Help me help my friend avoid a c/s - breech baby

Hi Girls

Hi googled for her but thought i might ask for some real help.
My friend is due in just over a week and they want to c/s her due to bubs being breech and sitting to the right. I told her she could be able to move bubs to avoid a C/S and now she really wants to try it to avoid the C/S.

Does anyone have experiance in how they moved bub? shes loving water for the pain at the moment so wants to know if anything in the bath can help??

they want to attempt to turn the baby on wed which is risky so shes going to put them off with that in hope she can turn bubs without help.

TIA :)

This is a hard one.

My mw told me to scrub the floors on my hands and knees. So I did. He turned. Not sure if that's an official remedy, but it seemed to work for me. Others my have a better suggestion.

Not only that, but your floors are nice and clean for when the baby comes. If you have carpet, use stain remover I suppose.

I'm not sure if this is correct, but I believe acupuncture can be effective for moving baby? You may wish to check out that option. Otherwise....prayer?:pray: hehe.

X

Yeah i told her to look into acupuncture see if they have anything to help her.

Check out the 'Spinning Babies' website. I hope it helps!

:yeahthat: I was coming in here to say just that!
SpinningBabies is great.
Spend less time sitting on her bum, and lots up on all four. Fitball is good for this too.

Has she asked if they will let her trial natural labour and see if she/he turns during labour...

Sarah it's possible to birth a breech baby, does she know that? I actually met someone the other day who birthed a breech boy, then twins and one was breech. All natural and vaginal with minimal interference at the hospital :)

The midwife at my birth classes recommended (to someone else) that she lay on the floor with her legs up against a wall (at right angles) - perhaps with a pillow under her bum. This would allow the baby to "slip back" away from the pelvis a bit, and hopefully turn.

the spinning babies website would be the best. tell her to try and kneel on the edge of a couch and have elbows on the floor in front, like shes upside down, it will encourage the baby to turn the other way and also help it if its in the pelvis already. It is really really really uncomfortable and can make you quite light headed, so much sure she has someone with her. I was doing this to try and turn DS2 into an anterior postion from complete posterior. The other was she can do it is to lie on her back on a board (ironing board may work) that is propped up on a bed or couch with her feet at the top. In other words anything that tips her upside down may work. It is all explained in the spinning babies website. Sit leaning forward at all times, no slouching. Chiropractor may be able to help also.
HTH

What pp have said re: positions. She needs to lean forward as much as possible - swaying may help. There's some good tips in the book "The Thinking woman's guide to better birth", by Henci Goer, including "buzzing" the baby on one side to startle it into moving, putting headphones at base on pelvis and playing soft classical music, or have her other half talk to the baby through a toilet role at the same place - all to encourage baby to move head down.

It is also possible to birth a breech baby safely, depending on the type of breech.

FYI - my brother was breech, labour was 40 hours and he turned at the last moment (just when Mum requested an epidural) - though that was in the days when that sort of thing was considered normal and OK and was in a small country town.

Hope she avoids the C/S

I have read there can be good success when mum gives the baby room to move (see spinning babies) and tells baby repeatedly and firmly to turn.

My mum managed to turn one of y brothers by putting an ice pack on he top of her bump (and freezing his head!). Not sure if i'd do it but it did work. Another thing i've read is to get into a good "upside down" type position and then either shine a strong torch on the top of the belly and move it slowly down to the pelvis so the baby can follow the light or play music at the pelvis so the baby will turn to listen.

Best of luck. Ultimately vaginal breech is possible, she might ask her ob who the most experienced Ob at her hospital is for vaginal breech births.

Bx

The best thing she can do is go and see an osteopath or a chiropractor who has an interest in pregnancy.
Often there are issues with the ligaments around the pelvis or uterus that can encourage a baby to remain in a breech position and with only one or two sessions, the baby will turn around.

I used to encourage mums to do lots of OFP but after a while I soon worked out that all the OFP (positioning exercises) in the world don't make a lick of difference if there are underlying issues such as those above. This is why you will see some women say that they did OFP religiously and their baby didn't budge.

So it's far better to get that checked out first, then move onto OFP once she's sure that everything is correctly aligned and released down below.

I've seen osteos perform minor miracles with breech and persistently posterior babies, it really is worth the trouble to avoid surgery or manual turning.

Unfortunately in many hospitals breech vaginal birth is no longer an option. Yes you can jump up and down and demand one but the fact is that in many hospitals there is an absence of obstetricians or midwives with any experience whatsoever in breech vaginal birth. You do not want to be at the mercy of hospital protocols with someone who has no idea how to handle a breech, believe me. Birth a breech normally by all means but do NOT do it with someone who has only attended head down babies - and due to the fact that most breeches are sectioned now, that is the experience level of many OB's....particularly younger ones.

Our last baby was a 9lb+ breech baby girl. There's a doctor here where I live that specialises in breech births and avoids c/s as often as possible. After seeing it happen myself I think too many doctors are too quick to take the c/s option. I guess it also depends on the mother aswell. My wife is great at giving birth or so it appears.

Thank you everyone for your help :)

shes managed to keep the hospital away from her at the moment lol still breech but says bubs has moved to a more comfy spot but shes still trying it all :)

In case she needs a CS please let her know if it is the safest way for her and bubs to relax as CS is not as bad as most people think. I am so happy that I decided on mine and my son is thriving and I healed very fast and quickly. Your a good mate!

Shining a torch on the bottom of my belly and a few short sharp words from daddy telling him to turn around did the trick!

This was earlier on tho i think.. maybe around 34 weeks or something? So he probably had more room to move (and was probably about to turn anyway LOL).

Nothing quite like the threat of a c/s to get us sitting upright/forward in our chairs and scrubbing our floors!

Hope it all works out ok for her :) At least she can say she did everything to try and turn bub!

Thank you so much for all your help, shes still trying but nott looking good, they think there maybe something preventing bubs from turning :( shes now booked in for a C/Sec on her due date (13th mon). Im really glad they didnt make her do it earlier and that they have been realy good in letting her try to turn bubs on her own.

im still pos thinking that bubs will turn before mon :)