Maternal food intake has no effect on fetal heart rate parameters

Objective To assess whether maternal food intake must be considered an impo rtant variable in fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring. Methods Various FHR parameters were determined in 25 healthy pregnant women at 36-41 weeks of gestation. Two-hour FHR recordings were made twice in a randomized counterbalanced fashion, once without and once after a 450-kcal breakfast. Results There were no dramatic differences in any of the studied parameters (basal FHR, long-term and short-term variation, incidence of heart rate pa ttern A) between the maternal fasting and non-fasting states. Conclusions Maternal food intake does not have an important effect on the o utcome parameters of FHR monitoring.