Turning The Baby To Avoid A Breech Birth
There are many methods which have been attempted with the aim of turning breech babies, with varying degrees of success:
- External cephalic version where a midwife or doctor turns the baby by manipulating the baby through the mother's abdomen. ECV has a success rate between 40 - 70% depending on practitioner. The fetal heart is monitored after the turn attempt, usually in the context of an institutional protocol. Studies show that turning the baby at term (after 36 weeks) is effective in reducing the number of babies born in the breech position. Complications from external cephalic version are rare. Studies have also shown that attempting to turn the baby prior to this point has no impact on the presentation at term.
Using hypothetical scenarios, a small study in the Netherlands found that few obstetric practitioners would attempt ECV in the presence of oligohydramnios. A case report of treating oligohydramnios with amnioinfusion, followed by ECV, was successful in turning the fetus.
Various manoeuvres are suggested to assist spontaneous version of a breech presenting pregnancy. These include maternal positioning or other exercises. A study has shown that there is insufficient evidence as to the benefit of maternal positioning in reducing the incidence of breech presentation.
Read more about this topic: Breech Birth
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