Breech Position

Jeannette - posted on 06/17/2009

I had twins and they were vaginal and one was actually a breech birth.

Malinda - posted on 06/17/2009

My midwife has recommended 10 minutes of cat-cow before bed and right when I wake up each day, both to stretch/exercise my hips and to "encourage" the baby to be in a good birth position. If you're not sure what cat-cow is, it is just very gentle movement of your hips and back while on all fours:

Get on the floor with your wrists and elbows aligned with your shoulders, and your knees aligned with your hips (which may be wider than they used to be, so make sure you look).

Inhale while you tilt your hips and head up, reaching the "cow" position (your back will be slightly stretched, so don't overdo this)

Exhale curling your back, hips, and head down into a "c" to simulate the "cat" position (think of an angry Halloween cat).

Do this gently, and if you like incorporate organic movement such as doing figure 8's or circles with your hips. I think you'll find it feels very nice! On the exhale you can also incorporate keigel exercises, further readying your body for birth.



There are no guarentees of course, but many midwives and yoga experts believe that this helps the baby find the right position for labor. And as others have said, it is possible to manually turn or even give birth to a breach baby. Though I will say that I've never heard a yoga teacher recommend any type of inversion (other than a modified down-dog) during pregnancy.



Good Luck!! Keep in mind, too, that you still have plenty of time. As a pp said, babies can turn right before or even during labor.

Tammy - posted on 06/17/2009

You really don't know until the last minute where the baby will be. Second and subsequent babies often don't get into their actual birth position until you go into labor. My third was breech until the day before she was born and when I went in to deliver she was sweetly head down! I wouldn't worry about it too much anyway because, as the PP said, breech babies can be delivered vaginally. The only thing is that they need to be "butt first" breech for that to work. My son was "footling breech" i.e. his feet were on my cervix. This type of breech can be very dangerous to deliver because the cord tends to get wrapped around their neck. No worries, though. They can easily tell when you go into labor where the baby is by doing a quick ultrasound. It's better to get a C-section than to risk problems with the baby, but most likely you can deliver normally.

Mandy - posted on 06/17/2009

My first daughter was breech and i was sent on having a natural birth, my dr. had me try two inversions where you go in and the dr pushes on your stomach to try to get the baby to turn. The first one didnt work and it was extremly uncomfortable so i went in a second time and tried again this time they gave me a epidural but she still didnt turn and i ended up having to have a C seciton.

Samantha - posted on 06/17/2009

I had a natural child birth with midwives, and my midwife advised me against and yoga during the last bit of my pregnancy, because she had clients who had done yoga and that flipped their baby to breech. I don't know if it would work the reverse way, but it couldn't hurt. There are quite a few yoga moves out there that are altered for a third trimester.

Minnie - posted on 06/17/2009

You can try an inversion exercise- where you lie inclined on an ironing board propped up to a couch for 15 minutes several times a day.



But you should know that your body is capable of birthing a breech baby vaginally. Most doctors won't allow that because they don't know about a vaginal breech birth. But a good midwife knows that if you keep hands-off and allow mother to move as she feels to that she can birth a breech baby. It's really interesting how it works. When the baby is born to the head, the baby will naturally pull up his legs, which will bend his body into just the right curvature to help move the head through the pelvis. It's best to be on hands and knees during pushing with a breech.