Stillbirth: Pregnant women warned to avoid smartphone app with two babies recently dying

EXCLUSIVE: Doctors are warning pregnant women not to rely on smart phone apps to avoid stillbirth after two women recently lost babies.

Pregnant women have been warned to avoid a smartphone app that could risk a stillbirth.

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DOCTORS are warning pregnant women not to rely on smart phone apps to avoid stillbirth after two women recently lost babies.

Dr Lucy Bowyer, Acting Head of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women, said the hospital had cared for two women who had relied on a smart phone app to assure them that their unborn baby’s heart beat had been normal, but had gone on to experienced stillbirth.

A range of baby heart beat apps are available on the market for download onto smart phones, but Dr Bowyer said there was no clinical evidence these apps could monitor heart beat successfully or reliably.

Doctors are telling women to call for medical advice, or go into a GP, rather than relying on an app.

“Women with reduced foetal movements must ring for medical advice, not rely upon phone apps which cannot listen to the foetal heart with any clinical success,” Dr Bowyer said. “Even if you could hear the heartbeat, if you are not clinically trained you don’t know what you listening out for.

“It’s such a tragedy to deliver a stillborn baby when urgent medical assessment and intervention may have prevented that loss,” Dr Bowyer said.

Dr Bowyer said the increasing popularity of smart phone apps which claim to help you hear baby’s heart beat are often advertised to help you bond with baby but they can give a false sense of security.

“One lady was using the app to listen to the foetal heart beat because the baby had not been moving and she had been partially reassured the baby was okay. In both cases the women were given a false sense of security.”

Pregnant women are turning to apps to see if their baby’s heartrate and general movement is normal.

Many women fear they are being a burden if they are concerned about reduced baby movement and hold off calling a health professional, but decreased movement is a serious risk factor for stillbirth.

“Many women don’t want to waste our time, but if you are concerned about your baby’s movements, we would rather hear from you than take the risk of stillbirth.

“We would rather you make a fuss so just ring the doctor, the midwife of the delivery suite, there is always someone to talk to,” Dr Bowyer said.

Around six babies a day are stillborn in Australia.

The Stillbirth Foundation, in conjunction with the Mater Research Institute at the University of Queensland, is currently trialling an app called the My Baby’s Movement app in 72 hospitals around Australia. The app is not yet available for sale but it is hoped it will help pregnant women understand what is normal or not with regards to their baby’s movement in the womb.