Mother's job is to dilate --
Baby's job is to rotate!
Your baby will turn his or her head to fit through your pelvis during the childbirth process.
Most of the time your labor contractions help the baby with this fetal rotation. Sometimes, though, the starting position of a baby’s head makes this rotation more difficult. Happily, you can do something about this!
Spinning Babies shows mothers and their partners ways to prepare for birth using maternal positions and exercises to help the baby's job of rotation happen more easily. Shorter labors, fewer interventions and fewer cesareans are reported by parents and birth professionals using the 3 Principles of Spinning Babies.
Use the top menu from right to left or Begin here and read everything in that section. That will put you on the fast track.
I’m Gail Tully, a midwife
and doula trainer, and this is my site.
During
the second night of a long labor in 1986 the mother asked, “Why won’t this
baby come out?!” I heard myself say that her baby first had to spin
around and face her back and then he would come out...he just had to spin around...
Ten years later, midwife, Jean Sutton,
and childbirth educator, Pauline Scott, wrote Understanding and Teaching
Optimal Foetal Positioning and revealed many ways to help us help the baby rotate. Deeply inspired I wanted to share their information
with American parents (in American English). I’ve added many observations and
lessons learned along the way. Today, Spinning Babies reaches parents, doulas,
childbirth educators, midwives, nurses and doctors all around the world.
See who else shaped my approach in About Spinning Babies.
Is Spinning Babies different
than Optimal Fetal Positioning?
Doulas, midwives, nurses and
doctors have noticed that simply changing a mother's position (maternal positioning) in pregnancy or labor doesn’t always work. Hands and
knees position doesn’t always work to rotate a posterior baby to anterior. The breech-tilt doesn’t always help a breech baby flip around to head-down.
That's why Spinning Babies offers 3 Principles, not just one, to address those mother-baby pairs that need a little bit more help.
Spinning Babies goes beyond
maternal positioning to address the balance within the mother’s body to
allow the baby to fix his or her own position.
Spinning Babies recognizes
that both the mother and the baby have their part to play.
Babies fit the available space.The point of Spinning Babies
is that the womb came before the baby. Meet the needs of the mother and
the baby will settle into the design of birth.
The baby will always get in the easiest position for birth --whenever the baby finds it possible to do so.
The problem: Some posterior babies can't rotate on their own.
First time mothers or mother's who had long labors, long pushing
stages, or cesareans for either "failure to progress" or breech fetal positions in the past may benefit the most from optimal fetal positioning.
The solution: Use this web site to reduce
interventions in labor. It's simple to
do. Just learn one or two techniques for each of the 3 Principles. If
you need more, do more.
There is a "spectrum of ease" or difficulty to
consider. Fortunately there are a few clues to guide mothers to the
right level of effort for their birth preparations.
Don't most posterior babies rotate to an anterior position on their own in labor?
Yep.
And don't babies change position in labor?
Yes, but I don't believe fetal position change is random. See Myths about Occiput Posterior (OP) and my comments about Dr. Lieberman's wonderful research on fetal position changes. So, though most posterior babies will rotate, if given time in labor, and a few can be born without rotating, there are those posterior babies that can't, even with time. Spinning Babies is for those mothers and babies who face challenges with fetal position.
Can Spinning Babies principles help breech babies get head down?
They sure can! See Flip a Breech in Baby Positions/Breech
Because babies fit the available space, there can be breech babies that can be born naturally with ease (with a provider trained in breech cardinal movements) and there are breech that need a cesarean.
This is also true for head down babies, but a poorly trained midwife or doctor is less likely to cause trouble during a natural birth of a head down baby. Intrigued? Read more about breech.
The techniques described here were found around the world. But, "what
to do when" is found right here. Your labor can be shorter and less
painful--Easier, in other words, than a posterior labor. Here we see Penny Simkin and friend teaching maternal positioning.
But let's not be dogmatic about fetal positioning!
This family has just had a fast posterior birth. This, their second daughter, was born in three hours, start to finish. This mother's active life style, pelvic shape and vertical birthing position helped, of course.
One set of rules would never work for all women. Nor would one or two techniques work for all women. What we need is an understanding of the general relationship of our birthing baby with our opening body. By applying the principles explained, you can set up your own individual program of activities in pregnancy or labor.
Spinning Babies honors birth as nature intended. Your baby is an active member of the birth.
Why is baby’s position important?
A well positioned baby comes
through the pelvis with the smallest diameters possible. In other words, the
ideal birth positions help the head seem smaller!
Read about ideal breech positions in About Breech.
Labor then tends to be easier
than when the baby is facing the front.
Labor with a good fetal starting position
Labor tends to start without induction more often.
Labor may begin closer to the due date and less often overdue.
The amniotic sac (membranes) tend to stay intact longer, reducing
risk of infection and reducing the likelihood of Pitocin/Syntocyn augmentation
Women say they are happier with their labor experience.
Labor contractions be more “symmetrical,”
The labor pattern is more predictable.
Labor may be shorter.
A first time mother can learn to anticipate what’s next and how to
cope with labor. (A doula is so helpful with this!)
Success with natural labor becomes more likely.
Babies tend to have higher 1-minute Apgars.
There is less pelvic floor and perineal “wear and tear.”
There are definitely fewer labors that finish with a cesarean.
Are there “bad” fetal
positions?
If the baby fits, any
position was good enough. Its not so much the position as it is the fit. This
varies dramatically from woman to woman, birth-to-birth. There are no bad
babies; no “stubborn” babies!
The anterior fetal positions
are generally considered ideal.
Baby positions that may be
more challenging are posterior, asynclitic, breech, brow, and face
presentations. A head that is deflexed or extended in any fetal position adds a
challenge that sometimes requires a cesarean. If the baby’s body is transverse
or oblique, and remain so in labor, a cesarean will be necessary. Learn more in
Baby Positions.
Why start with balance?
The baby will pick the best
position that the baby can settle in given the shape of the womb, maternal
positions and active birth techniques (gravity and movement).
A posterior labor is
different than an anterior labor
The position of a
"sunny-side up baby," one facing the front, is called occiput
posterior. A posterior baby fits less easily than the anterior baby. A
posterior baby's head seems bigger because of the angle it’s in when in the
pelvis.
Other posterior babies come
out with little fuss. Don’t panic because the baby is posterior! Most posterior
babies rotate around to the anterior during labor.
The great thing is women and birth
support persons can do something helpful for fetal positioning, even in labor.
When labor is long it is good to be patient.
Spinning Babies is the active
part of patience.
A pregnant woman’s posture
matters. A woman uses gravity to help her baby into an optimal fetal position.
There are more details than
this, but essentially this has described Optimal Fetal Positioning.
Does this work?
Little research is available
and what has been done really doesn’t look at the holistic, big picture. Much
of what I share is observed knowledge. Read more about medical research and Gail’s
observations for fetal positioning under Research. There are plenty of stories
of how these techniques worked for women.
What if these techniques
don’t work?
One set of rules would never
work for all women. One or two techniques would never work of all women. It is
remarkable, however, that just a few techniques work for most women!
Those few that need extra
help can set up an individual program of activities in pregnancy and again in
labor.
Read When to be concerned;
CPD; and Professional Help.
How to use this website
Make it simple – do the
forward leaning inversion everyday, Rest Smart and avoid unfriendly positions.
See what to do in Techniques, What to do first in pregnancy.
Or learn all about it by
going more in depth with Spinning Babies lessons and membership (coming soon). A small,
annual membership fee maintains this work.
Everything you need for a
good birth is in the free part of this website.
You can do activities before
and during labor that help the baby rotate sooner or more easily. These activities
and techniques may even reduce the need for medical interventions. Not all, but
most women will find this information helpful and useful. You can use this web
site to reduce interventions in labor.
This website honors birth as
nature intended. Your baby is an active member of the birth.
The baby will always get in
the easiest position for birth
--whenever the baby finds it
possible to do so.
Head down is only half the
story.
Many parents think that as
long as the baby is head down in the womb the baby is ready for birth. And it certainly
is a relief to find out the baby is not breech (buttocks coming through the
pelvis before the head is born).
Read when the Hands and Knees position works and why sometimes something else is needed in Hands and Knees.
Important: For some women,
simply getting into a gravity-friendly position won’t rotate their baby. To see
if you are one of the women who need to use a series of techniques before 8 months gestation to avoid a
surgical birth, go to the article, Hard labor--Me?.
Its important to work with an
experienced midwife or physician who can assess labor progress and mother and
baby’s well being.
Belly Mapping will help you understand your baby’s position - in your last
trimester of pregnancy. Start doing the forward-leaning inversion as early as
10 weeks gestation to help the baby be head down at the end of pregnancy! You
don’t have to know your baby’s position. Used properly, these techniques work
for all positions without making an anterior baby posterior!
Each woman has unique needs
during pregnancy and birth. Each baby has their own story, too.
Welcome to
a perspective on birth that trusts birthing women, borning babies, mother
nature, gut instinct, and Divine intercession.
I can’t promise you that all
women have an easier time when they do these techniques. But, over and over
again, success if found by most women. Keep sending the emails and stories. I
hope to hear if Spinning Babies made a difference in your birth. And when it
didn’t, I want to hear that, too.
Every thing
that most parents need to know will be in the free sections of this website.
Please donate if and when you can. A little bit is a big boost! Join the
pay-to-use section for more in depth discussion and education. Have a wonderful
birth!
Information about fetal positioning is given freely throughout the many articles
of the Spinning Babies Website. Perhaps this information made a difference in your birth. Perhaps you refer the families you work with to Spinning Babies. Please donate if and when you can. Each occasional donation is a
big boost!