Your baby’s movements in pregnancy: what is normal and when to get checked

Most women start to feel movements between about 16 and 24 weeks

Early movements are light: a flutter, a bubbling or a gentle tap, easy to mistake for wind. Women who have had a baby before often recognise them sooner, because they know the feeling. Over the following weeks the flutters grow into kicks, jabs and rolls that you may sometimes see from the outside.

Where the placenta lies plays a part too. A placenta on the front wall of the womb, called an anterior placenta, sits between the baby and your abdomen and cushions the movements, so you may feel them later or more softly. This is common, and it does not change what to do if the pattern later changes.

If you are past about 24 weeks and have not yet felt your baby move, mention it to your doctor or midwife. The baby’s heartbeat is usually checked, and a scan may be suggested.

Your baby’s own pattern matters more than a number of kicks

Each baby settles into its own rhythm of busy and quiet times. Many are more active in the evening or when you lie down, and quieter while you are on your feet, since walking tends to rock them. Babies also sleep in the womb, so short quiet spells are normal.

What counts is what is usual for your baby: when it tends to be active, and what its movements feel like. There is no need to keep a chart or reach a target each day.

For this reason UK guidance does not recommend routine formal kick counting. A fixed number, such as ten kicks, cannot fit every baby. A baby who normally moves a great deal could pass that number and still be moving much less than usual, and the count would give false reassurance.

Movements do not tail off in the last weeks of pregnancy

A common belief is that babies slow down in the last weeks because there is less room. This is not true. As space gets tighter the movements may change in character, with more rolling, stretching and pushing and fewer sharp kicks, but your baby should keep to its usual pattern right up to labour and during it.

So a quieter baby near your due date is not a sign that labour is coming, and it should not be put down to lack of space. It needs a check, at any stage of pregnancy.

If movements slow down, stop or change, seek care the same day

Call the labour ward of the hospital where you plan to give birth, or your doctor, straight away. That means the same day: not waiting for your next check-up, and not waiting until morning to see whether things pick up. It applies at night and at weekends too. If you cannot reach anyone, go to the labour ward or the nearest emergency department.

If movements reduce again after a check that was reassuring, seek care again. Each change deserves its own check.

It can be tempting to use a home heartbeat monitor or a phone app instead. The sound you pick up may be your own pulse or blood flowing through the placenta, and even the baby’s heartbeat tells you nothing about whether the baby is moving normally. Relying on it can delay a check that is needed.

Hearing a heartbeat at home does not show that your baby is well. Do not use a home monitor or an app to decide whether to seek care.

What usually happens when you are checked for reduced movements

You are asked about the movements: when you noticed the change, what feels different, and how many weeks pregnant you are. Your blood pressure is usually measured and your urine tested. Depending on how far along you are, the check may include:

• listening to the baby’s heartbeat with a handheld device or on an ultrasound scan
• from about 28 weeks, a CTG, which records the baby’s heart rate for a while through two sensors held on your bump by soft belts
• measuring your bump, and sometimes a scan to look at the baby’s growth, the fluid around the baby and the blood flow in the cord

Often the checks are reassuring and you go home, knowing to come back if the movements change again. If something needs a closer look, more monitoring or scans follow, and sometimes the timing of the birth is discussed with you.

A check that turns out to be reassuring is not wasted time. That is what it is for.