OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the magnitude of foetal movements and level of prenatal attachment within a 24h period among women in the third trimester of pregnancy.

DESIGN: a prospective population-based survey.

SETTING: A county in central Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS: Low risk pregnant women from 34 to 42 weeks gestation, N=456, 299 multiparous and 157 primiparous women.

MEASUREMENTS: The revised version of the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI-R) and assessment of the perception of foetal movements per 24h in the current gestational week.

FINDINGS: A total of 81 per cent of the eligible women completed the questionnaire. The overall sample of women found that the majority (96%) felt their baby move mostly in the evening. More than half of the respondents (55%) stated that they perceived frequent foetal movement on two occasions during a 24h period, while almost a fifth (18%) never or only once reported frequent foetal movement in a 24h period. Just over a quarter (26%) of respondents perceived frequent movement at least three times during a 24h period. Perceiving frequent foetal movements on three or more occasions during a 24h period, was associated with higher scores of prenatal attachment in all the three subscales.

KEY CONCLUSION: Perceiving frequent foetal movements at least during three occasions per 24h periods in late pregnancy was associated with prenatal attachment.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: encouraging women to focus on foetal movements may positively affect prenatal attachment, especially among multiparous women >35 years.