Spinning Babies- How Can Optimal Fetal Positioning Affect Your Baby's Birth?

A baby entering the pelvis in the posterior position. Courtesy of www.midwifethinking.com

Many women are aware that babies can be vertex (head-down), or breech (head-up), but few understand that even if the baby's head is down, this doesn't guarantee that the baby is in an optimal position for birth. Labor will generally speaking be shorter and "easier" if the baby is in an ANTERIOR position. This means that the back of the baby's head is facing away from mom's back. It's possible for you as the mother to observe your baby's position as the baby grows bigger and movements can be clearly felt. Feel free to contact me if you would like some simple tips on how to identify what position your baby is in.


 If you suspect that your baby is in a POSTERIOR position, you can choose to do exercises that may help baby to turn into a more optimal position, or you might try chiropractic care to help balance the mother's body and therefore the baby's position. Nothing is guaranteed to help turn the baby, but if you do go into labor with a baby in the posterior position, you will at least know that labor may very well be longer than "average" and even perhaps more intense. Once baby turns, though, it will likely progress quickly!

Information is power! Here are a few things to know about posterior labors:

• Posterior babies only a real problem when there are many expectations placed on labor and birth. It is a variation of fetal positioning that can be worked through, just like many other parts of the birth process. Stay calm as much as possible and trust your body and your baby. See this article for a great discussion on posterior babies.
  

• Premature rupturing of the amniotic sac should be avoided at all costs. This study examined positioning during labor and how it affected if babies were encouraged to turn into an anterior position. Most babies turned during labor IF they were not engaged in the pelvis when attempts to help turn the baby were made. Breaking the water generally encourages the baby to engage further into the pelvis, so keeping the waters intact and leaving baby a cushion of fluid to turn in is wise. 
  

• Moms with a posterior baby often have more pain in their back during contractions and find themselves more comfortable on hands and knees positions instead of reclining or squatting.

• Hip squeezes during contractions might help to give the baby more space to turn and relieve some of the back pressure during contractions. Your birth partner or doula can do these as often as you would like during labor.
• Listen to your body and do what feels the best to YOU during labor. Posterior babies need time and space to turn, and that may involve changing positions periodically if labor seems to be stalling.
• In this study only 3-6% of women with a persistently posterior baby had a vaginal delivery. Time and patience are very important if a baby is in the OP position.
  
• 
  

Spinning Babies is a collection of techniques developed by a doula and midwife Gail Tully. You can find lots more information and techniques on her website, or you can call me! I was able to take a course in optimal fetal positioning with Gail in 2011, and I've found it truly useful as a doula.