Almost all women who have experienced the joy of motherhood admit that they still remember the exciting moment when the baby begins to move during pregnancy. Before this, the expectant mother had not yet fully realized that another life had arisen inside. During the first pregnancy, a woman waits for this mysterious feeling to appear in order to realize that she will soon have a baby. During the second pregnancy, the woman is already trying to draw conclusions if the baby is in no hurry to move.

From this article you will learn when the baby begins to move during the first and second pregnancy, what factors influence the timing of the baby’s first movements.

First pregnancy

The first movements of the fetus in the mother's womb are observed no earlier than the seventh week of pregnancy. It is during this period of the first pregnancy, when the baby begins to move, that nerve endings and muscle bundles are formed, which are responsible for motor activity. But the fetus at this stage is still very small, and the pregnant woman does not feel any movements, since it does not touch the walls of the uterus.

First trimester

The future baby is actively growing, and after some time the expectant mother can already feel his movements. A woman feels the first movements during pregnancy at about 18-20 weeks. Although this is very individual, so the timing may vary. In addition, if a pregnant woman is thin, she feels the movements of the embryo earlier than a plump one (around 14 weeks).

A woman who has not yet given birth quite often confuses the weak movements of the embryo inside her with muscle contractions or intestinal peristalsis. The first tremors during the first pregnancy, when the baby begins to move, are described by women as “fish swimming” or “butterflies fluttering.”

As the baby grows, his movements are felt more clearly, and by week 22 they are felt by any mother who is carrying a baby. In subsequent weeks, the fetal motor activity increases, and the pregnant woman can already guess when he moves his arms or turns.

By the 29th week, the baby is already cramped in the mother’s womb, and his every movement is clearly felt. The nature of the movements of the embryo is a kind of “sensor” of pregnancy.

At week 20, the baby can make about 200 movements, and by week 32 - about 600.

Second trimester

In the second trimester, the woman feels the movements of the fetus in different parts of the abdomen, since it has enough space to rotate and turn over in different directions.

After some time, light movements are replaced by quite noticeable tremors. During this period, a woman may feel the baby hiccupping while swallowing amniotic fluid.

Third trimester

At the beginning of the third trimester, the baby can still roll over, but from 30-32 weeks it increasingly occupies the same position. Activity decreases as he no longer has enough space.

From the 36th week, the baby takes a certain position, in which it remains until birth. The expectant mother feels her baby kicking, and these kicks are already very different from the first movements. Before birth, the baby becomes calmer, so future mom should not worry that the number and strength of movements is reduced. A woman should consult a doctor if she does not feel the baby move within 10-12 hours.

Second pregnancy

It is generally accepted that during the second pregnancy, women feel fetal movements earlier than first-time mothers. This is explained by the fact that the pregnant woman is already familiar with these sensations, and she immediately recognizes them. During their second pregnancy, some women claim that they feel it as early as 13 weeks. But doctors are skeptical about such revelations: the fetus is still too small, and the pregnant woman cannot feel it in the womb.

Doctors believe that embryonic movements are first felt at 16-18 weeks. Thus, multiparous women feel their baby for the first time two to four weeks earlier than primiparous women.

What determines the timing of the first movements?

First of all, it depends on the weight of the unborn baby. It is logical that the smaller the future toddler, the later the mother will feel him.

The timing of the first movements also depends on the woman’s physiological threshold of sensitivity. If a pregnant woman is very sensitive, she feels movements earlier than others.

It is not at all necessary that embryo movements during the second pregnancy appear earlier or very early. Normally, the baby can “maintain silence” until 24-25 weeks.

If at this stage the pregnant woman does not feel the baby’s movements, she should consult a doctor so that he can listen to the baby’s heartbeat.

The article reveals the main aspects of how a woman feels her baby move during her second pregnancy. Features, standards and much more are described. It is also described in detail how to correctly recognize the period when the baby begins to move.

What is a child’s physical activity?

The most pleasant sensations associated with every pregnancy are the movements of the fetus. Such a joyful sign of connection with the baby for a woman gives her a “push” to perceive the fetus more clearly. And many expectant mothers from this moment begin to identify themselves with the new role and talk with the baby.

Fetal movements are its smooth movements

A woman during her second pregnancy begins to feel them at about 18-20 weeks. Only these deadlines are different for each person. One begins to feel her child a little earlier than average, the other a little later.

This happens for a variety of reasons.

1. The psychological state of all women is different not only in general, but also at a certain moment.

2. The characteristics of her nervous system are different each time.

3. The build of pregnant women is also different (it is believed that thin women feel fetal movements much earlier than plump women).

4. The amount of water for each expectant mother is different (the more there are, the more spacious the baby will be).

And many women expecting a child claim that it is not only the timing of the beginning of the baby’s motor activity that makes their “interesting” position the second time different. Often with sensations.

First fetal movement. Second pregnancy

In fact, the fetus inside the uterus begins to actively manifest itself much earlier, approximately 49-56 days from the beginning of pregnancy, and at 10 weeks it can already change the trajectory of its movements and even move from one part of the abdomen to another. Only the fetus is still very small and rarely touches the walls so that these movements can be felt. He "floats" in amniotic fluid, without particularly bothering my mother.

From the 16th week the reaction to sound begins, from the 17th the eyes close and open (the child squints). But with the 18th, he pulls the umbilical cord with his hands, moves his fingers (opens and squeezes them), touches his face. From this “age” his movement is felt quite strongly.

Doctors believe that the fetus begins to move as soon as certain parts of the brain “turn on” to work. The child seems to be showing that a phase of his mental activity has begun.

At first, the movements of the fetus are barely felt, chaotic, somewhat reminiscent of the chaotic movement of many fish in an aquarium or some kind of bubbles. Therefore, an inexperienced mother does not distinguish between these tremors.

Reasons for differences in women's feelings

After 140 days of development, movements are more active: the baby can change its position and move to different parts of the mother’s abdomen.

During the first pregnancy, women usually feel their baby for the first time at about 18-20 weeks, when the “pushing” can no longer be confused with anything. But during repeated periods this can occur much earlier - at 15-16 weeks. But such sensations can happen later, especially if the mother is fat. Fetal movement during second pregnancy overweight women, as a rule, is felt later for a week or two.

And this difference is not due to differences in the development of the fetus, but to the fact that the expectant mother already “knows” all the sensations associated with the baby’s movements, and therefore knows how to recognize them.

And overweight women have slightly reduced sensitivity. And through the fat layer it is also more difficult to feel the “pushing”. But its fullness does not affect the development of the fetus in any way.

Closer to birth, the baby occupies an almost constant vertical position in the uterus with its head down and will move mainly with its legs. This baby can often cause pain and discomfort to the mother.

Fetal movement during second pregnancy: normal

There is a belief among people that during a repeated “interesting” position, the child begins to “beat” 2-3, or even 4 weeks earlier than during the first one. The likelihood of this, of course, is high. This, as was written above, can be explained simply: the expectant mother already knows how to distinguish the movements of the fetus from other sensations inside the body. During each waiting period, the baby pushed equally, but the woman was not yet able to distinguish his activity.

Developing fetus moves almost all the time, except when sleeping. It produces approximately 200 movements per day during the period when the mother begins to feel them inside herself. From about 20 weeks, the baby begins to move three times more actively. But as the baby increases in size, there is less and less room for movement. Therefore, it seems to calm down, and on the eve of childbirth it almost completely calms down.

Hunger can make your baby move actively. For example, if a mother decides to go on a semi-starvation diet in order to maintain her figure, this can cause a riot in her stomach. A pregnant woman, on the contrary, needs to eat more often and put off dieting for now. The developing fetus must receive nutritious food.

Just don’t think that during the second pregnancy, the “beating” of the fetus must be noticeable at 16 weeks. And if a woman does not feel them yet, there is no need to worry about this. Even if movements are not felt even at 20-21 weeks, there is no need to worry. Pregnancy is a very, very “personal” process. It depends not only on the number of previous “interesting” positions. It is influenced by the physical and mental state of the woman during this period.

Moreover, at 20 weeks a control ultrasound is performed. After this, the doctor will tell you about the condition of the fetus.

Often a woman dealing with her first child simply does not have enough time to listen to her feelings, especially if the first baby is still quite small. Therefore, the mother does not have time to pay full attention to herself and the future second child.

But if the baby in the tummy began to move actively at the first stage, and then “subsided”, you should definitely go to the doctor and tell him about it.

Women who work a lot may not feel any movement even at 22 weeks. In the case where fetal movements are not felt, you can undergo additional research, for example, a repeat ultrasound. After this, you can already judge the baby’s development.

Did the doctor conclude that everything is fine with the fetus? What's there to worry about?

As a rule, at 24 weeks the movements will become so noticeable that even a very busy or rather plump mother will feel them. So the normal timing of sensations of fetal movements is different for each case.

For some women who are worried about their unborn child or say that they feel abnormalities, although the ultrasound did not show anything, doctors advise counting the number of movements in order to track changes in the baby's development and calm down. Doctors recommend recording your data and keeping a kind of diary or graph of “shocks”.

In this way, you can control the movement of the fetus during the second pregnancy. We have already discussed how often the baby makes movements that are noticeable to the mother at different stages of its development.

The frequency of the tremors can tell your doctor a lot. At a time when ultrasound did not yet exist, doctors monitored the condition of the fetus by the number of movements. And the mother herself can determine whether everything is okay with her unborn baby, without resorting to additional examinations.

Methods for counting fetal movements

Doctors usually offer several methods of correct calculation to choose from.

Among them are the Pearson method, the Cardiff technology and the Sadowski method. Doctors usually offer such calculations only to those expectant mothers who will not be confused by such a task and will not make them nervous again. Therefore, this procedure should be used only after talking with a doctor and agreeing that such a study is worth conducting. The number of fetal movements during the second pregnancy, as during the first, can tell the mother and the doctor whether additional observations are needed. After all, the development of a child is the same in all cases, if there are no deviations.

The results should cause alarm when fetal movements occur less than 10 times per hour. Although at some times of the day this can also occur during the normal development of the baby. For example, when a mother works physically or does gymnastics. Therefore, immediately after classes or sports activity, counting the number of movements of the child is not recommended.

The methods for recording fetal movements are simple and do not require any special tools or devices or complex calculations. There is only one drawback, which is that the counting is done by the expectant mothers themselves.

Each woman feels individual feelings and describes the baby’s peculiar kicks differently. It is especially interesting to listen to the stories of “experienced” mothers about the movement of the fetus during the second pregnancy. The reviews are unanimous on only one thing: feeling the movements of tiny legs, arms, and heads is a great happiness.

The baby's first movements... How much joy they bring to the expectant mother! In addition to joy and pleasant excitement, they also serve as an indicator of the normal development of the fetus. As a rule, a woman who is carrying more than her first child looks forward to this event even more, because she knows what to expect. And he may even begin to worry if the future baby is in no hurry to make himself known.

As you know, the first movements of the child during the second pregnancy are observed a little earlier than during the first. But still, when can we expect them?? Let's look at it below.

Second pregnancy: when does the baby start to move?

Firstly, when talking about the first movement of the child, it is necessary to keep in mind the sensations of the first movement of the fetus by the mother, because the child begins to move in the womb much earlier, but the mother, as a rule, does not feel it immediately. The thing is that the baby is still very tiny and its movement cannot be felt.

The fetus begins to move in the womb mother around the eighth or ninth week of pregnancy. But at this time its size is so small that even touching the walls of the uterus, the woman will not feel anything.

Intrauterine processes and their duration do not depend on the type of pregnancy a woman has. They happen at a certain time. That is, the baby begins to move inside the womb at the same time. But women can feel their baby’s movements for the first time in different time.

Feelings of the first fetal movement during the second pregnancy

When the first fetal movements begin is a rather ambiguous question, because a woman can feel them at completely different times. Typically, in most cases this time is considered normal.

For example, some babies, already at 23-24 weeks, can kick so that other family members can feel it by placing their hand on the pregnant woman’s belly. Other babies, on the contrary, may hide during the same period and practically not move.

However, there is information, that at approximately twenty weeks a child can make about two hundred movements per day and this does not mean at all that the expectant mother should feel them.

In obstetric practice, there is no exact starting point for the beginning of the sensation of fetal movement. On the contrary, the boundaries are quite blurred. It is generally accepted that the norm is the appearance of sensations of baby movements from the sixteenth to the twenty-fourth week. If a pregnant woman begins to feel fetal movement in this range, then there is no reason to worry. But it must be said that these are just approximate boundaries. In fact, it often happens that sensations can go beyond these boundaries and this can also be considered the norm.

It is usually believed that women who are giving birth to more than their first child begin to feel fetal movements somewhat earlier than first-time mothers, but as practice shows, this is not always the case. This is usually associated with the fact that the woman already knows what to expect and can distinguish between them. But first-time mothers cannot always do this and sometimes they simply may not attach much importance to them. And then light movements can be mistaken for bowel movements.

Experienced doctors agree that a woman can begin to feel the first movements of the fetus during her second pregnancy from approximately the eighteenth week of pregnancy. And in some cases even with the sixteenth. That is, we can conclude that multiparous women, in general, can feel their baby a couple of weeks earlier than those who are pregnant for the first time.

What determines the timing of the first fetal movements?

The appearance of the first movements and their duration depend on many factors. For example, this could be the child’s body weight, that is, the larger he is, the more likely it is to feel his movements earlier. And usually during the second pregnancy the fetus is larger than before. Although it also happens the other way around.

It's not easy for fat women either It’s too early to notice the first movements. Usually, the baby's movement is easier to recognize for thin women.

In addition, all women may have different sensitivity thresholds. There are especially sensitive individuals who can feel the first movements of the fetus much earlier than others. Thus, the timing of the appearance of the first movements depends on factors such as:

• natural sensitivity of a woman;
• its equipment;
• depending on the size and weight of the baby.

What is normal movement during a second pregnancy?

As already noted, it is believed that during the second pregnancy, fetal movement occurs several weeks earlier than before. All this is due to the fact that the expectant mother is already familiar with them and can distinguish them.

During its development, the fetus is constantly on the move, except when he sleeps. During the day he makes about two hundred movements and, of course, a woman cannot feel them all. Around the twentieth week, the baby becomes more active and often it is during this period that the expectant mother begins to feel his activity.

But, it should be said that the baby is becoming larger every week and there is less and less room for him to move. Therefore, you can notice how he becomes quieter over time, however, his thrusts may become more painful. Why may the baby begin to behave more active during this period?? There are several reasons for this:

In addition, we should not forget that all women are individual and begin to feel fetal movements at different times. Therefore, there is no need to worry if she does not feel them at either 16 or 18 weeks. It’s not for nothing that an ultrasound is performed at twenty weeks. a study that allows you to assess the condition of the fetus and its development.

However, you need to know that if the baby began to move at eighteen weeks, and then subsided for a long time, then this is a reason to consult a doctor to check the condition of the unborn baby.

As a rule, by twenty-four weeks of pregnancy, the baby's movements become more noticeable and it becomes difficult not to feel them.

Women who are especially worried about their unborn child and think about possible deviations although the ultrasound showed If everything is normal, they can take the doctor’s advice and start keeping a diary, where they will record the number of movements of the baby and their intervals. This will help notice changes in the development of the fetus, and the mother will become calmer.

In a similar way, you can control the baby’s movements during the second pregnancy and beyond.

What methods exist for counting baby movements in the tummy?.

When an expectant mother begins to feel her baby's movements, she constantly wonders: “is everything okay?” and tries to count the number of movements of his baby. Experts have several ways to do this:

• Pearson method;
• Sadowski method;
• Cardiff technology.

Rely on these techniques better for a woman who is not pregnant for the first time, because she knows what to expect, and this information will not confuse them. Preliminarily for calculating movements, according to these methods, it is worth consulting with a doctor and understanding whether it is worth doing.

It must be said that counting the number of fetal movements that begin can indicate not only to the mother, but also to the doctor. possible problems and the need for more research. Therefore, if a mother begins to notice any alarming signs, the first thing she needs to do is visit a doctor and check the baby’s condition. In this case, if any problems begin, with the help of a qualified specialist, it may be possible to correct them.

Every pregnant woman experiences incredible joy and slight excitement the moment she feels the first movements of the fetus. But first of all, they talk about the correct development of the fetus and the normal course of pregnancy. A pregnant woman for the first time awaits these still unfamiliar sensations with curiosity and impatience. And during the second pregnancy, she involuntarily draws analogies with the first and, if the baby does not rush to remind himself, draws hasty conclusions. After all, almost every woman has heard that the second pregnancy is accompanied by earlier fetal movements. So when can you actually expect them during your second pregnancy?

When does the baby start to move during the second pregnancy?

If we talk about the first movements of a child in pregnant women for the second time, then we should keep in mind not that the baby moved for the first time, but that the woman felt it for the first time. Indeed, in reality, the fetus begins to move much earlier. It’s just that the expectant mother could not feel it until now because of its too small size and weight. The first movements of the fetus in the womb occur already at 8-9 weeks of pregnancy. Even if he touches the walls of the uterus, the woman cannot feel it. Its size is too miniature during this period. The number of pregnancies does not affect such processes of fetal development in the womb. During the first or next pregnancy, the baby makes its movements for the first time around the beginning of the third obstetric month. And every woman can feel movements at different moments.

When does a woman who is pregnant for the second time begin to feel the baby’s movements?

The answer to the question about the timing of the first sensation of the baby's movements by a pregnant woman is ambiguous. This can happen absolutely different terms and most situations will be normal. For example, babies at 24 weeks of pregnancy can so actively remind themselves that not only the expectant mother will know about it. It is enough to put your hand on your stomach to feel confident movements inside. There are children who at the same time are in no hurry to give signals and lead their secretive lifestyle in the womb.

According to some information, at a period of 5 obstetric months, the baby performs about 200 movements. But not all of them will be felt by a pregnant woman. In obstetric practice, the period of expected first movements is considered to be from 16 to 24 weeks. The expectant mother feels movements during this period - there is no reason to worry. But we are talking only about approximate boundaries. In fact, the sensations of a pregnant woman may be individual and may not fit into this range of the majority.

It is believed that women with a second pregnancy feel movements inside themselves earlier. This is primarily due to the fact that the woman has already experienced all stages of fetal development for the first time and is able to more accurately recognize what is familiar to her.

Primipara women, out of ignorance, often do not pay attention to minor movements in the abdomen, confusing them with intestinal activity. There are also opposite situations in which women mistake intestinal movements for the baby’s activity. Some pregnant women are sure that they felt their desired baby at 13 or 14 weeks of pregnancy. However, doctors think differently: it is impossible to feel the activity of the fetus at this stage due to its small size.

It is believed that during the second pregnancy, the baby’s movements can be felt somewhere around 18 weeks, maybe even 16. It turns out that a multiparous woman has the opportunity to recognize the first signs of baby activity a month earlier than her first pregnancy.

What influences this?

The period at which the baby will demonstrate its activity during a woman’s pregnancy for the second time may also change due to the influence of other factors. One of these factors is the weight of the fetus. It is quite obvious that the large weight of the unborn baby allows a pregnant woman to feel it more early. It is multiparous women who most often bear larger children compared to first pregnancies. But this is not a mandatory rule. Women with a thin body constitution can also feel the baby earlier than others. In obese pregnant women, the opposite situation occurs. It can correct the timing of the first movements of the fetus by the woman’s natural sensitivity level.

It should be said that every pregnancy is individual. It is considered normal to feel the baby until 24-25 weeks. Otherwise, you can perform an ultrasound or visit a doctor so that there is no cause for concern.