Using the 3 Principles of Spinning Babies in Pregnancy

Spinning Babies helps prevent common problems from subtle malpositions of the baby's head.

Malposition is a harsh word meaning the head is not coming into the pelvis is the easiest way to mold, or shape, itself to fit.  When the head is at a difficult angle, especially when mother’s muscles or pelvic tendons are tight, hours or even days can be added to the length of labor.

Please remember, some of these babies who are labeled as “malpositioned” are born with little trouble and no interventions. But, because a large minority of posterior and breech babies (and all babies lying sideways in a transverse lie) may need surgery to get born, Spinning Babies Website presents a way to help you reduce complications due to fetal malposition. Fetal positions defined. Read the Anatomy of Spinning Babies.



The Three Principles are:

        1. Balance
        2. Gravity
        3. Movement



Pelvis with uterus and some of the ligaments

Note: The name for the 1st principle has changed. I've been deliberating over whether to us relaxation, tone, symmetry or balance. Balance has won. I think it is easier to remember than symmetry and implies the same thing, but recognizes the slight and normal tilt of the uterus to the right. People have misinterpreted relaxation to be a breathing exercise or state of calm.  Balance implies more than a single organ, the uterus, is in relationship to the proper alignment of the body for birthing. Yeah, most babies will come out without the mother being in perfect balance, tone or relaxation. Isn't a woman's body amazing!? 

Let's consider the woman from the minority of birthers. She, too, deserves our attention and the help of this website. If we attend to the first principle, the next one, Gravity, will work in labor.

Habits of poor posture and chronic tension affect the balance (symmetry,  abdominal tone and the state of tension or relaxation) over time. The uterus works most effectively when the abdominal ligaments, muscles and fascia (a strong coating of membrane around all the organs, are in balance.  When we have had a habit for years, sitting and standing properly for a few weeks is not likely to correct the effects.

Sitting in bucket seats in cars, couches or lying improperly while on bed rest can tilt the womb. A tight ligament can pull the uterus to the front, back or side. Tightening can twist the uterine ligaments supporting uterine placement.

Active women who walk, swim or do yoga may have overcome many of the bad effects of growing up sitting in school desks or slouching on the couch.

The sacrum can also become twisted a little sideways or wrinkled like a throw rug from riding in a car or crossing our legs. These common issues can prevent a baby from getting into an ideal position.

 

 

1st Principle, Balance

To balance the uterus we need to either relax the soft tissues or to support them when they are too lax.
Relaxing in this sense does not mean deep breathing and conscious relaxation. Rather, we need to relax the muscles and ligaments of the reproductive organs and the connections to the joints of the pelvis.
 

Relax the Involuntary Muscles of the Uterus and Pelvis

Involuntary muscles don't relax by intention. Once the womb and the surround supportive structures are relaxed and symmetrical, a mother can find success from good maternal postures.

What if a woman’s abdomen is already relaxed?

Once a woman has a baby or two, or six, relaxation is rarely a problem. She may be too loose. Supporting her belly with a pregnancy belt can substitute for any missing tone in the abdominal muscles.

 
 Uterus and pelvis with round and sacral ligaments

 Tightening the tone

A good pregnancy belt supports the baby’s angle into the pelvis. The belt adds a slope to help the baby to aim and then, later, rotate into a good starting position for labor.

Some women may have to wear the pregnancy belt through labor and pushing to keep the baby in a safe position. That's not that common, but just so everyone knows, there are no absolute statements in birth – except one, “The baby always comes out!”

Discomfort in pregnancy, a previous labor longer than 24-48 hours, and/OR a fetal malposition may be the only sign or signs a woman has that her body has come out of balance with the design of her DNA.  Its not unusual. See what to do in pregnancy to find what you can do at home and with the help of professionals to get your body into balance.

Whether you are too tight or too loose, balancing the uterus is the first activity each day, towards optimal fetal positioning. Relax any muscle spasms, or, support loose abdominal muscles and uterine ligaments to set the tone of the abdomen

2nd Principle, Gravity

The couch is a leading cause of cesarean surgery!

(This statement, from 2001, reflects the woman who enters into labor willingly. Today, the leading cause of cesarean surgery would be the driving economic interests of hospital administration faced with the cost of lawsuits and insurance premiums.)

Use Good Maternal Posture to Use Gravity Wisely

Our posture and muscle tension affects uterine ligaments and tone. The effect comes from habit. Uneven postures used habitually over time can tilt the womb, tighten it on one side or twist it. When we have had a habit for years, sitting and standing properly for a few weeks may not be enough to correct the twist.

Active women who walk, swim or do yoga may have overcome many of the bad effects of growing up sitting in school desks or slouching on the couch. The sacrum can also become twisted a little sideways or wrinkled like a throw rug from riding in a car or crossing our legs. These common issues can prevent a baby from getting into an ideal position.

    Spinning Babies recommends relaxing the muscles and ligaments of the abdomen and pelvic floor in order to better see the results from vertical and other gravity-friendly positions. In other words, use the 1st Principle to make maternal positioning more likely to work for you.

The womb isn't a gravity zone where the baby floats freely until birth. Gravity works 24/7. The womb is anchored in place by ligaments, like ropes to a hot air balloon. Helping your womb be symmetrical can help the baby be symmetrical--by this I mean, in a vertical position (vertical lie) with the chin tucked to the chest. This makes the baby come out in the smallest diameter possible. Of course you want the baby to be head down. When you are standing and walking in the 2nd trimester, even from 10 - 30 weeks is when movement and gravity work together to get the baby head down.
 
A baby's head is the heaviest part of its body, and the upper back is second. So as long as there isn't a reason why not, baby will settle in a head down position. Sometimes tension or twists in the uterine muscle occur or the pelvis gets "out of alignment." These are a couple reasons that a baby couldn't settle head down.

In the last month of pregnancy, the growing baby slides lower in the softening womb. Baby's weight bends baby's neck as the back settles lower. This tucks the baby's chin. Help your baby tuck his or her chin by relaxing the pelvic area and keeping it flexible.
Swaying in great circles while sitting on a birthing ball is one way to help the head slip into the pelvis.

Be forewarned

You should consider whether you want a posterior head to engage into the pelvic brim. Help baby to rotate first. Get your pelvis adjusted first. If baby engages while still posterior, then you will do vertical positions in labor to help him through the pelvis. 
 

 

3rd Principle, Movement

Move the Pelvis Joints

The pelvis opens better when it has been kept mobile and symmetrical. There are four pelvis joints, two connecting the hips to the sacrum, one in front and the tailbone. The sacrum itself has flexibility, as long as we don't sit or lay on it in labor and pushing.

Gravity works best with movement. Water helps movement. If marbles are stuck in a jar, then filling the jar with water and jiggling it gently is likely to free the block.

So, some women will spend a lot of time swimming, belly down, in water that they can relax in while they move. Other women will request that their amniotic sac, or bag of water, not be broken by the doctor or midwife in labor. This will help the baby rotate her head more easily during birth.


Researchers led by Azar Kariminia reported in 2004 that pelvic rocking (aka, pelvic tilts), for the purpose of correcting posterior lie, did not work. However, reading the fine print, 11% of the women did the pelvic rocking as much as told to, and all the women only started pelvic at 37 weeks gestation. Perhaps this study looked at a good activity, but done too little and done too late.

    Pelvic rocking is more likely to be effective if the abdominal muscles and ligaments were relaxed first. You might try some Rebozo "sifting" first.Pelvic Tilt

Do about 20-40 pelvic rocking movements each time, 1 or 2 times a day. If you do them while baby is active, there may be more benefit to fetal position improvement. But start early, in the first trimester! Do the pelvic tilts after doing the maternal Inversion exercise.

Do pelvic rocking any time when your lower back is achy. The movement of your lower back releases strain there. The pelvic tilt is a good comfort measure.


Throughout pregnancy movement and exercise helps improve muscle tone to help with engagement and helps the pelvic joints stretch and relax, which will help descent once labor begins. In labor, movement helps the baby descend through the pelvis.

 

There are several pelvic balancing exercises you can do to stablize your pelvis, if necessary, which will help make your pelvic ligaments more balanced.   See In Pregnancy under the Techniques section.

What if this is too much and I feel overwhelmed?

 We are all doing the best we can, with what we know at the time and to the point that we can cope with. 

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