does baby's heartrate slow at 3rd trimester?

[krissyy]

i went in today for my 30 week check and my little girl's heartbeat was only at 140.  the entire pregnancy it has been 150-155.  should i be worried??  does is slow down as you get closer to delivery?  my doctor didn't say anything about it and i am kicking myself for not bringing it up to him.

[JustMe0925]

My daughters heartrate went from 171 to the 150's and then all the way to 130's.  I was worried too, but everything was just fine!!!

[spade22]

Baby's heart rate will typically range from 120-180 bpm.  When your baby is sleeping it will be on the lower side, when awake it will be higher  and a few seconds after movement, it should jump by about 15 bbp!  If you were to have a non-stress test (where they monitor HB over 20-60 min and correlate it with fetal movement) you would see that the values really do vary over that 60 bpm window over that time. As the other ladies said, you have nothing to worry about!

[krissyy]

oh thank you all sooooooooooooo much!  i feel so much better now!  everything you said makes so much sense and i am glad that i am not the only one that has experienced this!  :-)

[BTS1022]

I had the same thing happen although im only 24 weeks. My doc says that the babies HB usually varies throughout the pregnancy, like adults and small children your heart rate increases with activity and decreases a bit when your in a resting position. When you get further along baby has less room to be as active as he once was, thats why their heart rates tend to drop.

My baby was at a constant 147 and once he started moving around a lot it has been about 152, but it decreases to 140 and 138 when he is resting, and goes up when he is active.

[Linzola1]

I also worried about that when I was at the end of my pregnancy, but it is completely normal. Best of Luck in your upcomming delivery.

[JoyRenee]

I think the reason the heartrate is slower is because your baby is bigger. When your baby was very tiny (those first few weeks) her heartrate may have been closer to 170 because she was so tiny. Think of it this way: the bigger the body, the longer it takes for blood to flow through the entire body. Therefore the heartrate will be slower (takes more time to pump blood through a larger body).

[irrelevance]

Nope! You shouldn't be worried at all. :) It's normal (I'm not sure the reason, though) For their heartrates to vary, and for them to slow down a bit when you get further along. It happened to me, too.