How long do the first fetal movements last? 21 weeks

[AprilBaby2025]

I am 21 weeks and really don’t know if I am feeling anything. I feel something several times a day that feels a bit like gas but without the farting lol. It feels like if you were in a pool and someone pushed water from underneath towards you and you can a brief wave. That’s what it feels like, but it’s so quick it only happens once and then it’s over. It may happen again a couple minutes later or a couple hours later. This lasts literally a split second.

I was reading a website where a doctor said that to distinguish between gas and quickening, gas is usually one bubble whereas fetal movements are continuous. So now I’m worried I’m not actually feeling anything.

anyways, in your experience are the early baby movements a split second thing or do they last for a few minutes (or even several seconds) at a time?

They could be quite stop and start. My first movements I could feel felt like someone poking me with a finger. I wasn't sure it they were kicks or not until a couple of weeks later. Then I could see my bump move when I felt the kicks. Often if you sit still long enough and focus on where you feeling the kicks you'll feel more in the same area. When he was moving/changing position it felt a bit more gasy.

In my first pregnancy I didn't feel anything until 22/23 weeks, second time round it was just over 20 weeks.

At first it was a split second, very easy to miss or mistake for something else. I've seen it described as flutters whereas mine was more like a little bubble of gas.

it's been easier to tell in this pregnancy as last time i had an anterior placenta so it was quite muffled. This time round it started off at night when i went to bed as that's often when you lie still in the quiet with no distractions. Initially there were some days where I might not feel it at all but after a week or so it started getting more frequent until it was unmistakably baby. Now I'm 2 weeks on from initial movements and the movements are regular throughout the day and pretty strong considering how small baby still is