Talking with women about monitoring

These resources are designed to support midwives and obstetricians to have conversations with women about fetal monitoring, so that women can make informed decisions.

Why is this important?

Women need evidence-based information about their options to make an informed choice about fetal monitoring during labour.

What Listen2Baby found

In Listen2Baby we found that women often lacked information about fetal monitoring. Some were unaware of their options, and could not recall any discussion about fetal monitoring before or during their labour, or did not know they could discuss these with their care provider. Some women reported being put on continuous EFM without any discussion about reasons why or their options.

We also found that midwives and obstetricians were not always confident talking to women about their options and did not have the resources they need to support those conversations.

Hear about women’s experience of IA (and fetal monitoring in general)

Read about women’s experience of monitoring

Next Steps

Collect data

Do you know if conversations about fetal monitoring options happen antenatally and on admission in labour? Are these conversations documented?

We recommend:

Ensure discussions about fetal monitoring take place at or before 36 week check
Add a tick box to your EPR to record information about monitoring has been given to women
Collect this information routinely and include it in your regular audit.