How to turn up baby

How to turn up baby

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

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Model of a breech baby from Italy, 1700s

• What are the types of breech positions?
• Is breech presentation a malposition or a normal variation?
• When is vaginal birth safer than surgery and when is a cesarean better?

There are four basic breech types:

1. Frank, or bottom first with legs extended towards baby’s trunk;
2. Complete, or legs folded so that feet are very close to the buttocks;
3. Footling, or one or more feet coming into the pelvis first, the bottom is above the brim and the feet are below; at 37 weeks, the knees may be bent so that the baby seems to be sitting on the top of the pelvis dipping his feet into the pelvic tunnel;
4. Kneeling, or both knees are coming first, the feet are folded up behind the baby’s thighs.

Unfortunately, even skilled sonographers, midwives and physicians may chart the baby in an oblique or transverse lie with the label “breech”. Follow the links to see more about those babies that have neither head nor bottom over the pelvic inlet.

Trying to turn your breech baby head down?

Spinning Babies Parent Class video walks you through all exercises steps we recommend for helping your baby turn head down on their own, or making an external version easier & more successful. Plus, you will learn the Spinning Babies approach using balance, movement and gravity for comfort in pregnancy and an easier birth.