The Kicks And Why They Count

The first time baby kicks is a wonderful moment. Here’s how to spot when it happens, and why these kicks are more important than you might think.

- Melany Bendix

“IT FELT A bit like a feather tickling me, but from the inside. At first I wasn’t sure it was baby, but a few days later there was another flutter, and then another, and another, and I just knew,” Kuhle Mthembu, 32, recalls of her son’s first movements inside her belly at just 17 weeks.

He was right on schedule, according to Dr Deon van Zyl, an obstetrician/ gynaecologist practicing from Mediclinic Panorama in Cape Town: “Most women start feeling flutters – or ‘butterflies’ – from around 16 weeks.”

Dr Van Zyl says it’s not necessarily a cause for concern if you’re beyond 16 weeks and you haven’t felt movement yet, as “proper movements are only really felt from about 21 weeks”.

Like Leanne Farish, 31, who didn’t feel any movement until she was 20 weeks. “Those early movement were like a very gentle, single throb. Now, at 26 weeks, his movements are stronger and more noticeable – like being poked from the inside. I can also see the movement now.”