to rises in hCG and estrogen).
For all maternal deaths: cardiovascular disease (31 deaths or 16%) thromboembolism (22 deaths or 11%) suicide (20 deaths or 10%)
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.
The high-calorie, high-fat diet common in our society has negative effects on placental function and may be a significant contributor to adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as stillbirth," said Antonio Frias, M.D., principal investigator and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology (perinatology/maternal-fetal ...
Known contributors include birth defects and genetic problems, problems with the placenta or umbilical cord, or health conditions of the mother such as uncontrolled diabetes.
The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) calls for each country to achieve a rate of 12 stillbirths or fewer per 1,000 total births by 2030 and to close equity gaps. Source: United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) 2023.