can you tell what position baby is in?

[bubbly1973]

went to the midwife last week, and she knew straight away where the head was, back, and limbs....how can they tell?

can you tell? id love to know what part of my baby im stroking via my bump

She's had lots of experience. And sometimes they can't tell - it took a scan to tell me DB was head-down not breech like three other people had said.

And no, I could never tell.

My mw pointed out how to feel the head for me

She was fab. I miss her.

I could tell. There are usually two big bumps, one is the head and the other is the bum, the harder one is the head. Then if you feel in between the head and the bum you can usually find the back somewhere. You know when you have it as the baby often kicks when you poke him/her in the back! Once you know roughly how the baby is laying you can work out where some of the limbs are. I got quite good at working it out, and even knew my dts were breech when the sonographer insisted that one was head down. Though it was harder to tell with twins. It takes a lot of practice, and I got my tips off a midwife in my first pg.

vvv fancy sharing the secret with us

or is it not possible unless you were here showing me?

id love to know, perhaps i will ask on my next visit how they can tell

The only way I can ever tell is by feeling where the kicks are. Otherwise I usually have no idea at all.

Ds2 was thought to be a breech baby but bizarrely it turned out that his heartbeat could only be heard through his bum! (Not any more though!)

crossed post...cheers for that kelly, i will try that

all i know right now is when i stroke my bump, it makes the baby move and kick...

i cant understand that as how can they feel a slight stroke?

im 24and half weeks so hope baby is big enough to try to feel, i bet i feel its bum and think its a head!

I think if you're feeling someone else's bump while they're lying down, it's easier than feeling your own bump.

I heard MWs can usually tell the head and bum apart because if you push on the bum the back will move with it whereas the head can bobble about by itself. You can't really do that yourself though (at least I never could).

I could tell ds was head down because that's where the hiccups were .

I wish I had known which way up Ds was, I could never tell. I always got a 'pointy' lump which would stick out when I had a bath!
And when I was at work, I would sit at the computer and just watch my tummy move in all directions!
I was told at 36 wks that Ds was engaged, then he turned out to be breech.
Think he may have turned at the last minute.

mumfor1, i can see that pointy bit that your talking about on my bump!! i always wonder if thats the bum sticking out!

carolinamoon, this little one hasnt had hiccups yet, perhaps its too soon for that, im nearly 25 weeks..

..i hope i master the art of knowing where baby is soon, i feel im missing out on something!

the head is round and the bum is square according to my midwife

db3 still breech

It really needs to be shown IYSWIM but the head is v hard (mw likened it to cricket ball) where as the bum is not

Agree with hunkermunker, the professionals sometimes get it wrong! My GP was convinced my baby had turned into breech position at 40 weeks and sent me off to the hospital for a C-section that day. A scan showed he was still head down.

I knew because there was a limb kicking me under the right rib and the baby was hiccupping at the bottom left corner! This matched what the MW (and scans) said.