How hard do you try to get a posterior baby to turn? « Back to Group Discussions

[rachieface]

So, my midwife palpated baby today and declared that she is most likely posterior. Not that that is particularly surprising, especially since she's not super low and I still have two weeks till my due date, but I'd still rather have heard that she is nicely positioned and ready to go!

Anyway, I know some of the posterior turning techniques and have been to Spinning Babies, but I am unsure how much effort I want to put into actively turning this baby. Do I never sit in a bucket seat (impossible, obviously, when driving)? How much time do I spend in ridiculous inversions?

Any input, ladies? Have any of you successfully gotten a posterior babe to turn and stay that way before labor? Or do you suggest waiting until early labor to really focus on positioning? I know I could go super crazy trying to get babe to budge a bit, or I could be more zen about this and not let it take up too much of my mental energy...I just hope I won't regret that come labor!

[HouseofPeace]

i'll say after having 1 baby born posterior (after 16 hours of unmedicated back labor) and 2 posterior babies, and then ONE not posterior baby, i'm all about turning those suckers if i can!!!

the sooner the better!

this one has been blessedly well-positioned.  labor can start and stop a lot more if the baby's head is not engaged the right way, and it can take longer to get to the part of labor when things start happening.  also, i'd never face back labor again if i could possibly make efforts to get the baby turned.  my 3rd didn't turn well, and i did end up w/ problems, not sure if it was just 6 hours of transition or 6 hours of back labor, but her position made labor so hard.  my 4th- not posterior during pregnancy or during labor, was a breeze.  i can't even explain the bliss of not facing a long or painful labor.  it was labor, don't get me wrong, but comparatively, it was not painful.  my husband was floored by the simplicity of laboring and getting out a well-positioned child.  

so, i'd not panic, and you can't guarantee you'll fix it, but i would be doing everything possible to shift a posterior child at this point!

just an honest gut response!!!

[Dia]

I'm curious about this too, as mine seems to be posterior As well. I'm not sure if / how much I should be trying to turn him at this point either.

[Chloe'sMama]

My babies love to be posterior, and I spend my last few weeks on my hands and knees all the time.  I watch TV that way, read books, play on my laptop...... Any chance I get I am on my hands and knees.  Seemed to work for DD2..... Didn't do it with DD1, and she was born posterior.  This baby is still flipping all around, but I spend as much time as I can on hands and knees.

[josie423]

None of my babies were ever posterior... except this one! S/he isn't OP all the time but enough to concern me. I've also been spending a lot of time on my hands and knees and it does help.

[rachieface]

Hmmmm, thanks for the responses, ladies. I think I'm going to try some of the exercises without worrying too much about it, since so many babies seem to flip towards the beginning of labor....I have to admit though, I think positioning may have been why my sons labor was so. slow. to start, and I don't want that again.

Of course, a different CNM last week told me she felt anterior (ROA), and so I spent last week doing some squats... sigh.

[etsdtm99]

my midwife said that if they are on the right they are more likely to flip posterior on their way to the left side.. which is apparently where they need to be ..

my baby has been posterior a lot, (but never breech, my previous 2 babies were breech until 35-36 wks so i wasn't as concerned about their position beyond head down)  i do everything i can handle to turn him and maintain good position  - i never lay back in a lounging position, i never lean back in a chair, even when i'm in the car (not driving usually these days) i try to lean forward a bit/sit up really straight .. i sit on my birth ball, stand leaning over the counter, or if i'm really tired i lay down on my left side leaning a bit forward (pillow under my hip and between my legs)  i've been doing all this stuff since 32 weeks when my midwife said that was the best time to get him to turn - it seems though that for the most part what i do doesn't do much to flip him, it helps maintain if he is in a good position.. he always flips to a better position after seeing hte chiropractor (i've been going weekly for a few weeks, and less often the rest of the pregnancy) and this last week (37 wks , and i go back tomorrow) he finally flipped and stayed and hasn't been posterior all week..  my last baby was posterior at the beginning of labor and like others have said, it made for a slow start and though she had no problem turning in labor..  she was never quite positioned right, at times she was posterior but she didn't come out posterior but she came out forehead first instead of the back/top of her head (she didn't have her chin tucked like they are suppose to), so even though i pushed for 2 hours she didn't have a cone head.. she had a very swollen face and couldn't open her eyes for 2-3 days after birth.. she also got stuck at the shoulders, which i'm not sure was related to position or not - either way its not something i'd like to deal with again so i'm doing whatever i can to get her positioned and ready to go .. 
 

[buko]

You know, if my babe is posterior, I will probably make some effort to get him/her to turn, BUT I found this discussion really interesting (particularly MsBlack's comments):

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/596366/is-loa-better-than-roa

[Dia]

Buko - thank you! That was a fantastic read.

[rachieface]

Yes, thank you Buko, that was really encouraging to me.

I'm going to do a daily inversion or two, and obviously continue exercising and activity, but I'm going to try not to let it worry me too much or change my life too much. This baby has been pretty much glued to my right side this entire trimester, so I don't know that there's much I can do about that. And it is also comforting that so many babies do realign themselves a bit right before or during labor.

[Jenny01]

I'll find out position today hopefully at my appointment, but she seems to still be shifting around in there, especially her bum from the left to right throughout the day!  So no idea what to think right now.

[buko]

You're welcome!  I don't remember how I came across it, but I bookmarked it because a lot of the comments, while mostly anecdotal, just had the ring of truth for me.

[buko]

Interesting stuff from Henci Goer that was JUST posted.  Read the comments, too:

http://www.scienceandsensibility.org/?p=6064

[loveandgarbage]

For some reason I didn't see this thread til now. Rach, I hope you can get your baby to turn into a better position! DS1 was posterior but I didn't know before labor. If I had known I would've tried to turn him. It's one of the reasons his birth ended in a c-section, but there was also his massive size and the fact that I had an induction, too. He basically didn't turn during labor and got "stuck" but don't worry I'm sure that was due to his size and isn't at all usual!

[maydaymom10]

I had a similar discussion on another board, and a midwife there referred me to a study that found the positioning exercises didn't really make a difference in the end. They study was double-blind & compared the births of women who did positioning exercises to those who didn't. The outcome of OP was no different between the two.

That being said, my baby is still flipping daily (hourly sometimes) between LOA & ROA, but she seems to prefer the ROA the best. And I'm all for trying the exercises to see if it helps. If nothing else, that are all good exercises to do to prepare your body for labor. 

[kat216]

Found out at my appointment today that baby is OP. I've been so diligent about my pelvic tilts and sitting forward, too! Midwife did not seem concerned at all, though, so I'm trying to relax.

[rachieface]

Originally Posted by kat216 

Found out at my appointment today that baby is OP. I've been so diligent about my pelvic tilts and sitting forward, too! Midwife did not seem concerned at all, though, so I'm trying to relax.

Yeah, I'm trying to just let it go. I'm being decently careful and doing the exercises, but sometimes you just have to live your life and let go of trying to manage things. It seems that most babies do turn sometime during mobile early/active labor.

[kat216]

Found this today, and it's making me feel much better: http://midwifethinking.com/2010/08/13/in-celebration-of-the-op-baby/ 

[Brambleberry]

Thanks!  that is helpful.  Baby A is OT and I've been haven't been able to find any information about baby positions during twin births.  I just can't imagine how she'll have space to rotate with Baby B potentially in the way.  But that link and the previous ones are reinforcing my feeling that I just need to let it go and listen to my body during labor to know what positions to try.  

[dustyfinch]

My baby was mostly ROP all along.  The night before I went into labor the baby did some serious moving around and got himself anterior; it was so obvious that I warned my DH that the baby was trying to come out.  Woke up in the morning with contractions :)  Probably for 3 weeks before this I was lazy about trying to turn him but did do some cat/cow every night.  Good luck.