Checking the well-being of your baby (Non-Stress Test)

There may be times during your pregnancy that your healthcare provider may want to be reassured about the well-being of your baby. A Non-Stress Test (NST), along with an Ultrasounds (US) and Biophysical Profile (BPP), are ways for your healthcare provider to check on your baby.

A NST involves monitoring the baby using an external fetal monitor to produce a tracing of your baby's heart beat and looking for specific criteria that will tell us if the tracing is normal. This test normally takes about 20-30 minutes but in some cases it may take longer depending on baby's activity.