Acupuncture to turn breach baby?

Siemo

Hi I'm 34 weeks pregnant and baby has sat in the same (breach) position since my 20 week scan. The midwife has booked me in for a scan in 2 weeks to check if s/he's budged, and if not they'll try turning it by ECV, which is fairly successful but apparently also quite painful. If that fails I'll have to have a section which (for a variety of reasons I won't go into now) I would really rather avoid if at all possible.

So I've been reading about turning breach babies and apparently acupuncture has a good success rate. Just wondering if anyone has tried it and whether it's worth the money? I've found a clinic that will do it for £28 a session, is that reasonable? The clinic says I need to start immediately and have quite a few sessions, although midwife said don't do anything for 2 weeks as s/he may turn independently. I'm inclined to think the clinic just want as much money as possible so will recommend more sessions than necessary, but that's the cynic in me talking...

Any advice?

gratefulforhelp_2

Check with the medics what they think of it first. I'm not aware of any evidence for the safety of acupuncture (or other alternative therapies) in pregnancy.

starjumper

I go to antenatal yoga and a lot of the stuff we do is about getting baby in the right spot ready for the big day. Basically get forward as much as you can, on all fours, scrubbing the kitchen floor etc sit on one of those Swiss balls and don't sit or lie back apart from bedtime obviously, this might help, might not but it's worth a go to avoid a section.

xmaslolly76

I turned my little lady by leaning off the edge of the bed obviously dont do it alone and you can only stay there for about 30 seconds at a time becasue of blood rush. I just put my knees on the bed and my hands/elbows on the floor my bed is quite high so hands were all i could manage to get down it took about a week of that and she turned. Other things that were suggested was an ice pack on the top of my bump my little one decided she liked that but it has worked for many others.

I dont know about the accupuncture so cant help there just thought i would let you know what i did.

Goodluck :-) x

rachelet

With my last baby, I had a scan at 32 weeks which showed the baby was in a breech position. Over here in France, they actually encourage acupuncture in order to turn babies. Certain midwives are trained in acupuncture and I was told after my scan that I had to have three sessions of the acupuncture. I had my first one the same day and it took about half an hour. I was booked in to have another session two days later, but when I went for the session, I had a quick scan first and the baby had turned already. I don't know if it was the acupuncture or whether the baby had turned of her accord.
I was definitely look into having acupuncture but maybe just have the one session and see how it goes. My midwife put a small needle into each of my little toes and then left them for 10 minutes. Then she heated each needle as apparently that helps as well.

skintchick

Check out this site http://www.spinningbabies.com/ which is great.

My baby was breech till 37 weeks and had been all the way through. I turned her by going on all fours on the stairs with my head down (I did it alone but see how safe you feel!), and also by wearing my tops pulled up slightly so there is light at the bottom which they apprently then turn to.

I also went on all fours any time I could with my bum in the air. Another thing i did was lie on my bed on my back with my legs in the air against the wall and my bum up high (so back is straight).

Moxibustion is supposed to be good - it's when they burn some herb next to your little toe.

Try not to sit leaning back, so get off the sofa and onto a birth ball!!

Oh, and you CAN deliver breech babies naturally; could be worth looking into if you really don;t want a section.

Mely

My consultant manually turned my baby around when she was breech. Then she immediately returned back to the breech position.

Frith

My son was breech until 36 weeks.

I spent a lot of time lying on the living room floor, bum on the sofa, feet on the window sill! (The closest I could manage to being upside down). I also shone a very bright torch through my tummy to show him the way (was getting a bit desparate).

In the end, I had almost given up and we went out for the day and he turned - just as I was stepping over a steam railway track! It wasn't terribly comfortable and he could have picked a safer spot but he stayed head down after that.

Best of luck.

Mely

I forgot to add that when i had my baby turned manually it wasnt that bad, it was quite uncomfortable but i didnt find it particularly painfull...and i have quite a low pain threshold.... lol.

Quiet_Life

Mely wrote: »

My consultant manually turned my baby around when she was breech. Then she immediately returned back to the breech position.

Same here and at 40 weeks he was breech again.
At 41 weeks, they turned him again

At 41 weeks and 3 days he turned himself round just in time for me going into labour and deliver him naturally.

Good Luck, hope your baby will turn naturally.

purplegirluk1

I had acupuncture to turn my son but it didn't work. I went on to have a cephalic version where the consultant literally turns the baby by moving him from the outside. In my case it was painful but I got gas and air!! Luckily he stayed head down once he got there, though he was eventually born by c section anyway but that's another story!