A new way to monitor fetal movement from home

Engineers and obstetricians at Monash University and The University of Sydney have developed a soft, adhesive patch that tracks a baby’s movements through the mother’s abdomen, offering a more accurate and comfortable way to support safer pregnancies outside the clinic.

Published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science "Science Advances", the thin 10–14 cm² wearable detected rolling, stretching and kicking with over 90% accuracy in a clinical trial of 59 pregnant women.

Associate Professor Dr Vinayak Smith from Monash University's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology said the device aims to fill a long-standing gap in at-home monitoring.

“Fetal movements tell us a lot about how a baby is doing, but right now we don’t have an easy, comfortable way to track them continuously outside the hospital. Our soft wearable is designed to change that,” he says.

Co-corresponding author Dr Faezeh Marzbanrad, Head of the Biomedical Signal Processing Research Lab in Monash Engineering, said the device combines soft materials with intelligent signal processing and AI.

“Different fetal movements create distinct patterns on the abdominal surface, captured by the sensors. The machine-learning system detects fetal movement while cancelling maternal movements,” she said.

“By integrating sensor data with AI, the system captures a wider range of fetal movements while remaining compact and comfortable.”

Read the full article here - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ady2661