Breech = C-section

[Picahu]

Is it always the case that a c-section is required if the baby is breech?

I've seen and read birth stories with mothers giving birth vaginally to a breech baby?

Any advice welcome - second baby, but first birth was great and now I am constantly thinking of every kind of scenario agh

I asked my midwife this the other day! She said you don't have to have a C section even if breeched, but it is something a lot of hospitals will suggest you do 💕

Not necessarily. It depends what sort of breech (there are different positions within "breech") and also how labour goes.

Some NHS maternity units aren't comfortable with the idea of breech birth but it's you who gets to decide what sort of birth you try for.

Dr Sara Wickham (midwife) has some informative stuff on breech birth and some links to reputable sources about it on her website.

Mine were breech due to having a heart shaped uterus, something I only found out during the second c-section. I considered it that the likelihood of damage (including oxygen starvation) to the baby was too high and it was better to risk my health with the surgery than theirs with the birth. Considerations I had were how competent I thought the hospital was, how much (or little) they seemed to care about me and various scenarios I played out in my head, being the pessimistic type. They offered to try to manipulate the baby in the womb to turn them but I immediately said no as I sensed that would be a bad idea and upon goggling it, found it's not recommended in (some) other countries. Saying that, it does work for many women. As it happens, if they had done that everything would have gone bad due to the shape of womb and it not being physically possible for the baby to move out of the bit they were trapped in. They also were absolutely convinced that the baby wasn't breech when I went into labour but I kept repeating they were and that they hadn't moved and after arguing with two doctors and 3 midwifes all at once they finally got a scanner and checked. Try spending time in all fours with your tummy hanging if you can to see if that helps the baby want to move round. They often turn on their own accord as well.

Bum first is possible - but I have absolutely no idea why anybody would want to push a baby out of their vagina butt-first, the pain...!

Footling breech is an absolute no-no as high risk the cord will escape first and kill them. Not even worth considering.

I've had one breech and this one will be too and definitely grateful c sections exist!

My baby was breech and the hospital suggested trying to turn him. I decided to go for this option, but it was a weird experience and I didn't feel right afterwards. My first labour had been very quick (four hours), but this one lasted for days and when I went into hospital my son's oxygen levels kept dipping. He was born with the cord tangled round his neck and middle - fortunately he was and is OK. But I've always felt the turning tangled him up and the result could have been very different. So if I had ever been faced with that decision again, I'd have gone straight for the caesarean. And there are ways to turn a baby naturally - i had a midwife-designed rocking chair for my first baby, which helped him turn from a posterior position into the right position for birth.

When I had a breech baby I did some research and my feeling was that if there was an midwife experienced in delivering breech baby there at the birth then I would have been happy to go ahead however as there are fewer midwives experienced in delivering breech babies and no control over when you go into labour I decided the risk was too high for me so I had a c- section.

Second what @lorisparkle said. As most people opt for C-section, so even the few trained midwives won't be doing it regularly, the odds of having a suitably experienced midwife on shift didn't seem high enough to risk it.

Some hospitals have specialist teams for Breech Birth- this is a little old but talks about Sheffield and Oxford Breech teams

Sarah Wickham mentioned above is a good shout. Also read about Mary Cronk who specialised in Breech Vaginal birth ☺️

Both of my babies were breech. I first was footling. I delivered a foot in triage and had an emergency csection within seconds. The second was also breech suggestion of vaginally birth but it was a high risk pregnancy.

How far along are you? Have you been offered ECV? Have you tried baby turning exercises?

Is baby breech now? How far gone are you?

I spent a long time sitting on a Swiss ball/on all 4s.

What everyone else has said. I was advised that there wasn’t anyone suitably experienced at my hospital. I had several sessions with an osteopath (with specific pregnancy experience/training) and the baby turned. No idea if the two are linked or not, but I felt like there was more space for baby after the sessions. I would have had a c section otherwise.

She's not someone I would trust - she was one of our midwifery lecturers and was forced to modify her unsafe teachings.

My hospital offered a breech vaginal delivery because they had a team experienced enough to support it if I so chose. They also said that when labour starts, breech deliveries tend to be quick so if I had decided to go with a vaginal birth, I’d have needed to get to hospital VERY quickly because apparently it gets to a point very early where you can’t change to a c-section, you’ve got to just go for it.
To be honest, I didn’t ever really consider it - as soon as baby turned to breech, I was going for a c-section but I was interested in the fact that I’d have been supported if I’d decided otherwise.

Good advice above ref Sara Wickham and whether your trust has breech experienced midwives on shift, if at all. I would also recommend acupuncture, which is more successful than ECV & not invasive. You need to get it at about 35 weeks I believe though, my baby was breech all along until I had acupuncture & moxibustion and I felt/saw DD move into position.

We didn’t know my baby was breech till I was at the hospital after my waters broke but hadn’t started having contractions. Everyone was ready to send me home but decided they would do a quick scan first as I’d been referred for a scan the next day. Scan showed breech. The dr basically said we could try for a vaginal birth but they couldn’t guarantee how experienced the staff on duty would be for delivering breech babies. That was enough for me to opt for a c-section.