Traditional medicine relies on periodic clinical visits and often involves the use of uncomfortable monitoring devices, which can limit continuous patient comfort. This approach is particularly restrictive during pregnancy, when ongoing observation can be crucial for both mother and fetus. To overcome these limitations, smart textiles and sensorised garments integrate biosensors directly into fabrics, enabling real-time physiological monitoring in daily life and advancing personalised maternal healthcare.

Experience from both past and current applications shows that smart textiles for pregnancy monitoring face several challenges. Among the most common are unstable signal quality, motion artefacts, difficulties with sensor placement, skin irritation, variations in body shape, and the loss of proper fit as the body changes throughout pregnancy.

This project focuses on developing sensor-enabled garments designed for personalised and tailored antenatal monitoring. The main goal is to define clear design principles and performance requirements for wearable devices that can provide continuous, reliable signal acquisition while preserving comfort, mobility, and secure skin contact.

Therefore, to address these challenges, the study combines smart textile technologies with anthropometric design. The vision is a comfortable, multimodal pregnancy monitoring system made from bio-based, stretch-knitted fabrics, incorporating modular sensor placement that adjusts to body shape changes during pregnancy. Through this approach, the project seeks to bridge engineering innovation with patient-centred healthcare.

This research is still in its conceptual and planning phase. Future work will include anthropometric studies of body-shape changes during pregnancy, laboratory experiments, textile pressure mapping, prototype development, and continuous signal-quality tests, providing evidence for the selected bio-based stretch-knitted fabrics and strengthening its relevance for both academic research and future industry applications