What should I do if my baby is Breech?

There are exercises you can do at home or with a professional for to help you get your baby head down. Ask your doctor or midwife if she or he has a handout on ways to help a breech baby flip head down. Which suggestions are right for you? No web site or book can really answer that. This information can be shared with your caregiver so you can make a decision that is best for you emotionally and physically. Click "Flip your baby" to read things to do at home, or with a professional. Having twins? Go to Spinning Babies and... Twins.

Head's up ~~~ A breech baby has their buttocks coming into the pelvis before the head. Usually the buttocks will be born first, less often the feet or knees emerge first.

Is breech presentation a malposition or a normal variation? What are the types of breech positions? When is vaginal birth safer than surgery and when is a cesarean better for breech birth?  Read more for these answers and to learn the Spinning Babies view of breech fetal position.

Spinning Babies techniques do not include manual cephalic version or any manipulation of the baby.

To help a breech baby flip head down begin with the 1st Principle of Spinning Babies. Balance means to help thesoft tissues of the pelvis and abdomen become symmetrical. To do that, there are techniques to release muscle spasms that pull the womb out of place a bit. The wrong twist in the wrong place can prevent a baby from being head down. Therefore, its good to begin with Balancing the uterine ligaments. Read the thinking behind this non-manipulative way to a head down baby.

A childbirth educator and doula wondered why the doctor of a mom she is helping wasn't 100% sure about the signs of a breech baby. He suggested an Ultrasound (sonogram). Was he stretching to find a reason to do an ultrasound (sonogram)? Or is it really that hard to tell?

Keep reading for tips on discerning a breech position and see pictures of palpation. 

When, in Pregnancy, is breech an issue?

Many home birth midwives suggest interacting with a baby at 30-34 weeks to encourage a head down position (vertex). After 32-34 weeks, chiropractic adjustments are suggested. The later in pregnancy a baby is breech, the more difficult it is for the baby to flip head down. The baby’s size grows in relation to the uterus and there is a smaller percentage of amniotic fluid for the baby to move freely in. Read More by clicking the link here.

A bicornuate uterus has two sections divided by a septum, or wall of tissue. Baby's are a little more likely to be in a breech position if they were breech in midpregnancy and grew too big to flip while in one of the divisions of the bicornuate uterus. A bicornuate uterus is likened unto a heart-shape because the septum often grows a little less than the fundus and so a pregnant bicornuate uterus often, but not always, has a dip in the top making the overall uterus heart-shaped.