Tips For Encouraging A Breech Baby To Flip
All throughout your pregnancy, you baby flips and flops all around inside the womb - and you’ve likely felt it all throughout the day and night! During the later weeks of pregnancy, baby runs out of room to do somersaults and starts to get pretty comfortable in one position. Most of the time, that position is head-down, but sometimes babies can settle into a breech or transverse position, which is when the baby is lying bottom or foot first, or sideways inside your uterus. If your baby is breech at 36 weeks - and if your provider is one of many who will not deliver a breech baby - your provider will likely want to discuss options with you, including a procedure known as an external cephalic version, or even scheduling a c-section. If you’d like to explore other options for encouraging baby to flip into a head-down position, there are a few low-risk alternatives you can try.
Tip #1: Webster-Certified Chiropractic Care
An adjustment by a Webster-certified chiropractor is one of the most common and most well-known ways to encourage baby to flip from breech to a head-down position. Your body carries weight differently during pregnancy, and the additional weight can put unusual pressure and stress on your joints and ligaments over time. The goal of chiropractic care during pregnancy is to help your body maintain good alignment and release tension that might build up in one specific area of your body. If you visit your chiropractor with the goal of turning a breech baby, the chiro will not focus on the physical movement of the baby, but will instead assess and adjust your body in order to open your pelvis and release any tension that might be preventing your baby from moving into an optimal position on their own.
Tip #2: Acupuncture
There have been few research studies and therefore exists little evidence on the use of acupuncture to help turn a breech baby, but it is a low-risk option to consider that might end up working in your favor. In order to facilitate this, acupuncturists use a Chinese medicine technique called Moxibustion, which involves burning the mugwort herb over the acupressure point at the end of your pinky toe. Sounds bizarre and oddly specific but this Cochrane review found some evidence that moxibustion may reduce the need for artificial oxytocin and may be beneficial in turning a breech baby when combined with “other postural management techniques.” The side effects mentioned in the review included nausea, unpleasant odor and abdominal pain from contractions. If you’re desperate to turn that baby, moxibustion might be something to consider!
Tip #3: Inversion
Inversions utilize the help of gravity to help move your baby up out of the pelvis, while simultaneously creating room for them to settle back into a more favorable position, once you return upright. Inversions can be done in the comfort of your own home during pregnancy, or even during labor with the help of your support personnel. Similar to the way chiropractic adjustments help to loosen the ligaments and release tension, a forward-leaning inversion can help to stretch the ligaments between your uterus and your pelvis giving them a chance to relax and realign with the pelvis. The Spinning Babies website has a whole page dedicated to this inversion, I highly recommend checking out their info and incorporating this technique as long as your doctor of midwife deems it safe for you to perform.
If your baby is breech at 36 weeks or beyond and you’re looking for some low-risk ways to encourage him or her to turn, before considering a medical procedure like an ECV or c-section, one - or all three - of these tips might be worth a try!