What do baby
kicks feel like?

The full narration of the video.

She grabs your hand and presses it to her belly: Quick, feel that, he's moving! You hold your breath and wait. Nothing. She clearly felt it. So why can't you? What does a baby moving actually feel like?

Try it this way: her belly is a small pitch, with one tiny player training in it every day. Most women first feel him between weeks sixteen and twenty-four. With a first baby, often not until after week twenty. By then he weighs about three hundred grams, roughly the length of a banana.

His moves are like a player just warming up, tapping the ball. What she feels is a bubble popping inside, or a little fish flicking its tail. You know this one: a gurgle, a gas bubble rolling through. It's a lot like that, except the bubble isn't yours.

That's why many women mistake the first few for gas. A few weeks later, the player starts working on rhythm. Same spot: tap, tap, tap, perfectly regular. That's him hiccupping. It's normal, nothing to worry about.

Think of the jolt in your chest when you hiccup. Now put it in your belly, and make it someone else's. After week twenty-five, real shooting practice begins. Kicks, shoves, stretches, even full rolls: a bump rises on her belly and slides slowly from left to right.

One study used MRI videos to work it out: around week thirty his kicks peak, at about four point eight kilograms of force. That's a computer estimate, not a scale reading. Roughly the effort of lifting a five-litre water jug. Land one under her ribs and she gasps. Land one on her bladder and she needs the bathroom now.

Here the comparison breaks down: he isn't aiming at her, he's training his own bones and joints. And the pitch is her body. After week thirty-five, he fills the whole pitch. Fewer big moves, less force, more wriggling in place. But wriggling still counts. She should feel him right up to the birth. If he's clearly moving less one day, go to the hospital right away, don't wait until tomorrow.

Now back to your hand. She's at the touchline, and every kick lands on her. You're outside, behind several layers of belly and womb. His kicks have to get strong enough to push through before your hand can catch one. For many dads, that's weeks twenty-four to twenty-eight. Timing matters too. In a New Zealand survey, over seven in ten mothers said: he's most active in the evening and at bedtime.

Tonight, once she's lying down, lay your whole palm flat on her belly. Stay quiet, and wait. When you feel the first one, come back and tell us: how many minutes did you wait?