At what point would you worry about baby not turning?

[StephM76]

DD is currently footling breech (28.3 weeks). I'm not concerned now, but I'm wondering at what point should I start to worry. Should I be doing the spinning babies methods now?

At what point would you worry about baby being breech?

[Youngfrankenstein]

Dr. Sears says if the baby hasn't turned by 36 weeks, there's good chance they will stay breech. Most babies turn head down by 32-34 weeks. Remember, only 3-4% of babies present breech at birth time. I think 28 weeks is too early to call it a breech.

[Mamatoabunch]

I don't. I figure if baby is breech at delivery there is a reason for it.

[Storm Bride]

If I were worrying about a breech birth, I'd worry about baby not turning once labour started. My first turned breech during labour, my next turned breech at 39 weeks, and dd2 was transverse at...36, I think...then breech at my next two checkups and stayed vertex until the very end. I think babies move more than people realize.

[mamabadger]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

I think babies move more than people realize.

I have often suspected they do. My DS#1 turned at 40 weeks.
I also had a client who arranged to have her first baby at a birthing centre. The baby was vertex at her last prenatal visit, but when she arrived in labour less than a week later, he had turned breech. The birth went fine, and she was happy to avoid a C-section. When she was pregnant with baby #2 and under an OB's care, the baby remained breech from 30 weeks onward, and refused to budge. The OB was talking C-sec, so she transferred back to the birth centre. Four days after her last prenatal checkup, she came to the centre in labour, and the baby had turned vertex.

[Robinna]

That would depend entirely on whether i had a CP with "catching" skills. If i was not going to be threatened with c/s for breech, I wouldn't much care, because I personally don't think there's any real problem with breech presentation that isn't iatrogenic (yes there are risks but I think if you have a truly hands off provider attending you then the risks are not enormously increased over vertex). And even with "conventional" breech management, the risks are at the same level as c/s so bottom line, if I know I have somebody to catch, I wouldn't worry about breech at all.

However, if I was being threatened with c/s, I would start trying to turn the baby by 32-33 weeks, before the baby gets too crowded in there to flip over easily. 36 weeks is too late in most cases to successfully use turning techniques.

That being said, the 3-4% stat is based on the number of breeches *at term*. the VP of the SOGC told me that if you don't schedule surgery and jsut wait for labour, but 41 weeks only about 1% of babies remains breech. His opinion was that scheduling was a mistake even if surgery is inevitable to due CP inexperience. I love that man.

[babymonster]

DS was breech and turned at 36 weeks (while I was doing he exercises to encourage him to turn!) I didn't really give it much thought until about 33 weeks, then I did the exercises every day after that.
At 28 weeks they should still have plenty of time and space to turn