What do you braxton hicks feel like and when do you get them?

[Mamtobe2024]

I'm 33 weeks and I haven't had any braxton hicks yet? Does everybody get them and can you tell when you're having them apart from your belly going tight?

I didn’t start getting them until 37 weeks (or if I got them before that I never noticed them) and for me it was just my tummy going tighter, they weren’t painful at all and if I was on the go I’d easily not notice them

Thankyou for replying! I've read online lots of people get them from around 25 weeks but I haven't had one or if I have I don't know if I have

To me it almost felt like I needed to go for a poo. 😅 but didn't actually want to.

For me it was only for a day before my actual contractions started.

With DD1, I don't remember getting any at all. Although she had hiccups every night without fail and I've often wondered if the hiccups disguised the braxton hicks a little.

With DD2, I was more aware of them and from earlier on. Maybe 28 or 30weeks? They just felt like a tightening across my bump and quite high up. Unlike real contractions, which were very clearly different. Lower down and more intense from the start. They really ramped up from 36w and I had them every night. The only night I didnt have them was the night I went into labour for real.

I didn't get BH until around 37/38wks.
Even then, just very slight twinges/tightening sx

I don't think I got them at all with DS!

They’re a really mixed bag I think op. Mine were insane - strong from 25 weeks and so intense I’d have to stop and breathe through them. Happened with both my pregnancies and from the chats I had with midwives and doctors, I was just on the intense end of the spectrum, they told me some people didn’t feel them at all. Either way, as long as everything else is okay I’d not worry. I hated mine as they made me so anxious!

I didn't get any at all 🤷🏼‍♀️

When I had mine my bump went hard & you could clearly see a baby outline & easily work out what was a bum, albow, knee & feet, they felt like a combination of cramp & period pain, it's a hard thing to describe.

I am old and never on these boards, but I saw your post and had flashbacks to my BH. The best way to describe them is that they were like painless contractions. Like quite a strong tightening, almost to the point where you could see the outline of the baby, but no pain.

Nothing before about 36 weeks though. My youngest baby is 17 😜

Congratulations! And remember, how your baby is born, and how you feed him/her is not as important as you think it is!

I didn't get them at all in my first pregnancy

I never had any in my first pregnancy.

This was my experience. They were often triggered by my toddler crying in my second pregnancy. It was certainly not the experience described in the textbook or on NHS website.

My bump went really tight like an egg shell about to crack! They didn't hurt at all. I only had them with my third dc and they started around 25 weeks

My belly went hard and there was pain. Discovered a good method of knowing was to change positions. Mine were more intense walking but disappeared when i sat/lie down

I would get tightening of the bump. Quite bizarre.
No actual pain anywhere.

Mine was from about 34 weeks ish and my bump would just go rock hard!

Was funny because I mentioned it to my MIL one day and she said 'we didn't have them when I was having DH'!!! 🤣

I am having them now at 31 weeks, my tummy goes tight then just relaxs feels like he sticks his foot out not that much pain but can feel them x