Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Usually the baby reaches a stable position in the uterus by 36-37 weeks and will not move into a different position after that. By this time in pregnancy, most babies move into a head-down position. In some pregnancies, the baby’s buttocks, feet, or both are in the lowest position in the uterus. This is called breech presentation. Most breech babies are born healthy.

A full-term pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. In the first 36 weeks, the baby is constantly changing positions - this is what is perceived as movements by the mother.

In the last few weeks the baby has less place to move around and therefore will not shift positions so often. Breech presentation happens in three to four per cent of full-term births and requires special planning for how the baby will be born.

Most of the time there is no specific reason why the baby is in a breech position. It can be more common if the woman has had more than one pregnancy, there are twins or triplets, there is too much or too little fluid around the foetus, the uterus is not normally shaped, if the placenta is in an abnormal position or the baby is preterm.

Occasionally, the baby might have a birth defect which prevents it from getting into the normal position.

Every time a pregnant woman has a physical examination, the obstetrician tries to feel the position of the baby.

If a breech presentation is suspected, an ultrasound exam may be used to confirm the position.

Sometimes a breech presentation is first found during a pelvic exam when the woman is in labour. The baby’s position can change until the end of pregnancy. In first pregnancies, the chances of the position changing on its own are less. If this is the second or third pregnancy, the baby will usually get into the normal position spontaneously.

If the baby is breech, your doctor may suggest external version which is a procedure to manipulate the baby’s position into the normal head-down position. This increases the chance of having a vaginal birth and therefore is highly recommended. Version is not tried until 36-37 weeks of pregnancy. If it is done before then, the baby may still go back to being a breech. Usually medication is given to the mother which helps to relax the uterus. This may make it easier to turn the baby. The obstetrician performs a version by placing her hands on the mother’s abdomen, feeling the baby’s parts, and gently manipulating the baby’s body into the right position. Before trying to turn the baby, an ultrasound exam is done to check the position of the baby, the position of the placenta and the amount of fluid around the baby. Scanning is done throughout the procedure to follow the position of the baby as the procedure is being done. The baby’s heart rate is checked with foetal monitoring before and after version. If any problems arise with the mother or the baby, version will be stopped right away.

GITA ARJUN

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

---

---