One of the questions women ask at the beginning of pregnancy is When will I start to feel the baby's movements in the belly? We can say that this unforgettable feeling will really happen many weeks after the fetus begins to move.
Therefore, although there is no single answer for all women, there are some stages of normal development of the fetus that will determine the ability of movements of the fetus, and will place approximately the moment we notice them.
The baby's movements begin to be felt in the womb around the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy, a sensation that will be repeated frequently until the time of birth.
Before that stage, it is not that the baby does not move, but in the "breadth" of the maternal uterus and with the belly still small, without any pressure on the walls of the uterus or that they press on our abdominal muscles, it is not They notice the movements. Let's see step by step how the baby moves in your belly.
Chronology of baby movements in the womb
The first weeks the embryo grows at an accelerated pace, forming more and more, and the main external characteristics of the baby begin to take shape, until reaching the stage in which it is called "fetus", from the eighth week. The end of the eighth week marks the end of the "embryonic period" and the beginning of the "fetal period."
It is then when the baby begins to move more, although the mother still takes time to perceive it. Around the 12th week of pregnancy the baby can hold the fingers, and by the 14th week more muscle and bone tissue has developed, and the bones become harder: the baby begins to make active movements, such as suction movements with mouth.
It is therefore around week 20 when the baby makes more movements and the mother can feel agitation in the lower abdomen. And it is that those first noticeable movements can feel like butterflies or bubbles, they are not yet the expected kicks that will take a little longer to notice.
Starting at week 23, the baby is more active and has greater muscle development, while beginning to accumulate fat, so that the mother can more clearly feel the baby moving.
In week 26 the fetus presents the prehensile and startle reflex, these shocks we can feel for example as a reaction to a loud sound, a shock of the mother, a sudden movement of it ...
Around week 32, the baby has grown a lot and has less room to move, but will continue to do so until the moment of birth no matter how tight it is. The kicks are clearly noticeable, even with the naked eye you can see the lumps that move in the belly of the pregnant woman.
In the last month of pregnancy, especially when we are around the expected date of delivery, their movements have decreased due to little space you have to move. But it will continue to do so, and otherwise we must go to the doctor immediately.
Neither in all women nor in all pregnancies do the movements feel the same
Of course, not all pregnancies or all women are equal, so most mothers do not agree on the dates referred to the first time they felt the baby's movements or the description of the sensation. Some pregnant women are more sensitive than others so they could detect the movement before.
In addition, in the second and subsequent pregnancies, the baby's movements feel earlier, although this is not always the case and many women notice them at the same height of pregnancy or even later.
But it is more frequent to notice the movements or first kicks of the baby in the following pregnancies, and this is because both the muscles of the abdominal wall and the uterus, which have dilated during the first pregnancy, are less toned. Having more distended abdominal muscles, it is easier to give in to the first movements (moving a tight muscle or noticing that it is pushed is more difficult).
In this sense, it can also influence that we already have the experience of what those feelings are for the previous pregnancy (which could also indicate that in a first pregnancy the movements occurred before but they went unnoticed).
In general, it is from week 18 on the first pregnancy and from week 15-16 in the second pregnancy when the baby's movements begin to be noticed. If the pregnancy is multiple or the date of pregnancy is wrong and we are actually pregnant for longer, it is also possible that the movements are noticed earlier.
Feel and see the baby's movements
In these times, not everything is to feel the baby. We can also see him move. In the ultrasound of the last trimester It is common, if we look at the monitor, see how the baby moves, even perceive if it performs subtle movements that we do not perceive in the belly, such as sucking your finger.
High definition ultrasound in "3 D" and "4 D" can even show us baby gestures, if he frowns, if he "smiles" ... thanks to the fact that the images are seen in three dimensions and in more detail.
These first images of baby movements in the womb They are very exciting, but no matter how clear they are we will still have to imagine a good part of their appearance. When it is born, although we will be full of new emotions, we will have a strange feeling, we will surely miss that feeling of the baby moving inside us.
