One issue some mothers find themselves facing is when they realize the baby is in a breech fetal position. The baby is not or has not positioned itself head first. Rather, it has moved into one of the breech fetal positions below. And very few doctors and midwives will deliver a breech baby vaginally.
Types of Breech fetal positions:
- Complete breech – sitting cross legged in the womb
- Kneeling breech – kneeling in the womb
- Footling breech – feet first in the womb
- Frank breech – butt first in the womb
If you find out your baby is breech, you might want to consider a few gentle yoga poses to help turn the baby.
Yoga poses to help turn a breech baby include:
- Child’s pose – just raise the buttox towards the sky and hold
- Prolonged Downward facing dog
- Supported Bridge pose
- Cow pose – spend additional time with pelvis rocked forward
What to avoid? Avoid squatting as this might encourage the baby to get more comfortable and wedge itself deeper down into its breech position.
Other Tips to help turn a baby:
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic care, specifically The Webster Technique
- Placing an ice pack near the fundus (top of uterus) as the baby might want to move away from the cold
- Shining a light near the pelvic opening as the baby will be drawn to it
- Playing music near the pelvic opening for the same reason above
As always, discuss these options with your Doctor so that you can both be participants of the safest birth possible!
