Feeling your baby moving for the first time is a highlight of pregnancy. The baby’s movements, which are more like a sensation of bubbles when they appear around 3 and a half months of pregnancy, are for the mother-to-be a first means of communicating with him. They are also a sign of fetal well-being.

The baby moves very early in pregnancy. From the 7th week of pregnancy (9 weeks), the embryo, which then measures between 17 and 22 mm, makes tiny movements. Around the tenth week, his muscles are gradually forming and the movements are a little more frequent. Around the 13th week, the muscles strengthen, his limbs lengthen; the process of ossification of the skeleton is actively continuing, and some of its joints are functional. Thus, he can already close his little fists, open his mouth and perform the essential gesture of sucking. But these movements are then imperceptible for the mother-to-be, who still has to wait a few more weeks to be able to feel her baby move.

It is generally around 16-18 WA, or 4 months of pregnancy, that a pregnant woman perceives the first movements of her baby. And generally a little earlier if it is not a first pregnancy because the uterine muscle will have been distended by the previous pregnancy, but also because having already experienced the movements of the baby in utero, the future mother will recognize them. surely more easily.

The range of movements of the fetus is wide, and ranges from the smallest movement to large amplitude movements of the whole body. In utero, the baby closes his fists, turns his head, bends his legs and arms, extends his body, leaps, turns around, brings his hand to his mouth, etc … By continually swallowing amniotic fluid, he s’ also exercises a very important movement: that of sucking swallowing.

It is usually around 6-7 months of pregnancy that the baby is most active. Her body has developed well and she still has enough room in her mom’s womb to make wide movements, which sometimes wake mom up at night, or prevent her from falling asleep. Important and frequent movements are not a warning sign, quite the contrary: they are signs of its vitality. Fetal movement has always been viewed by the medical community as a sign of fetal well-being (1). Moreover, from the second trimester, during each prenatal consultation, the gynecologist or midwife will ask the mother-to-be if she perceives her baby’s movements well.

At the end of pregnancy, it is normal for the baby to move less because there is simply a lack of space in the uterus, which has become very narrow. However, it is important to remain attentive to fetal movements and their frequency. In the total absence of movement for a day, it is advisable to go to obstetric emergencies. This absence of fetal movements is indeed a warning signal.

A Cochrane systematic review (2) involving more than 71 pregnant women compared several methods of counting fetal movements as a means of monitoring the well-being of the baby. No counting method is superior to another, the review concluded. In the end, the future mother must above all trust her feelings.

Until the second half of pregnancy, the baby moves reflexively because his brain is not yet able to control his movements. Then as the weeks go by, as his nervous system continues to mature and his different senses develop, the baby’s movements can respond to different external stimuli. From the 6th month of pregnancy, the baby’s body is filled with touch receptors, so it is sensitive to touch. It is moreover on this capacity that rests haptonomy or “science of touch”, which consists in communicating with the fetus thanks to the placing of the hands on the belly.

His hearing also develops early in the womb, and ultrasounds have shown that a loud noise causes the baby to have a faster heart rate and overall movements, while low noise causes the eyelids to move. Studies have also shown that a strong emotion in the mother-to-be could cause a sudden release of hormones and immediately make the baby react.

Around the 7th month of pregnancy the Moro reflex is put in place. It is an archaic defense reflex in reaction to an external stimulus: faced with a sudden noise, the baby arches up and throws his arms back. At birth, the pediatrician will check this reflex to check the proper functioning of the nervous system of the newborn.

The movements of the fetus also have a physiological function: they participate in the proper development of its joints. In order for flexion-extension movements to be possible, the cartilage of the joints must wear out. By moving, the baby also strengthens all of his muscles.

The baby’s movements are perceived differently during pregnancy, and this development appears to be roughly the same in all pregnant women, one study showed (3).

The participants all described the very first fetal movements as very gentle movements, “like a feather in the belly”, “a small breath in the belly, very soft” or even “butterflies”.

Then over the weeks, the movements are wider, stronger and more frequent. Future mothers perceive their baby’s “kicks”, “hiccups”. They distinguish between limb movements, which are short and crisp, and their baby’s whole body, which is softer.