What is Quickening?
One of the most exciting parts of the second trimester is feeling your baby move. Women, both new and repeat moms-to-be, wait anxiously for the first movements that they feel in their belly, coming from their baby. These first movements are often referred to as quickening.
In actuality, your baby begins wiggling and moving by the 8th or 9th week of pregnancy. However, he is too small for you to feel at this point. However as he gets bigger he starts to kick the walls of your uterus as he moves around. This can happen as early as the 14th week of pregnancy, normally for women in their second pregnancy or beyond, and as late as the 26th week of pregnancy for women who are in their first pregnancy or might be a little overweight.
Quickening is often explained away as gas bubbles, especially by first time moms who aren’t sure what it should feel like. Quickening may also feel like a woman has butterflies in her stomach, flying around, or someone inside, tapping on their uterus. Eventually however the kicks, punches, and elbows will become obvious to even first time moms-to-be, and the movements will start to come with more regularity than they have in the past.
Remember that once you feel the quickening, you will probably be able to feel it everyday, however some days it may not be as often or as strong as others. If you want to get your baby active, it is often suggested that you drink a big glass of orange juice and lay down to wait for your baby to move. When you are up moving around, it often rocks your baby to sleep, so when you stop moving, he is able to wake up and start moving on his own.
If you start to feel what you think is quickening, but has a definite pattern, like a tap every five to ten seconds, it could be that your baby has the hiccups! Hiccups, like the quickening are a sure sign that your baby is growing and is healthy inside your belly.
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March 3rd, 2013 at 12:36 pm
We rock our babies to sleep when we are up and about?
that’s adorable. I started feeling the butterfly feeling towards the end of 11 weeks. It feels weird, but pretty awesome at the same time.
December 7th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Hey, I felt fluttering for the 1st time about 3days ago and I’m only 15+3 weeks pregnant I think it depends on baby’s development
Congrats to all thou xx
October 17th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
I THINK THAT I MAY BE PREGNANT .HAVING ALOT OF LOWER BACK PAINS AND NIGHTS I FEEL SOME STRANGE MOVEMENTS IN MY TOMMY,THOUGHT IT WAS GAS AT FIRST BUT ITS A REALLY STRANGE FEELS.THE PROBLEM IS THAT I AM STILL HAVING MY PERIOD
September 4th, 2011 at 12:39 am
i don’t know if i’m pregnant or not but i think i am, i have been having this light tapping or little flutter in my stomach for the past 2-3 weeks and i know it’s not gas because it doesn’t feel like gas but i also been having gas constipation and bloating like i am pregnant or something, i’m also having cramps too i made an appointment with my doc to see what’s wrong with me i hope it’s nothing serious like a cyst i’d rather be pregnant than to have a cyst
August 30th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
I dont knw if im pregnant or not but I keep having really bad cramps in my pelvic area and up my right side wht does tht mean
August 16th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
I am almost 16 wks prego and I dont think my baby has moved yet. This is my first time, so I don’t know what it feels like. Im very scared. Should I go to the doctor?
July 26th, 2011 at 5:57 am
If you are more than 12 weeks it may not show up in a preg test. My friend would never get a pos on a hpt, trust your body if you think somethings up then go see a doc for more answers.
July 7th, 2011 at 3:53 am
Hi i have PCOS which makes me really irreagular so figuring the best time to get pregnant has been hard. Well for a little over a month now i have had a fluttery feeling in my tummy and then today i felt something like what i would think a baby kick would feel like and it done it a few times.. I have taken tests and even done another today but they show neg. Is it possible i may be pregnant or could it be something else?
June 6th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
i am 17 wks with my first and i felt movement last week for first time. i dont feel it every day but felt baby again a few days ago walking in a store and felt like tapping inside tummy. it has been a beautiful feeling. i have a lot of pressure at times to put if i position myself in a different way it slows down, maybe its baby wiggling around. good luck to every mom out there for the special feeling for the first time.
June 4th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
i am about 18-19 weeks pregnant. this is my first pregn. not to be tmi but i got wicked bad gas w pregnancy. sometimes i hear what i believe to be gas in my tummy. sometimes it brings gas sometimes it doesnt. so i dont know if its quickening or not. i dont think i felt any movements yet. except 1 night a few nights back i was laying on the coach to fall asleep on my R side. and my stomach julted about a mile away n back lol. i wonder if that was my 1st time feeln a kick? one day i also experianced a twitch. i am large frame woman. i was 350 before pregnancy.i lost 110 lbs in 9 months. kept it off for more then a yr in a haf. got pregn. and in 5 months i am up to 248 from 219(pre pregnancy weight). so i dont think ill show til 3rd trimester or feel movements early. i do feel hardening on my upper stomach but nothn at all on my lower stomach as weight probs all my life going up n down has mangled that part of my stomach.
April 4th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I am 15 weeks 3 days pregnant and started feeling like tingerly feeling in my belly around my belly button, this is my second baby and i felt my first around 12 weeks , so the feelings ur feeling are most certainly ur lil one… All the best
March 24th, 2011 at 4:34 am
I am 16 weeks and 6 days pregnant and I started feeling the flutters when I was around 16 weeks and have been feeling it siince then and this is my second pregnancy I miscarried my first baby at eleven weeks just wanted to know if it was a bit to early for me to feel the baby move
March 17th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
i am 28 years old. and i have not had a period since november 2010. that would make me about 16 weeks pregnant if i am . i have taken several test and they all say negative but this past two weeks i have felt weird thumps and rumble in my belly off and on throughout the day especially laying down or just sitting still. just now i heard a thump like when you thump a melon or something. its so weird. i wonder if i am pregnant.
February 28th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Ok so I need help. My last period was at Christmas but I have taken 3 tests since then that all came up negative. I was pregnant once before but I was in high school and miscarried. I have been having all of the symptoms: morning sickness, gas, tender ta-ta’s, and this weird butterfly feeling that is nonstop. Can someone tell me if it is likely that I am pregnant and the tests just aren’t picking up my HGC levels or what it is that I am feeling with the butterflies?
February 11th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
I guess I need a vocab lesson lol can someone please define “flutter”?? I’m about 16 weeks and I just felt a poking sensation that I thought was a gas bubble. It felt like a muscle twitch on the surface but when I pressed it, it felt more like a poking sensation. Two moms I know have already said they think its the baby moving. But I’m not convinced :/
February 4th, 2011 at 12:13 am
Hi i’m pregnant with my 2nd child and im almost 8 weeks and i already feel the quickening its like when ur hungry and ur tummy rumbles but without the sound. I remember the feeling with my first but i already feel it now just jumping around in there.. is it normal?
January 30th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
[...] all started a month or so ago with what’s known as ‘the quickening’ – another term I’m not too fond of as it kinds of sounds like something old fashioned and a [...]
January 30th, 2011 at 8:48 am
if you can’t feel the baby or do not know what it feels like, buy an at home doppler. you’ll hear a loud kick when the baby moves and maybe it’ll teach you what it feels like. that is what i’ve done!
good luck all <3
January 8th, 2011 at 10:40 am
I am 20 weeks pregnant and by the 19 i started feeling the baby move. At first I thought it was gas. But as it came out to be that it really was the baby move. I love the feeling that this little baby gives to me. Its a joyful thing since this is the only baby I will get to have in my life due to having a really bad back.
December 31st, 2010 at 1:55 am
i’m 21 weeks pregnant and i’ve started noticing some bubble movements in from 18th week but that time i was not confident about the movements but now i m confident and really enjoying it…………………….
November 20th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
ive taken urin pregnancy test and a blood pregnancy test both came back neg. i havnet had a ful period since july every month since then has been a one day only when i whip spotting. im pretty sure im pregnant i feel little nervous feelings in my belly and i first felt it 4days ago. so just wondering if anyone thinks its just my imagination or if im probably correct..thanks and congrats to the mommys to be..MUAH
November 11th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
im 16wks preggo wit my 3rd set of twins(they run in my family and my husband family my husband a triplet and im a twin) and yesterday I just started to feel the flutters after I drank a big glass of orange juice and it feels amazing except when I laid down to go to sleep they wouldnt stop tapping lol so my husband rubbed my stomach and they calmed down finally
November 11th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
i felt flutters at 9wks. im 12 weeks now,and the flutters/thumping are much stronger esp when i lay on my left. its an amazing feeling.
October 30th, 2010 at 1:41 am
Im 16 weeks prego and I feel the tapping all the time at diffrent times of the day I love its such a wonderfull fealing iv ben fealing this for about 5 weeks now I love it