breech baby

[Rosewood]

Does anyone know of any remedies to turn a breech baby, my friends baby is breech, and her doctor mentioned something about taking some sort of remedy/herbal medicine.

[loupou]

Go here: http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/breech.html

For info, and tunring methods. Includes yoga, otherv exercises, medicines, and moxa.

My son was breech until about 38 weeks and then he turned. I did the "tilting" exercises and my DH talked "down" to him to encourage him to flip over.

Good luck!

[Michele]

The thing that worked for me was being in the swimming pool. My third baby was breach until 2 days before he was delivered. Floating in the pool takes the pressure off the belly and helps the baby to move around.

[benjy]

there are indeed some positions to adopt..like to lend / sit forwards.. or some exercices also.. but all my readings on that are not in English so..
but try to have a look on the net, u should find the adequate positions.
and dont worry, some babies only turn at the last moment..

besides breech baby does not automatically mean ceasarian...unless it is presenting his shoulders or feet first (from what I've read).

goodluck

[benjy]

some other reading:

Breech birth options
There was an interesting phone call today, from a woman expecting her fourth baby. All her babies had been big (over 10 lbs or 4 kg) and all had been born very easily. In fact numbers 2 and 3 had been unplanned homebirths due to very rapid labours.
This pregnancy (she was 34 weeks) was turning out a little differently. The baby had decided to adopt a breech position, although it had turned to vertex for a while before again resuming its head up posture. The woman had been under pressure from 20 weeks to be induced (“you have such quick labour, come in and we will induce you so you don’t have to worry about getting to the hospital in time”) which she had already dismissed as nonsense. Another unplanned home birth was not going to be a problem for her, and in fact she quite liked the idea, because of its convenience.
With the baby being breech, things had changed. She was now told it would have to be a caesarean, and she was adamant about not wanting surgery. As she pointed out, she could manage 4 children under 6 years as long as her health was OK, and she could see it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to care for her family if she was recovering from surgery. In desperation she was calling anyone she could find for ideas on how to turn the baby, but had been receiving no help at all. Finally, the local Childbirth Education Association gave her my number and suggested she call me.
We talked for a long time and I was impressed with her clear grasp of the situation, her insight into her own body and baby and her common sense attitude. She knew about the various kinds of breech presentations and felt that this baby was in a footling position (although she was reluctant to have this confirmed with ultrasound because of the pressure she would again be under). She knew that there was a good chance this baby would be bigger than the last one, possibly over 11 lbs. Even given these facts, she still didn’t want any surgery, so we talked about ways of getting the baby to turn, including moxibustion and external cephalic version. We also talked about waiting until labour started if she did reluctantly accept a caesarean, to avoid prematurity for the baby.
I was surprised that no mention of ECV had been made at the public hospital she is attending. At the last consultation in the clinic, the doctor, who had confirmed the baby’s breech position, dismissed her questions with a pat on the knee and the comment “you’ll be OK”. This was not helpful for a woman who already was being treated for a raised blood pressure and was anxious to know as much as she could. I felt it was disgraceful treatment from this Registrar, who should have had more sensitivity and concern for her emotional state as well as physical state.
I am hoping that she will contact me again. I gave her the website address for the moxibustion treatment details, <http://www.birthinternational.com/ar.../andrea13.html> and she was keen to hunt down the moxa sticks (trawling through the Yellow Pages for a herbal remedy or Chinese medicine retailer was to be her next step) and I offered to find a practitioner who could perform ECV at term if she needed one. With a baby due over the New Year period, she will be under a lot of pressure to be induced.
Women with such clear visions and insight need support and encouragement, not doubt, doom and gloom. Talking to her was refreshing and uplifting for me and she was grateful to be able to talk to someone who had a positive approach. She has promised to let me know how it goes and I hope she calls after the holidays with the news that either the baby turned and was born (as usual) at home quite spontaneously, or that she got to the hospital so late in the labour that her breech baby was born vaginally. Either way she will be happy.
Posted by andrea at 07:43 AM </diary/archives/000306.html> | Comments (1) <http://www.acegraphics.com.au/cgi-bi...i?entry_id=306>

[loupou]

That's interesting Benjy.

When my son was stubborn about turning, my OB (at a public hospital) made an appoointment for me to have ECV w/ his favorite Dr. who was good at them. Luckily my son turned before I had to have ECV.

[benjy]

The ideal position for a straightforward labour is for your baby to be presenting head down and 'anterior' (with his spine facing out). Most babies turn head-down between the seventh and eighth month of pregnancy and many more follow as labour draws near.

In the majority of cases, if your baby is breech, this will be discovered at the end of your pregnancy, and you will have an opportunity to discuss with your consultant obstetrician beforehand how she should be born. Some consultants are of the opinion that it is best for a breech baby to be born by caesarean, but not all of them share this view.

If you choose to have your baby vaginally, it is important that the midwives who are helping you are skilled and experienced at vaginal breech deliveries.

The first stage of labour with a breech baby is not much different from one in which the baby is head-down, although it can be slower. Keeping upright and mobile will help labour progress. Some doctors, though, advise that you have an epidural, as a way of guarding against pushing too soon, and as insurance in case the need for a caesarean arises. Others feel that there are disadvantages to epidurals for a breech birth, such as making labour longer.

A good position for giving birth to a breech baby is on hands and knees, but if forceps are required you will be asked to lie in the lithotomy position (i.e. lying on your back with legs in stirrups). The baby's body is usually born fairly quickly, but once the body has been born (as far as the umbilicus) the baby's head enters the pelvis in a breech birth at this stage. It's important that the head comes out slowly. Some doctors like to use forceps as a way of controlling the speed with which the head is born and an episiotomy will be needed if forceps are used.



Turning Breech Babies

External Cephalic Version:

At the end of pregnancy, your obstetrician may suggest trying to turn your breech baby by external cephalic version. This means using her hands on your bump to turn the baby inside the other way round, sometimes using ultrasound as a guide. It can mean avoiding a caesarean, but the procedure is not without risk and some say it only works with babies who would have turned anyway.

Moxibustion:

Moxa is a herb known to us as mugwort. It has been used in China since ancient times, formed into cigar shaped sticks which can be burned slowly to release a low steady heat. They are used to stimulate acupuncture points generally and they can be used to turn breech babies. The Chinese claim an 80% success rate with them.

The sticks are lit and held by a partner either side of the acupuncture point at the root of the nail of the little toe. This point reputedly ha a deep pathway to the uterus. The treatment is given once a day for 15 minutes, and the baby can usually be felt wriggling. With this stimulus it can turn completely. The success rate is best from 34 weeks.

The technique should only be used in healthy pregnancy only and not if there is any history of bleeding, high blood pressure or in a twin pregnancy.

A study published in the journal of the North American Medical Association is the first to use scientific methods to measure results. The trial carried out on 260 first time Chinese mothers, found that three out of four babies turned. Consult the British Acupuncture Council for details of an acupuncturist, and check with your midwife first.

http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.c...e.asp?page=773

[benjy]