Is this a real thing?

[ChetMC]

"We need to induce labour because the baby has turned head down, and we want to get it out before it flips back into a breech position."

Is that a valid reason to do an induction? I thought babies got stuck head down late in pregnancy?

And if a baby is not stuck down in the pelvis would an induction be successful? Does inducing labour cause a baby to drop down and engage properly for birth?

[sattygirl99]

Typically if they do a version, they like to induce because sometimes baby does flip back up. But if baby naturally turned head down, I would say it's BS...

A baby is never stuck, until they're deep into the birth canal. A breech baby can turn in labor.

No, induction doesn't cause baby to drop. I was induced with my son at 37 weeks and he never engaged, even after 15 hours of pitocin. Inductions CAN be successful IF baby is ready.

My thoughts... Someone may know better?

[cileag]

Well, technically it's called an induction for "an unstable lie". I'd consider it if I had a baby that was flipping back and forth more than a couple of times, especially since I've had a baby before and therefore an induction is much more likely to be successful. And since breech birth is something I'm still on the fence about in the current obstetrical climate.

Hopefully, inducing labor DOES bring baby down---that's one of the things that contractions do--help bring baby down. So Pitocin or even AROM might be helpful in solidifying a baby's vertex position. However--as we all know, both of those things have risks.