# how early can you feel babies kicking?



## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

I bought a pregnant goat on April 10th that the owner said was due June 17th. This is her first pregnancy and her birthdate is 1/24/09. 
I noticed she already had a small udder forming and she was nice and pregnant looking the day I bought her. I get her home and on the milk stand to feed her some grain and I could feel baby kicks!! So I thought she must be due sooner than June 17th. Like maybe the owner just had the wrong month. 

Anyway, May 17th came and went and now I'm scratching my head. Could it be she is really due June 17th? I was told by a vet that you can feel babies as early as 4 to 6 weeks before they kid. 

Her udder is bigger and her ligaments have been mushy for a week. What do you all think? Can you feel babies kicking 8 weeks before kidding?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Most baby movement is simply normal rumen contractions  Vicki


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

I believe what ever you say, Vicki, your the expert. :biggrin

But I tell ya, I felt not rumblings and and little bumps, but long sliding movements and drags across the right side of her.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I can't usually feel babies kicking until about 4 months along. If your goats let you, you can stand at their back end and lean over their back and reach around their abdomen and sort of lift up a bit right in front of the udder. I don't bounce them and I don't hurt them. They usually only stand still for maybe 10 or 20 seconds or so but just like with human babies, if they are stirring around you can feel them. Or at least I can on my Alpines. Now if the doe is jumping around and not wanting you to touch her of course that won't work.


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

This doe is mellow and when she is on the milk stand eating grain is the only time I feel for her babies. And I can't say everyday, but nearly, I have felt what I'm sure are baby kicks- long pointy movements.

Thanks for letting me know Christine, that about a month before term you feel the movements. I'm just going to plan to keep checking this doe like she is due now. Her rear end is very poochie and it wiggles and jiggles when she walks. Her ligs are soft and I really think she's close. But then another day goes by and I think I'm crazy. I think maybe she is due in a month like the owner said.

??


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Never...I have never been able to- everyone talks about it all the time and in all the dozens of freshenings I have had here I never found a kid kick for sure. Feel left out on this one but have quit trying!
Lee


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I have definately felt babies in some of my does. This is usually in the last month, most ofter the last week or two, usually in yearlings. A couple days before Stormy kidded. she was alying down and I petted her side. I could feel her baby quite distinctly. With my bigger, deep bodied older does, it's harder to feel the kids.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I can feel babies, definitely. About 4-6 weeks before kidding sounds about right. I usually feel them on the bottom of the belly and up around to the right side. When they are farther along, I don't just feel kicks I'll feel a knee or head just sitting there. I don't really push to feel the babies, usually I just put my flat hands under the belly, in two places to feel if there are two or more kids. Then I wait for one to move. If I feel something on the one side, and across on the other, then I know there are two or more.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

I can definately feel babies in my does. I know what a baby kick feels like! I felt my SIL stomach one time when she was pregnant with my niece so I know what I am feeling when I feel the little kicks in the girls...I normally lay my hand infront of the udder area and that's where I feel them. However, I have felt them off to the right....the goats right, if you are facing the same direction as the goat.
I normally can feel them when the does are eating. I felt Delilah's kids kicking in the middle of Feb...she wasn't due until May...and she kidded a day or two before her 150 day due date.


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## linny_sch (Apr 12, 2018)

My baby is actually in labor right now and her babies won’t stop moving and kicking. Poor thing just wants it to stop. You can litterly see her sides moving and sliding around. It’s my first kidding so I’m not sure if this happenss normally with goats.


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