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Breech Birth NZ Group Guidelines
Breech Birth NZ Group Guidelines
Breech Birth NZ Group Guidelines
An acupuncture technique called moxibustion is sometimes used between the 33rd and the 40th week of pregnancy to encourage a breech baby to turn around. Your Lead Maternity Carer may recommend specific exercises called maternal positioning exercises to help your baby turn around. There is little evidence to indicate that these interventions are effective but they do not appear to present any risk to you or your baby. Pacific traditional healers sometimes use massaging to help turn your baby around. It is not clear whether massaging techniques are effective in turning your baby. Deliberate attempts to turn the baby should be done by a trained health professional (specialist obstetrician). Gentle massaging can be good for relieving pain but heavy, vigorous or painful massaging is not recommended and can harm your baby by causing premature labour or dislodging your placenta.
The next step is to discuss breech presentation with both your Lead Maternity Carer and specialist obstetrician who, together with you, will work out what is best for your situation.
MINISTRY OF
HEALTH
MANATu HAUORA
Further information
Ask your Lead Maternity Carer, GP or specialist what is available for you to read. General advice about maternity services is available from the Ministry of Healths 0800 MUM 2 BE free telephone line (0800 686 223).
Breech Birth
The following websites also contain useful information for pregnant women:
The Ministry of Healths health education website http://www.healthed.govt.nz The Cochrane Library website http://www.update-software.com/cochrane/ http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane/revabstr/g010index.htm New Zealand Parents Centre website http://www.parentscentre.org.nz
Published in July 2004 by the Ministry of Health PO Box 5013, Wellington, New Zealand HP 3860
Breech birth
For most of your pregnancy, your baby is able to move freely in a roomy bag in the amniotic sac (your womb), which is filled with amniotic fluid (the waters). By the eighth month of pregnancy, when your baby is about 50 centimetres long and weighs just over three kilograms, there is less room to move.
Frank Breech
At this stage, most babies settle into a vertical, head down position called the cephalic or vertex position. This allows the baby to be born head-first by a vaginal birth. When labour begins, most babies are in this position, but a few (up to four out of 100) will settle into a bottom-first, or breech position. Some variations of the breech position are shown on the right. Vaginal breech birth is associated with increased harm to the baby. On average this occurs in one in every 28 vaginal breech births. For this reason, if your baby remains in a breech position after 36 weeks, the offer may be made to have the baby turned. If the baby remains breech, you may choose to have a caesarean.
Footling Breech
Complete Breech