Pregnancy loss

Stillbirth

A stillbirth is the birth of a fully formed baby who is dead. The death of the baby in the uterus may have occurred weeks or hours before labour or during labour.

The cause is never clear in many stillbirths. A stillbirth is not likely to occur in a subsequent birth. When a cause can be identified it is often traced either to defects in the baby, especially chromosomal, or lack of oxygen, sometimes caused by the position of the umbilical cord. Smoking, cocaine use and high blood pressure may all be risk factors.

Sometimes, women who have given birth to a stillborn baby suspect that medical intervention during the birth contributed to the death of their newborn infant. Although it's become common to blame doctors when there's a problem with a pregnancy or birth, there is no research supporting the theory that intervention during birth causes stillbirths.

Women are less likely to have a stillbirth if they eat well, get early antenatal care and avoid cocaine and all recreational drugs during pregnancy.

Some doctors have suggested that pregnant women count foetal movements several times a day during the last weeks of pregnancy to prevent stillbirths. It's believed that if the baby moves less often than is thought of as normal (one estimate is ten movements within two hours) intervention — often in the form of an induced labour or a Caesarean — will prevent a possible stillbirth. However, research findings are mixed and it isn't certain that counting foetal movements and intervening reduces the number of stillbirths.