Posterior baby bump?

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Right. I am 30 weeks gone and doing quite a bit of all fours, walking, loads of birth ball etc during my breathing practices and what not and generally don't recline or slouch on sofas.

Baby was always cephalic but at the last appointment was back to back. Someone told me posterior belly bumps can sometimes have tell take signs of a posterior baby? My navel hasn't popped out.

Can someone look at my bump picture here and please tell me if it looks like a posterior baby? Obviously I know how inaccurate this is!

It's hard to know just by looking but my last baby was back to back and I hardly had a bump. A tell tale sign is a dent around your bellybutton when you lay down

It's hard to tell.
My dd1 was back to back and my bump was quite flat at the front. I never had a round bump.

Dd2 was perfect position but it was still not a round bump, a bit pointier as her bum was sticking out.

I'd say it's easier to tell based on movement.

Do you feel scratching down at your pubic bone?
Where are most of your kicks?
when baby gets hiccups where can you feel them?

With dd2 I got kicked in the back of my ribs and movements tended to be all over rather than hands and feet poking out. Her bum stuck out my front a lot. My belly button also popped out.

Dd1 who was posterior had her hands and feet sticking out just left of my belly button. She would stick her bum out my back and her hands and feet out the front and my whole bump would go flat at the front. She was slightly side on rather than full posterior but her movements were very different to dd2 who was slightly side on but anterior.

Thanks both. Well my bump definitely looks round doesn't it?

It's that yes, I do occasionally feel the shoulder or knee or the elbow joints here and there around my belly button. Yup, he is still posterior then. :-(

Regarding kicks I've never felt stuff under my belly button, it's largely on the main body of the bump and hell sometimes go side to side but I don't feel stuff under belly button unless he's doing a big swishy move of his body, IYSWIM

Oh and here's my belly button at 30 weeks

At 30 weeks babies go from being "back to back" to "back to front" on a regular basis and it really doesn't make much difference until you are in labour, and even then the baby can change position by being on all fours etc. I would really avoid a birthing ball until a bit closer to your due date

What jelly says. Baby's position is very changeable at this stage. Can be breech or transverse now and easily flip lots of times before delivery. They can turn even in labour.

Encouraging good positioning from early on can definitely help though.
I was much more careful about slouching and sleeping on left hand side second time around and baby stayed in an anterior position from 28 weeks onwards and never went posterior.
I was very slouchy with dd1 and by the time I realised it was a problem she wouldn't get out of a poor position and stayed posterior despite my best efforts.
It's not the end of the world if baby is posterior. Dd1 I went into labour at 2 days past due date and although labour was long, I delivered her without any intervention.

Good luck. X

Thanks all!

I'm going to have to disagree about the birth ball aka pregnancy ball aka gym ball only being suited around due date.

It's been a standard part of all my yoga classes adapted at various trimesters for various things, advised by my midwife long ago to encourage good posture when watching tv, advised highly by my GP to help my back pain, which it has helped a lot, advised and used at our antenatal classes to lean and unwind on, is pretty much the most comfy thing I can sit on, advised by the NCT as "Using the birth ball throughout pregnancy will keep the deep supportive muscles of the spine in shape and help stimulate postural reflexes."

This is the first time throughout pregnancy, I've heard the ball being advised against until later and that includes the NHS, NCT, midwives, GP, antenatal classes, pregnancy yoga teacher. Yes, different used at different stages, but not using till later in the third trimester? Nope.

I completely agree! Spinning babies website has some good advice and exercises too and swimming is said to help.

First babies also tend to swing back and forth less than subsequent babies due to the muscles being tighter in the uterus and baby can sometimes get 'stuck' in a position due to a kink in the muscle.

I used the birthing ball earlier with dd2 and that definitely helped. The fact you're doing yoga is great.

I firmly believe good positioning during labour is whst allowed me to deliver dd1 without intervention. I stayed active and did a lot of hip swaying and leaning over things. I think if I had stayed lying in a bed like the midwives wanted then she would have needed help to be born.

Yeah, have been looking at spinning babies. My current rest/move pattern that keeps me comfy and relatively ache free is -

15 mins brisk walking
Only sitting straddling straight chair backwards or on birth ball
Hands and knees whenever I feel like it all day
One forward leaning inversion each evening with DH (spinning babies)
Telly watching in yoga butterfly pose
Resting on my left or if impossible, my right
Some floating on belly

It doesn't make the slightest difference at 30 weeks, it can change position a thousand times between now and birth.

You're doing all the right things, apart from the worrying. You can stop doing that bit

30 weeks is too early for baby to be in a fixed position. Mine has been all over the place but seems to have settled a bit at 37 weeks. If baby stays posterior then there may well be a reason for it, e.g. the cord length or something else beyond your control.

Thanks you all, very much :)

Not worries at all, very curious though :P

In fact getting more and more chilled out as term approaches (women in my line don't ever go beyond 36/37 weeks so there's a small chance birth may be sooner than due date) either way I'm getting more and more relaxed, what with. The birthing relaxation And breathing cases and practice my long standing insomnia and constipation have both gone, which is making the final trimester easier :)

While the jury is out on whether the ball can affect birth position, I'm all for use all the way through pregnancy. They're comfy to sit on and great for those of us with horrid Spd. Mines been in use a lot recently! It's one of the few ways I can get comfy.

They can flip so much before labour that it's not useful to take a snapshot really - today my little one has been clearly back to back (little paws pressing at the front) and back to hip (massive whacks on one side.)

They're active little things, but don't fret about positioning too much now. Keep active, don't slouch - but that's advice for healthy living generally :)

My DS has been mostly sideways or b2b through out my pregnancy, and was b2b when I went into labour. He turned during labour though and came out back to front. I wouldn't worry. Good luck!