Quickening in Pregnancy: Track Fetal Kicks: 9 Simple Steps

Are you newly pregnant and trying to distinguish between baby flutters and gas? Or are you further along in your pregnancy and wondering how frequently you should be feeling your baby move?

Fetal movement varies from one woman to the next, but you can also use it to indicate your baby’s health or distress.

We have all the info you need about your baby’s movement in utero — including when you can expect to feel it, what’s considered normal and healthy, and even some tips on how to get your baby kicking.

What Is Quickening in Pregnancy?

We use the term “quickening” to describe the moment a mother first feels her baby move in utero ⁽¹⁾. A more medically accurate term is “first fetal movement.”

The root word of “quickening” means “living,” which — before technology — indicated the baby in a woman’s womb was indeed alive.

Today, we have ultrasounds, fetal heart monitors, and other tools available to prove that our baby is thriving well before the point of quickening. But for women in pre-modern eras, the quickening was her first real indication her baby was healthy and her pregnancy viable.

When Does First Fetal Movement Occur?

Babies begin moving very early in pregnancy, so the term “first fetal movement” is itself a little misleading. The first fetal movement doesn’t refer to the first time a baby moves in utero, but rather the first time the mother feels it.

For first-time mothers, they may first feel their baby move between 16 and 25 weeks gestation. Women who have experienced previous pregnancies may feel their baby move as early as 13 weeks ⁽²⁾.

The uterine muscles are the muscles that first sense the fetal movements, not the abdominal muscles. Mothers who have been pregnant previously usually have more relaxed uterine muscles that are more sensitive to fetal movements, which is why they usually feel these movements earlier than in first pregnancies.

The wide variation in times when women feel the quickening is due to many factors, including:

• The baby’s activity level: Some babies are more active than others, which may affect the frequency or strength of their kicks.
• The mother’s activity level: Active women are less likely to notice movement throughout the day than sedentary mothers.
• Familiarity with the feeling: Women who have experienced a previous pregnancy are more likely to notice and identify the feeling earlier than first-time mothers.
• Placement of the placenta: It may be more challenging to feel your baby move if your placenta is along the front of your uterus.
• Size of the mother: Although large women may have to wait longer to feel their baby move externally, the research is unclear whether a mother’s weight affects her ability to feel her baby’s movements internally.

What Does it Feel Like When the Baby Moves?

When babies are in utero, they’re very active. They stretch their arms and legs, kicking with excitement, jabbing you from the inside with their elbows and rolling or doing somersaults.

The strength, frequency, and sharpness of the fetal movements will vary based on how far along you are in your pregnancy and how much room your little one still has left to move around. The top of your uterus is still low at the earlier parts of pregnancy when quickening tends to occur, so keep your senses targeted at your lower abdomen.

For these reasons, the sensations you may feel when your baby moves vary widely. Many women use these words to describe the movements:

• Fluttering sensations.
• Sharp kicks.
• Slow stretching.
• Gentle pressure.
• Slow rolling.
• Turning.
• Tumbling.
• Muscle twitches.

If you are a first-time mother, it can be hard to distinguish your baby’s early movements from sensations like gas, feelings of hunger, intestinal rumblings, or other internal movements. After all, your internal organs are being compressed, and things might feel a little different than normal.

However, you will soon become an expert at discerning internal twitches from baby flutters. As pregnancy progresses and the baby gets larger, your little one’s kicks and jabs will become stronger and more coordinated, and you will have a better sense of when your baby is moving. If you become pregnant again, you’ll likely notice your baby’s movements much earlier.

What Does Activity In The Womb Mean?

Many women feel their little one kick and make flippant remarks like, “They’re going to be a soccer player!” While we usually make these statements in fun, it’s hard not to wonder. If your child is super active while in your womb, are they going to be a super active toddler, too?

Prenatal activity is not a reliable predictor of postnatal temperament ⁽³⁾. While science has determined some mild associations, there are also some inverse associations.

This means that while some kids who were active in the womb may be more active after birth, in some cases, it predicts the child will be less active once they’re born.

Some patients have asked me if they can tell their baby’s gender based on how much they are moving. There are no reliable studies that show any correlation between how often the baby moves and gender, so all those predictions are just a myth!

Editor's Note:

Dr. Njoud Jweihan, MD

How Often Should My Baby Move?

Your baby will move up to 30 times an hour by the third trimester, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to feel every movement. Additionally, when your baby sleeps, they won’t be active, so there may be lengths of time in which you won’t feel them move at all.

Generally, you’ll feel your baby’s movements more frequently toward the end of the second trimester and into the beginning of the third. By the end of your pregnancy, you can expect activity to slow down a bit, but not completely, as your baby starts to run out of room to move.

Mothers usually tend to feel more movement at night due to changing blood sugar levels. It might also be that baby is training you for those nights to come after their birth! Also, keep an eye for hiccups around week 24 which feel like rhythmic, soft, steady movements.

If you’re concerned about your baby’s movement, count the number of movements you can detect within two hours. If you feel at least 10 movements, it’s considered within the normal range. If at any point you do not feel the baby move for prolonged periods, it is never a bad idea to contact your doctor for more guidance.

How Can I Get My Baby to Move?

While there isn’t a lot you can do to speed up the initial quickening of your pregnancy, once you start to feel your baby move more regularly, there are things you can do to prod them to respond.

If you want to feel your baby move, here are some things you can try:

1. Relax in the Evening

Babies are most active in utero during the evening hours, so that’s the time you’re most likely to feel your little one move. During the day, your baby is usually rocked to sleep by your walking and movement, so they wake up at night when your movements slow.

2. Lie Down on Your Left Side

Blood flow increases to your baby when you lie on your left side, helping to stimulate their activity. Try to avoid lying flat on your back for prolonged periods later in your pregnancy, as your baby’s heavier weight and your uterus can compress some of the major vessels that provide blood to you and your baby.

3. Play Loud Music

Babies will respond to aural stimuli starting around 25 weeks ⁽⁴⁾. However, the uterus is a really noisy place between the whooshing of the amniotic fluid and the other muffled sounds of the outside world.

To stimulate your baby’s movements, play loud music to see if they respond. If that doesn’t work, speak to your baby. They will often respond to your voice.

4. Use a Flashlight

Babies can respond to visual stimuli by about week 16 and can see light through your belly if you place a flashlight on your skin. This is typically pretty effective at stimulating movement but should be used sparingly as there is the medical community still disagrees about whether it can make your baby uncomfortable.

5. Eat Stimulating Foods

Babies eat what you eat, so stimulant foods like caffeine and sugar can cause them to have a burst of energy just as they do to you. However, don’t overdo it on the caffeine as pregnant women should limit themselves to one cup of caffeinated coffee, or less than 200 mg, per day.

When Should I Be Concerned?

There are so many things that can potentially complicate pregnancy, and the fact you can’t actually see your baby can cause anxiety about whether or not they are doing okay. Much like the mothers of pre-modern times, detectable fetal movements are one of the only day-to-day indicators we mothers have to assure us of our little one’s well-being.

So it makes sense that you might worry your baby is in distress if you’re not feeling them move as frequently as you’re accustomed to.

However, it’s also possible you just haven’t noticed the movements because you’ve been busy or distracted with day-to-day activities.

Before you start to worry, make a conscious effort to monitor and count your fetal movements. Drink some juice or eat something sugar-laden to stimulate their body, lie down on your left side to maximize blood flow, and count movements for two hours.

We sometimes give patients ice water to drink during non-stress tests as it helps with movement as well.

Editor's Note:

Dr. Njoud Jweihan, MD

Babies are asleep about 90 to 95 percent of the time while in utero, but they only sleep about one hour at a time. So, over the course of two hours, you should definitely detect movement ⁽⁵⁾.

If you count fewer than ten movements, call your doctor to share your concerns and see if they believe further testing is warranted.

Why Should I Monitor Fetal Movement Regularly?

One of the best ways to ease your anxieties about your baby’s health and fetal movement frequency is to monitor them regularly — not just when you’re concerned. Daily monitoring and tracking fetal movements can help you identify activity patterns and force you to take a purposeful break to count movement.

Regularly monitoring movement will allow you to have concrete data to show to your doctor in the event of a concern. It may also help you detect a significant decrease in activity earlier than simply thinking, “Gosh, I don’t think I’ve felt the baby move in a couple of days…” which could be both arbitrary and inaccurate.

How Can I Monitor Fetal Movement?

It’s generally recommended that you start counting fetal movement daily around 28 weeks ⁽⁶⁾. If you have a high-risk pregnancy, your doctor may recommend starting 2 to 3 weeks earlier, around week 26, and may offer other ways to track your baby, such as more frequent visits and ultrasounds. However, it may be challenging to detect regular movement if you start too early.

If you’re interested in tracking your fetal movements regularly, here’s how to do it:

1. Decide How You Want to Record Your “Kick Counts.”

There are many ways to record the number of movements you feel, but it’s important to keep the information organized and in one place. Before you begin, choose the method you feel will work best for you.

Some options are:

• Logging it in a simple notebook.
• Writing it on your family calendar.
• Downloading and printing a chart designed for such use.
• Recording it on your smartphone’s calendar each day.
• Using an app.

2. Choose a Time of Day to Count Your Kicks.

When tracking fetal movements, it’s important to do so at the same time each day because your baby gets into a routine the same way you do. To accurately track movements and recognize when there is a significant decrease in activity, choose a time you know you’ll be available to relax.

It’s also a good idea to choose a time when your baby is typically active, which for most babies is at night.

3. Lie Down on Your Left Side.

Resting on your left side increases blood flow to your baby, and reclining gives your baby more space to move while preventing them from being lulled to sleep by your movement. When counting fetal movements, you want to create an environment where your baby is likely to move. Make sure to keep your legs elevated when you do this.

4. Don’t Stimulate Your Baby.

There are certain things you can do to stimulate movement — or measures you might employ if you’re concerned you haven’t felt your baby move in quite some time.

But for your regular movement monitoring, don’t do anything special to evoke movement. You want to get a feel for your baby’s regular, unprompted movement.

5. Note the Time or Start a Stopwatch.

When you’re ready to start monitoring movement, note the time or start a stopwatch on your smartphone.

6. Count 10 Fetal Movements.

Begin counting fetal movements. Though they are often called “kick counts,” you’re tracking more than just kicks. Rolling, stretching, elbow jabs — they all qualify. Count until you detect 10 movements.

If you tend to lose count when there’s a long duration between movements, you may want to make tally marks on a piece of paper to help you keep an accurate count.

7. Note the Time or Stop the Stopwatch.

Once you’ve reached 10 distinct movements, note the time again or stop the stopwatch. This is the length of time it took you to detect 10 movements. Once you’ve noted 10 fetal movements, you do not need to continue counting.

8. Log the Time.

Log the time it took you to detect 10 fetal movements in your phone, app, chart, or notebook. Monitor this number daily to help you get an idea of what is normal for your baby.

9. Contact Your Doctor if You Note a Significant Decrease in Movement.

If it takes noticeably longer than normal to reach 10 movements, or if you don’t detect 10 movements within two hours, drink some juice or see if you can stimulate your baby in some other way. Try the fetal movement count again, and if your count is still low, contact your doctor.

FAQs

How Long Does Quickening Last?

That completely depends on your baby. Quickening is something that happens on and off, so it’s normal not to feel any quickening at all for a few days. Some babies are more active than others, so monitoring your baby’s quickening can be fun!

Can You Feel Quickening Every Day?

You won’t necessarily feel quickening every day. Sometimes, your baby is in a position that won’t allow you to feel them at all.

If a couple of days have passed without you feeling any flutters or bubbles from the baby, don’t panic! Lots of moms feel concerned when they stop feeling quickening for a short period, but this is almost always normal.

Can Quickening Feel Like Sharp Pains?

No, quickening shouldn’t feel like sharp pains. Quickening can feel like tingles, bubbles, flutters, and even quick, jerky movements, but it shouldn’t feel like pain. If you are experiencing sharp pains, it’s important you talk with your doctor immediately.

Does Quickening Feel Like Stomach Growling?

Yes, quickening does sometimes feel like your stomach is growling. This just means that your baby is situating itself in your womb, so a rumbling tummy is nothing to worry about. Some moms experience the feeling of butterflies in their stomach during quickening, too.

What Is the Difference Between Quickening and Kicking?

Quickening includes all the movements your baby can make, including kicking. Babies can also stretch, roll around, punch, and more; these movements are part of quickening. Not every movement is a kick, but kicking does happen a lot.

The Bottom Line

Quickening in pregnancy is not only exciting when it first happens, but fetal movement can also be used later in pregnancy to help monitor the health and vitality of your baby and develop your bond.

Activity level varies depending on the baby, mother, and time of day, but 10 movements in two hours is considered the standard for a healthy baby. Anything less than that is concerning.