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Questions and Answers

Q. I am 21 weeks pregnant with my first child and haven't felt the baby kick. Should I be concerned? I haven't really felt movement at all, and I hope everything is ok. I heard the babies heartbeat last week. I just thought that I should have felt something by now. Please let me know if I should be concerned.

Thanks,
Michelle

A. Michelle,

Quickening is when you feel your baby's first movements. The baby actually begins to move very early on in the pregnancy, but they are so small that we can't feel these little flutterings. Normally a first time mom will feel the baby by the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, but sometimes later because of maternal fat deposits, or an anterior placenta (placenta is fine, but you can't feel the baby through the placenta until s/he is much stronger).

If you heard the heart beat and everything has been fine up until this point there is really no reason to believe that they will not continue to be fine. Try eating and then lying down and see if you can feel the movements. Sometimes we are just to busy to notice or assume that what we are feeling is not the baby.

At your next appointment ask your practitioner what they believe to be the hold up. My guess is that you will have felt the baby by then! Good luck!

Cyndi Klausing, RN, ACCE, has been a childbirth educator and breastfeeding counselor for over 18 years. She currently works as a newborn nursery nurse and is the mother of four sons.

Cyndi will answer your questions on fertility, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and babies. Her advice does not take the place of your practitioner. Personal answers will not always be possible.