When did you first notice baby moving—an

Start with your baby's own pattern, not with week numbers: give yourself one 15-minute quiet slot a day, write one line in the log below, and if that pattern changes, call your maternity unit the same day — never the next morning.

What the official guidance actually says (NHS, "Your baby's movements", page last reviewed 8 July 2024; checked 7 November 2026):

• "You should start to feel your baby move between 16 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. If this is your first baby, you might not feel movements until after 20 weeks."
• "If you have not felt your baby move by 24 weeks, tell your midwife. They'll check your baby's heartbeat and movements."
• "There's no set number of movements you should feel each day – every baby is different. You do not need to count the number of kicks or movements you feel each day. The important thing is to get to know your baby's usual pattern of movements from day to day."
• "Call your midwife or maternity unit immediately if: your baby is moving less than usual, you cannot feel your baby moving anymore, there is a change to your baby's usual pattern… Do not wait until the next day – call immediately, even if it's the middle of the night."
• "Do not use a home doppler (heartbeat listening kit) to try to check the baby's heartbeat yourself."

1. What you have tried, and what carries more weight

Your 3 November movement sheet already covers the walking and pelvic-floor part; the pattern log below is the piece it is missing.

2. Limits for this week — the "do not" list

• No number to chase at home. Do not set a kick target, do not compare your count with anyone else's, and if your clinic gave you a counting method because you have gestational diabetes, that specific instruction is the one to follow.
• No home Doppler or app for the heartbeat. It can mislead you in both directions.
• Do not wait for tomorrow, do not go to sleep on a reduction, and do not decide "she is just quiet today" if the pattern has changed.
• No medicine, supplement, powder or anything bought online started or stopped for this — for you, the child or the elder. Nothing from your own cupboard gets given to anyone.
• Do not try to catch the movement while cooking, running the school run, or looking after the elder. If the slot and the childcare clash, the childcare loses, not the slot.
• The child and the elder are not responsible for checking the baby. The adult who is pregnant calls, or the adult who was told the pattern calls.
• No falls or bump risk, no long flat lying on your back, no hot baths or hot yoga (already on your own sheet).

3. Tonight / today: 25 minutes, three blocks

1. 5 min — fix the slot. Put the same 15-minute window in tomorrow's diary (after dinner, before the wash-up). Name who covers the child or the elder for those 15 minutes. One message, one task.
2. 15 min — the attention slot. Sit or lie on your side, warm drink, phone face down, one hand on the belly if that helps you feel it. Noticing a flutter, a roll, a stretch or a hiccup all count as movement.
3. 2 min — one log line. Time, how it felt, and one word for the day: usual / more / less / none.

Log line format (screenshot this):

Seven days of this and you have the only reference that matters: your baby's normal.

4. Decision tree

```
Has the baby moved at all yet?
├─ No, and you are under 24 weeks
│ ├─ Felt a flutter or roll at any point → start the log, it becomes your baseline
│ └─ Nothing yet → note the date; by 24 weeks, tell your midwife so they can check the
│ heartbeat and movements. That is a booked check, not a panic.
└─ Yes, and you have a baseline
└─ Compare today with your usual day
├─ Same or more → log the line, carry on, no call needed
└─ Less than usual, or a different pattern, or nothing
├─ Any of: bleeding, leaking fluid, severe belly pain, fainting, fast or difficult
│ breathing, severe headache with blurred/flashing vision, pain high in the belly
│ under the right ribs, sudden puffiness of face or hands, fever with being too
│ weak to get out of bed, a fit, waters breaking
│ → GO NOW: call your local emergency number or the maternity unit, say "I am
│ pregnant and how many weeks", and follow what they tell you
└─ None of those
→ CALL TODAY: your midwife or maternity unit, the same day, saying it is less
than usual. Not tomorrow morning, not after the school run.
```

Two things from the pregnancy guidance worth keeping in your head: a new reduction is a same-day call, not a next-appointment item; and "she was checked yesterday and was fine" is never a reason to delay today's call.
Source: rcog https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/2mwncs1v/pi-your-babys-movements-in-pregnancy.pdf
Source: who-iris https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/258716

5. When to stop the DIY entirely

Stop counting, stop waiting, and get clinical help straight away if any of these appear — call your local emergency number and say you are pregnant and how many weeks:

• Vaginal bleeding or leaking fluid
• Severe or constant abdominal pain, or a belly that changed shape
• Fainting, chest pain, fast or difficult breathing, or a painful, red, swollen calf
• Severe headache with blurred or flashing vision; pain high in the belly or under the right ribs; sudden puffiness of the face or hands
• A fit
• Fever with being too weak to get out of bed
• Waters breaking, or something felt at the vaginal opening afterwards

The same day, without the emergency call: the baby moving less than usual, a change in the usual pattern, or no movement at all once you have felt it move.

6. Scripts to copy and paste

To the midwife or maternity unit (same day, changed pattern):
> "Hello, I am [number] weeks pregnant. The baby usually moves [describe the usual pattern], and today I have felt [what you felt] since [time]. There is [no bleeding / no pain / bleeding and pain]. I would like the baby's movements checked today."

To the maternity unit or emergency services (go now):
> "I am [number] weeks pregnant. The baby is moving [less than usual / not at all]. I also have [symptom]. I am at [address] and [I am alone / someone is with me]."

To the sibling or the elder, to buy you 15 minutes:
> "Can you cover [the school pickup / bath / the evening] on [day] between [time] and [time]? I need to sit quietly for a quarter of an hour. I will do [their task] straight after."

To the child, so the slot is not interrupted:
> "After homework tonight I am sitting down with a warm drink for fifteen minutes. If you need me, ask [name] — I can hear you from the sofa."

If the midwife asks what "less than usual" means to you:
> "Usually I feel [describe] and the busiest time is [time of day]. Today it felt like [describe]."

7. What success looks like in 24 hours

• You know one thing you did not know this morning: your baby's busiest time of day, written down.
• The log has seven lines' worth of format ready, in one place, on your phone or on paper by the kettle.
• One named person knows they cover the 15 minutes, and knows that if you call them about the baby's movements they should call the maternity unit with you.
• If anything on the red-flag list appeared, you called instead of counting.

This is home guidance, not a diagnosis and not a substitute for your midwife or maternity unit. Decisions about any medicine, supplement or test stay with the clinician who knows your pregnancy. I could not verify from here which maternity unit or out-of-hours number applies to you, or the local school and family schedules.

To aim this properly, tell me three things: how many weeks along you are, whether the baby has moved today, and which city and country you are in — then I can point you at your own maternity unit door and your own emergency number.

A printable one-page version of the routine, the log and the decision tree is here: baby-movement-pattern-week-1b1868e0-1.pdf