Fetal movements and the imagined baby of pregnancy: Are they related?

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Abstract
Forty-four couples each expecting their first child participated in an investigation of infant temperament and activity level prior to birth. Parents' perceptions of foetal activity in the third trimester were moderately intercorrelated but were unrelated to more objective measures of foetal movements. More anxious mothers and fathers imagined their infants to be more temperamentally difficult. Mothers and fathers who reported more intense attachments to their infants also imagined them to be more active. Mothers reported significantly more intense feelings of attachment to the foetuses than did fathers, although couples demonstrated moderate convergence (r = 0.40) about attachment to their own foetuses. Although individual differences in parents' constructions of the imagined babies of pregnancy were demonstrated, they were not clearly derived from foetal movements. Directions for future research are indicated, including a discussion of the problems of measuring activity level prenatally.