This is my first time being pregnant, so I’m nervous about everything. When should I start to feel the baby kicking? Is it the same for everyone? And this may sound silly, but does it hurt? (I’ve heard of babies’ feet kicking in rib cages!)
—Anonymous
Historically, the moment of fetal movement — quickening — was the moment of pregnancy acknowledgement. Partly due to limited detection methods, on top of miscarriage rates, the point at which you could feel the baby marked the beginning. Of course, we’re now in a position where most people know they are pregnant for months before they feel the baby move.
We call them kicks, but of course fetal movements also involve punches, headbutts, butt-butts, and full somersaults. And the feeling of these movements varies a lot across the pregnancy.
Early on — sometime in the range between 16 and 20 weeks — you are likely to feel the baby for the first time. These early kicks feel to many people like gas bubbles. They are inconsistent. You may feel a couple, and then nothing for days or a week. This isn’t because the baby has stopped moving around, but at this stage they are so small that there is plenty of room to move without kicking you.
There are several things that influence how early you feel the baby move. One is experience. Once you know what you are looking for, it’s easier to detect it. People often feel a second or later baby earlier. A second issue is the placenta. The placenta is between the uterine wall and your baby. If the placenta is at the front of the uterus (“anterior”), then you may take longer to feel the baby. This is because most of what you are feeling is the baby kicking your abdominal wall. If the placenta is in front of the wall, it’s like they are kicking a cushion.
As the baby gets larger, the tenor of fetal movements changes. They will be more consistent and more noticeable. You’ll actually feel a true kick, and sometimes you can tell what body part is doing what. However, it is important to note that until about the third trimester, there may still be periods in which you do not feel the baby move. If you’re worried, call the doctor. But it is common for the baby to just get in a position where you do not notice them.
By the third trimester, fetal movement is fairly consistent, and later in this trimester some doctors will encourage you to spend a short period each day monitoring fetal movement (a form of kick counting). At this stage, as the baby gets larger, movements can feel less like kicks and more like uncomfortable stretches. You’ll also start to see the baby move from the outside, which, depending on your take, is either cool or like something out of the movie Alien. With my first child I would often sit at my computer after lunch and just watch her compete in some kind of fetal water acrobatics.
Fetal movements early in pregnancy are rarely uncomfortable. As you get later in pregnancy, they can get more intense. There is no evidence that babies can break your ribs, but it can feel like that. I cannot be the only person who found themselves trying to push a baby’s foot out of my rib cage from the outside (this doesn’t work). By the time it gets this crowded in there, you’ll be near the end.
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