Chiropractic and Breech Baby

Regularly we get calls or email from pregnant moms asking what can chiropractic do to help a breech pregnancy. There are a couple variations of breech presentation that are named but for this article we will talk about it in the sense that breech is simply when the baby is not head down.

After around the 32 week mark a midwife or obstetrician would describe the breech pregnancy as sub-optimal.  In most cases will require the practitioner to recommend a caesarian section delivery unless the baby turns head down. As an alternative the practitioner may recommend a procedure called an External Cephalic Version (ECV) to manually turn the baby to better position. The ECV has a limited success rate and is not without risk.

Breech pregnancy from a chiropractic perspective

Breech pregnancy turning from a chiropractic perspective is about asking the right question. Most medical type approaches ask how can we get the baby to the “right position” vs we ask “why is the baby in the breech position?”. Imbalance in the pelvis, sacrum and specific ligaments supporting the uterus is often the answer. Our lifestyle walking on flat surfaces and sitting for long periods can be a big part of the problem. These chronic abnormal postures lead to imbalance, restriction and misalignment. If there is imbalance and misalignment in these structures then the best position for the baby may be the breech position.

We start by restoring balance…

What we find is when we can normalize the alignment and balance of the sacrum, pelvis and ligaments the baby and moms body choose the head down position and the baby will flip. Webster technique is one way a chiropractor can help restore balance, movement and alignment and allow a better chance for natural childbirth.

Breech supporting exercises

Dr Pauline So Ottawa chiropractor discusses Breech pregnancy and shows exercises to help.

Supporting exercises can also help restore and maintain the balance that is created. Exercises we recommend can be found in our video. Do these exercises if the baby is breech also see a pediatric and  prenatal chiropractor as soon as you can.  If you are not in Ottawa we can help you find someone if you contact us from our website.