Types of breech birth:               

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• Complete when the baby sits with its legs crossed. Not as common of a                                                                        presentation.

• Incomplete or frank breech when the bottom is first. The legs are up                                                                      around the ears. This is the most common type of breech presentation.

• Footling: This is when either foot or both feet are coming first. This is a                                                                            common type of presentation for premature babies.

 

   Your baby turns a lot during the pregnancy.  About 3 out of 100 babies are breech. Between 18 and 22 weeks of pregnancy, 24% of babies are breech. Between 28 and 30 weeks of pregnancy 8% are breech. Once you are 35 weeks, and if your baby has been breech all along, then you need to begin thinking of ways to turn a breech. Discuss this with your care giver. There are many ways to help turn a breech, you and your midwife can talk about them.

 

Why Does A Baby Turn Breech?

• The fetus is pre-term or particularly small: this is the greatest cause of breech presentations.

• Uncommon pelvis shape a oval or shallow pelvis can lead to a breech position. Poor healing of a pelvic injury can lead to a misshapen pelvis, or one that does not yield to the changes needed to give birth. Rising estrogen levels causes faster bone production and narrowing of the growth plates of bone, including the pelvis. The use of oral contraceptive pills shortens the period of estrogen fluctuation during the menstrual cycle, and in adolescence, this can result in restricting the normal growth & size of the pelvic cavity. (reprinted from E-news Issue 1:6-Breech Babies)

• A congenital malformation of the uterus, such as a uterine septum which may divide the uterus along its whole or partial length by a septum, which gives the baby less room to turn.

• Slack muscle tone of the abdomen or your uterus has relaxed from a previous pregnancy.

• Fibroids or a mass in or on your uterus.

• Placenta previa, again it does not allow the baby room to turn, it can be a partial or complete.

• Pregnant with twins

• A recent and rapid increase in the amount of amniotic fluid.

• When gardening, do not bend from the waist, you should squat or sit down to do the work.  Women who just bend from the waist and lean down, their babies often will go breech.

 

Turing A Breech

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While many breech babies spontaneously turn to head first, or vertex, you may want to try some of the following.

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Breech tilt

Do three times to four times a day for 10-15 minutes each time. You should do this before you eat a meal, so you do not become sick from lying in the position. Try to pick times of the day when the baby is most active. Place a few pillows under your hips, so that your hips are raised much higher than your shoulders. They should be about 12 inches or more raised. Keep your knees bent. Relax as much as you can and focus on your baby.

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Ironing Board Exercise

Prop one end of an ironing board or another board that is at least 12 inches wide, on the seat

of a chair or the couch. The other end should be on the floor. You then lay down with your head

at the lowest end, and your feet up at the other end. Keep your knees bent, and you can have a

pillow under your head also for comfort.

When your head is lower, gravity encourages the baby's head to float down towards your

fundus, which is the top of your tummy, then flex its chin and will begin to turn. Pressure will

begin to build on the back of the baby's head, and then the baby will begin to turn. First the

baby will turn to a transverse, and finally head down (vertex). 

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Chiropractor care

Webster technique. 

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One of the best webs sites is : Spinning babies.  I really recommend this web site! There is no

reason to re-invent the wheel.

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Or your care giver may choose to turn the baby.

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