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Fetal Movement - WebMD: When You Feel Baby Kick

Written by Stephanie Watson

In this Article

• When Will I Feel My Baby Kicking?
• What Does the Baby's Kicking Feel Like?
• How Often Should I Feel My Baby Moving?
• Should I Monitor My Baby's Kicking?
• If You Don't Feel Your Baby Moving
• Timeline of Baby Movement

One of the most exciting moments in your pregnancy is when you feel those first little flutters of your baby kicking. These tiny movements reassure you that your baby is developing and help you feel closer to the little life inside of you.

When Will I Feel My Baby Kicking?

You should feel your baby's first movements, called "quickening," between weeks 16 and 25 of your pregnancy. If this is your first pregnancy, you may not feel your baby move until closer to 25 weeks. By the second pregnancy, some women start to feel movements as early as 13 weeks. You're more likely to feel baby move when you're in a quiet position, either sitting or lying down.

What Does the Baby's Kicking Feel Like?

Pregnant women describe their baby's movements as butterflies, nervous twitches, or a tumbling motion. At first, it may be hard to tell whether your baby has moved. Second- and third-time moms are more adept at distinguishing those first baby movements from gas, hunger pangs, and other internal motions.

By your second and third trimesters, the movements should be more distinct, and you'll be able to feel your baby's kicks, jabs, and elbows.

How Often Should I Feel My Baby Moving?

Early in your pregnancy, you may just feel a few flutters every now and then. But as your baby grows -- usually by the end of the second trimester -- the kicks should grow stronger and more frequent. Studies show that by the third trimester, the baby moves about 30 times each hour.

Babies tend to move more at certain times of the day as they alternate between alertness and sleep. They are usually most active between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., right as you're trying to get to sleep. This surge in activity is due to your changing blood sugar levels. Babies also can respond to sounds or touch, and may even kick your partner in the back if you snuggle too close in bed.

Should I Monitor My Baby's Kicking?

Once your baby's movements are well established (usually by week 28), some doctors recommend keeping track of all those little punches, jabs, and kicks to make sure your baby is still developing the way they should. This is known as a fetal movement assessment, fetal kick count, or fetal movement counting.

Obstetricians recommend moms do fetal movement counts. While reduced movements or counts done at home can be worrisome, they may not be reliable. If you feel your baby is moving or kicking less often than normal, contact your doctor. 

Counting is a lot harder when you have twins. You may not be able to tell which baby is moving. Even so, many doctors recommend it as a way to keep track.

If you are counting, it helps to chart your baby's kicks so that you can keep track of your baby's normal patterns of movement. To count movements, pick a time when your baby is usually most active (often, this is right after you've eaten a meal). Get into a comfortable position either sitting down in a comfortable chair or lying on your side. If you lie down, lie on your left side, so your baby will have better circulation.

Opinion varies as to how to count your baby's movements, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends noting the time it takes for your baby to make 10 movements. You should feel at least 10 movements within a 2-hour period.

If you can't feel 10 movements in 2 hours despite eating something and fully focusing on the baby's movements, call your doctor for advice on what to do next.

If You Don't Feel Your Baby Moving

If you haven't yet reached 25 weeks and don't feel your baby move, or you're not sure that what you're feeling is actually your baby, don't panic. As your baby grows, you'll be able to better distinguish their movements. You'll also figure out at what times of the day your baby is most active. Some babies just naturally move less often than others.

A lack of movement also may mean that your baby is asleep. You may feel fewer kicks and jabs after the 32nd week as your baby gets bigger and has less room to move around in the uterus.

If your baby has started to move regularly and you don't feel at least 10 movements within a 2-hour period, or the movements have slowed significantly, it's time to call your doctor.

Timeline of Baby Movement

Here is a guide to your baby's possible movements.

Week 12: Your baby should start to move, but you probably won't be able to feel anything because the baby is still so small.

Week 16: Some pregnant women will start to feel tiny butterfly-like flutters. The feeling might just be gas, or it might be the baby moving.

Week 20: By this point in your baby's development, you may start to really feel your baby's first movements, called "quickening."

Week 24: The baby's movements are starting to become more established. You might also begin to feel slight twitches as your baby hiccups.

Week 28: Your baby is moving often now. Some of the kicks and jabs may take your breath away.

Week 36: Your uterus is getting crowded as the baby grows, and movements should slow down a bit. However, alert your doctor if you notice significant changes in your baby’s usual activity. You should feel consistent movement throughout the day.

Fetal movements during pregnancy

Fetal movements are expected by pregnant women and obstetrician-gynecologists. This is a very important sign that allows you to judge that the pregnancy is going well, and the child is developing successfully. Also, the baby communicates with the mother with the help of movements and can tell her about any inconvenience, so you need to listen to the movements of the fetus.

When fetal movements appear

1. The first fetal movements appear at the seventh or eighth week of pregnancy. However, the small fetus does not come into contact with the walls of the uterus, so the mother does not feel its movements.
2. Closer to the seventeenth week, the fetus begins to react to loud sound and light, from the eighteenth it begins to consciously move.
3. A woman begins to feel movements during her first pregnancy from the twentieth week. In subsequent pregnancies, these sensations occur two to three weeks earlier. Also, a woman will feel the first movement of the fetus earlier if she is slim and leads an active lifestyle.
4. From the twenty-eighth week, especially active movements are observed. The child "communicates" with the mother, reacts to her emotions. This continues until the thirty-second week, when the baby grows so much that it can no longer actively move in the uterus.

Fetal movement - as normal

Except for three to four hours a day when the baby sleeps, he is in constant motion. In the twentieth week, the fetus makes two hundred perturbations a day, from the twenty-eighth to the thirty-second, their number increases to six hundred. Then, the activity decreases again.

Fetal activity may vary depending on the following factors:

1. Time of day . Usually the fetus moves more actively in the evening and at night.
2. Mother's emotions . If a pregnant woman is under stress, then the child is frightened, may freeze and stop moving, or, conversely, react to adrenaline with active movements.
3. Physical activity . During physical activity, the child is usually more calm than at rest. If the mother is in an uncomfortable position for a long time, the fetus may react with strong painful shocks.
4. Pregnant diet . If the mother feels hungry, the child begins to move more actively. Also pushing and touching become stronger after eating. Especially if mom eats sweets.
5. Environment a. The fetus reacts to loud sounds, sudden switching on of light. He may freeze in fear, or vice versa, begin to move more actively.

Why and how to count fetal movements

Changes in the motor activity of the fetus may be a sign of pregnancy pathology. Too strong, painful, or vice versa, weakened movements signal that the child does not have enough oxygen. This condition is called fetal hypoxia. In addition, sensations change when the amount of amniotic fluid changes. Therefore, it is important to count fetal movements, especially during the first pregnancy.

There are three methods for counting fetal movements:

1. Pearson method . Movements are considered from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, during which physical activity is limited. In a special table, the time of every tenth movement is entered. Normally, the interval between them is less than an hour.
2. Cardiff Method . Movements are counted for twelve hours. If during this period of time the child performed at least ten movements, the counting is stopped and starts again the very next day. If within twelve hours there were no ten movements, additional studies are needed.
3. Sadowski Method . The movement of the fetus is considered at seven o'clock in the evening, after dinner, since eating increases the activity of the child. During the first hour, the child must make at least ten movements. If in the first two hours they were less, a doctor's consultation is necessary.

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Fetal movements, what to look for

There is no strictly defined time when the mother begins to feel movements: especially sensitive women can notice them as early as 15 weeks, but more frequent cases are 18-20 weeks. Primiparous feel the movements, as a rule, a little later than those who give birth for the second or third time.

If there is no movement at 22 weeks, you should see a doctor and have an ultrasound done to make sure your baby's cardiovascular system is functioning properly.

More often the movements are felt in the evening, before going to bed, in a calm state. At first, they will look like fluttering butterflies or stroking from the inside, and then the baby will work out the movements that he learns, and they will become more distinct. Actively working mothers, driving, busy with their thoughts, may not notice the first movements and start to worry: in this case, you need to have dinner, lie down on the bed and listen to yourself, without being distracted by something else - perhaps the baby is already moving, but Mom doesn't notice.

What determines fetal movement?
- closer to full-term, the child seems to be quieter to the mother, although he moves just as often: the fact is that he no longer moves his whole body, but only his limbs;
- if the mother does gymnastics, the child becomes quiet - this is normal;
- if the mother is in an uncomfortable position or a stuffy room, the child may either quiet down, or vice versa, begin to move actively and painfully - then you need to go out into the fresh air or change your position.

It will be useful to evaluate the nature of the movements, record how many movements the child makes within 2-3 hours, so that in case of significant changes, consult a doctor and make sure that this is a variant of the norm.

When will the baby start moving?

1
August 31, 2012 07:01 PM
How long does it take for stomach flutter to start? This is my first pregnancy, the period is still not long at all and I practically don’t feel anything, but I really want something to begin to be felt, to move inside. I read in the literature that the movements begin differently for everyone and for someone they can even be delayed, and someone feels them almost in the first months. It’s still quiet and peaceful in my stomach, sometimes it feels like the child is hiding and biding its time, so it became interesting how approximately the time should be expected to start stirring so as not to listen in vain every minute. And in general, what are they, what are they? Is it possible to confuse the usual rumbling in the stomach with the movements of the unborn child, in what week does he begin to move at all? Nine months is so long, I just want them to fly by, and it's time to give birth, so that the baby is finally born, you can press him, feel him near you, kiss, stroke him. In the meantime, you can stroke and care only for a gradually growing belly, but the husband is very pleased, he really likes the protruding tummy, although it is still very small and almost invisible, but he constantly strokes and takes care of it.

2
September 1, 2012 08:51 PM
It all depends on the attachment of the fetus and on the figure of the mother. Skinny girls usually hear movements earlier, as far as I know, maybe after 15 weeks. And fuller mothers may not feel movement until 20-22 weeks.

3
September 2, 2012 10:42 PM
Everything is individual. Even with different pregnancies in different ways.

They ask their son in kindergarten: "What do your parents do?" - "Dad works, mom is beautiful !!!"

4
September 7, 2012 10:05 AM
I felt the first movement at about 15 weeks, but I am very thin. The doctor said that it seems to me) But then it only became clearer. so I understand that it was still a stir. And with the second pregnancy and at 14 weeks it was already clear.

But my friend only felt at 21 weeks, but she has extra pounds.

5
September 15, 2012 06:16 PM
It began to seem to me that the baby was moving half an hour after the gynecologist confirmed the pregnancy)) But seriously, somewhere around 15-16 weeks I began to feel, then I still doubted the truth, but soon the doubts disappeared)

6
September 20, 2012 11:01 AM
I felt at 16 weeks, as if there was some kind of tickling in my stomach. You can’t confuse these sensations with anything else, it feels like fish are swimming in your stomach

7
September 23, 2012 04:23 PM
And at first I did not understand that this child was pushing. Only weeks on the twentieth figured out that it was his tremors. The mood immediately lifted. Then they got stronger, in the ninth month it even hurt

8
October 8, 2012 06:51 PM
My moves are yet to come). And my little sister felt her niece stir at 13-14 weeks, at first no one even believed her, they thought her imagination was running wild :)

9
October 14, 2012 12:20 pm
I felt barely noticeable movements at 14 weeks, the doctor said it was too early, but my baby was somehow attached to the outer wall and I myself am thin. By 16 weeks, I already clearly felt every movement)

10
October 15, 2012 01:22 PM
I still don't move though it's only 11 weeks. But I really want to feel that inside someone alive is growing.

11
October 17, 2012 01:32 PM
Everything is individual. I didn't feel it early. Weeks at 17 it seems. And in the second pregnancy, they say, in general, they begin to feel the movements earlier.

12
October 17, 2012 07:17 PM
Not always in the second pregnancy before. On the contrary, I felt later, I even began to worry.

The most valuable cargo in the world is a baby in the belly!!

13
October 24, 2012 11:39 PM
I can't wait, but I don't know how it is? everyone describes differently and says I won’t miss it.

It's easier not to let us in than to kick us out later!

14
November 19, 2012 2:54 AM
Such a photo is cool.: D I started moving with the first at 16 weeks, and with the second, earlier, as they say. For some reason, everything happens with the second child earlier than with the first. There is happiness... I know him... I know the color of his eyes, his laugh... And it calls me mom!

15
November 30, 2012 10:24 AM
And I didn’t feel any movement during the whole pregnancy, there was polyhydramnios and the child very rarely, very smoothly changed position - and that’s all :). I was just waiting for any such movement as a sign that everything was in order. And I began to feel it at about 20 weeks, although I don’t bother with extra pounds.

16
December 4, 2012 10:39 PM
I have a baby. My son started moving around 14-15 weeks. I'm thin myself, I quickly felt it. And I started to notice girls even earlier, very slight movements, but I already knew how it was)

17
December 6, 2012 11:21 AM
Somewhere around 18 weeks I began to notice some actions in my stomach, at first I didn’t even think that this was how the baby was moving, somehow not usually. And then yes, gave heat! The most interesting thing is that he calmed down when dad put his hands on his stomach :).

18
December 6, 2012 06:05 PM
Quote
I WANT A desperate couple to be told: "Congratulations - you will have a baby!" "To elderly parents:" We miss you - Let's go! Get dressed - Mom came for you!
At first, I didn’t even understand that it was a baby moving. But by the age of five, I realized that he was moving.

19
January 12, 2013 11:12
I don't seem to be very sensitive. Or maybe I just have a life on the run all the time, so there is not much opportunity to listen to myself.
I began to notice my son's movements only by 20 weeks. Although I have never been overweight.

20
January 17, 2013 8:57 AM
I felt something at 15 weeks. At first I wasn’t sure, but by 16, I knew for sure that it was my baby knocking from the inside)) Doctors say that 15-18 weeks is normal for a first pregnancy, and if a girl has extra pounds, then maybe later.

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