From Giving Birth with Confidence.

• Routine continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) provides no benefit for babies and increases the risk of instrumental (e.g. use of forceps) vaginal births and cesarean deliveries.
• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that for healthy, low-risk births  (most births), fetal heart rate be monitored with a fetoscope or Doppler stethoscope every 30 minutes in active labor and every 15 minutes during pushing.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages intermittent manual listening and warns that EFM is often used inappropriately.

You May Need Continuous EFM If...

• Your labor is induced or sped up with Pitocin.
• You have an epidural.
• Your baby’s heart rate changes.
• You or your baby has a health problem.

How to Avoid Unnecessary Continuous EFM

• Remember that routine use of continuous EFM doesn’t make labor safer for your baby.
• Find a caregiver who doesn’t use continuous EFM routinely.
• Talk to your caregiver about intermittent fetal monitoring.
• Stay at home as long as possible in labor.

How to Keep Labor as Safe and Healthy as Possible if You Need Continuous EFM

• Remember that your body knows how to protect your baby during labor.
• Continue to move as much as possible, both in and out of bed.
• Ask staff to turn off the monitor’s sound.
• Ask staff to turn the monitor away from you and your helpers so it doesn’t distract you.
• Ask for a telemetry monitor (that is, one that's not attached by wires to the machine).
• Ask to be disconnected from the monitor for regular trips to the toilet.
• Remind your helpers that you are the one in labor, not the machine.