October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is teaming up with Count the Kicks to promote stillbirth prevention. Recently, Congress passed the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024, the first federal action focused on stillbirths in the U.S. This act allows state health departments to use part of a $2.6 billion fund for stillbirth prevention efforts.

In the U.S., stillbirth is when a baby is lost after 20 weeks of pregnancy, affecting over 21,000 families each year. Kansas is one of 30 states actively investing in stillbirth prevention.

The Count the Kicks program teaches parents how to monitor their baby’s movements in the third trimester, using a free app to recognize normal patterns. Changes in movement can signal problems during pregnancy. In Kansas, about 1 in every 182 pregnancies ends in stillbirth, with higher rates among certain racial groups.

KDHE encourages everyone to share the Count the Kicks app with expectant parents to help prevent stillbirths in Kansas.