Breech Turn

If your baby is in a breech position at 36 weeks, this is not ideal for a natural birth. There are many ways that you can try to turn the baby, and here at The Positive Hypnobirthing Company, we have another amazing tool – hypnosis and our own powerful minds!

While only about 5% of all babies are breech at term, if you’re planning a vaginal birth, this is not good news, as few birthing professionals are willing to support a vaginal breech birth (although that is changing).

A breech presentation baby is not abnormal; it is just not typical. We have become accustomed over the last few decades to believe that the only safe natural birth is a head down presentation.

There are many suggestions of activities to help turn a breech baby physically, such as swimming, using a slant board, massage, moxibustion, pelvic tilt, etc.

Another great resource is the Spinning Babies website at www.spinningbabies.com, which has information on turning babies in several challenging positions.

In addition to these techniques, at The Positive Hypnobirthing Company, we have another amazing tool that helps breech babies turn to the head-down position – hypnosis and our own powerful minds!

Since your baby in utero is part of you, it is registered by the subconscious mind, which can be directed to make changes in your body. Releasing fears that constrict muscles is also used in hypnosis sessions, to help you relax and allow your baby to turn.

Using hypnosis to turn breech babies has been more successful than using other techniques alone. In a study done at a prominent university, 81% of the babies turned to vertex position with the use of hypnosis.

One hundred pregnant women whose foetuses were in breech position at 37 to 40 weeks’ gestation and a matched comparison group of women with similar obstetrical and sociodemographic parameters derived from databases for other studies from the same time period and geographical areas.

The intervention group received hypnosis with suggestions for general relaxation with release of fear and anxiety. While in the hypnotic state women were asked for the reasons why their baby was in the breech presentation. As much hypnosis was provided as was convenient and possible for the women until they birthed their baby or the baby converted to the vertex position.

A successful conversion for the intervention group was scored when the baby spontaneously converted to the vertex position before delivery or successful cephalic version. The conversion rate of the intervention group was compared with the comparison group who received standard obstetrical care without the opportunity for hypnosis.

Results: Eighty-one percent of the foetuses in the intervention group converted to vertex presentation compared with 48% of those in the comparison group. This difference was statistically significant.

Conclusions: Motivated subjects can be influenced by a skilled Hypnotherapist in such a manner that their foetuses have a higher incidence of conversion from breech to vertex presentation. Psychophysiological factors may influence the breech presentation and may explain this increased frequency of conversion to vertex presentation.

From Archives of Family Medicine, Vol. 3, Oct. 1994 Hypnosis and Conversion of the Breech to the Vertex Presentation Lewis E. Mehl, MD, PhD Dept. of Psychiatry Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington.

If your baby is breech, book a Hypnosis session with me and we will encourage them to turn, if they are able to.

Here’s an interesting blog on the subject of Breech Birth, written by an American Obstetrician experienced in attending breech births: Breech Birth At Home​

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