-Patients will say they start to feel the
baby move as early as 15 or 16 weeks, but
there is plenty of patients who won't feel
anything until as late as 24 weeks and that's
nothing to worry about.
Initially those fetal movements, if you feel
a couple kicks a day I'm happy.
There won't be such a regular pattern right
away, but once you do start to feel that pattern,
then you should be aware of that pattern and
hope there's reproducibility from one day
to the next.
The pattern of movement can vary from patient
to patient.
I would say most patients feel the most movement
at night when they're lying down after dinner
and then they have no distractions.
They're just aware of what's going on in their
belly.
Most patients will say that's when it's most
active and that should sort of be the case
from day to day.
As you get close to your due date, there really
should be more of a reproducible pattern during
the day as well.
Babies can go through sleep cycles and so
you may not feel any movement for 2 hours
let's say, but if you're going past 2 to 3
hours and you haven't felt any movement, it
is important to check in and make sure you
do feel a movement.
Stopping what you're doing, having something
to eat or drink, lying down, and paying attention
is really important to reassure yourself and
us that the baby is moving normally.
As you get close to your due date, the quality
of the movements can definitely change.
There's gonna be less room for the baby to
move, so the movements may be smaller, but
they should be as frequent.
One of the things you can do is a kick count.
Find a 2-hour window during the day where
the baby is most active.
And you can actually record how many movements
you feel in a 2-hour window.
It doesn't matter if it's a big kick.
Any squirm can count.
And I would say a minimum of 11 movements
in 2 hours is normal.
And if you're not able to get there, then
you should let your doctor know.
If you're not feeling good movement at nighttime,
rather than go to sleep and check in the morning,
call your doctor before you go to bed.
