Abstract: A method (10) for suppressing the maternal electrocardiograph (MECG) signal from a composite abdominal ECG including an MECG signal, an fetal ECG (FECG) signal and noise to obtain a substantially MECG-free FECG trace. The method (10) of the present invention includes the placement of a plurality of electrodes (26) about the periphery of the mother to detect a substantially pure MECG (12) and a composite MECG+FECG signal (14). A scalp electrode (32A), which is invasive to the fetus (72), and an intrauterine catheter electrode (32B), which is non-invasive to the fetus (72), may be alternately used to detect the signal (14), both electrodes (32A,32B) being invasive to the mother. A preprocessor (34) converts the signals (12,14) obtained by the individual electrodes (26,32A,32B) attached to, or invasive to, the mother (70) into appropriate electrical or digital signals for MECG suppression, and selectively performs a filtering operation to remove noise and other distortions.