How do you tell if your baby is breech?? What kind of movement am I feeling?

[mommyNluv]

Can you tell by where you feel movement and what it feels like? I am worried b/c I feel a lot of sharp movement near my rectum and cervix. I also feel a lot of foot/hand like movement on the top right of my tummy. What could be the reason. (I'm 35 weeks.)

Thanks mamas!

[allmaydays]

I feel alot of rectal/cervical stabbing when this baby stretches; its pushing its head down and kicking its feet up/sideways. I can tell you one way I am sure this baby is head-down: when it gets the hiccups I can feel the "epicenter" low, low like right at my pubic bone, so I know I am feeling its shoulders/back right there. My midwife confirmed it is head down. I feel the small, poky parts like hands, feet and elbows pretty high at the top of my tummy and the sides.

[TurboClaudia]

do you feel a head (it will feel like hard and cantaloupe-sized) anywhere near the top of your belly?

i felt lots of cervical "tickles" when pregnant with our son and it was probably his hand. i felt lots of strong punches/kicks at the top and in the middle of my belly.

you should also be able to feel baby's spine down the side of your belly regardless of breech or vertex and then be able to determine where the hard head part and the squishy bum part is. (unless babe is posterior where their spine is in line with your spine)

most midwives (especially the homebirth attending ones) have a great deal of training in feeling how babe is positioned, but many physicians have not passed on this art to the generations after them.

~claudia

[lrlittle]

if you're not sure by feeling yourself (i never was), i would ask your care provider at each appointment and be sure that they are 100% about your baby's position. it's something i wish i had done

[mamanurse]

Of course, only US can truly identify a breech position. However, there is one way that has always worked on myself and my friends...
Feel where you think the head/butt is in the upper part of your belly. Press on it. If you feel the bumb give then it's the head and your baby is probably breech. If it's firm then it is probably the butt or back. I hope this helps.

[KittyKat]

Of course, only US can truly identify a breech position.

Care to back this statement up with some research?

I believe a person experienced in palpating a baby's position CAN reliably tell if a baby is head up or head down.

I have become an expert in MY baby and MY body over the course of this pregnancy. I know when the head is up and when it is down. This changes over the course of any given day at least once. I feel several times a day to figure out what is going on in there. If the baby is sliding to transverse, I can easily give the head a gentle nudge and encourage the baby to go back down. I have done this (VERY slowly, VERY carefully, VERY gently) numerous times over the course of the last couple weeks.

I KNOW I am right because during one of my MW visits I told her where the head was, she confirmed manually, then decided to confirm by U/S as well. The head was EXACTLY where I told her it was.

It may be more difficult to become skilled in telling position manually, but I do NOT believe that only technology can accurately identify the position of a baby.

Kathryn

[AutumnMama]

Kathryn

[liseux]

also, pay attention when baby is hiccuping. My son, when breech at 35 weeks had hiccups a lot & they were very low, and that`s how I knew where his head was.

[HappiLeigh]

Here's a great link on belly mapping:
http://www.spinningbabies.com/BellyMapping.html

I can tell exactly where my baby's parts are, and have had it confirmed at my appointments. Incidently, once I went to the doctor and had to see a less-experienced member of their team (a PA who does NOT deliver babies, thank goodness!) and she tried to take my baby's heartbeat near its knees. She was like...I can't find the heartbeat. I couldn't even believe what I was hearing! I knew where her back was--on the OTHER side of my belly! And she CLEARLY had a heartbeat as my whole belly was moving as she stretched. I said...maybe you should put the doppler over here where her back is? She was amazed...

[KittyKat]

I had a conversation with a midwife once... she told me she had a client who was seeing a CNM for "backup care" and she and her DH asked the CNM to tellthem the baby's position. The CNM said it was impossible to feel the baby because "Your stomach muscles are too thick" or some such lame excuse. Basically she had no clue how to do it, so made up some BS reason why it was not possible. The mom and her DH loooked at her like she was on something, and I *think* they may have decided not to go back.

Kathryn

[2+twins]

I rely on where I feel the hiccups. I can feel them in the butt too sometimes, but they're so much stronger near the head.

[Peppamint]

The hiccups usually confirm what the position I suspect baby to be in. The baby has been moving around oddly the last day though so has been ROA and LOA and once felt sorta traverse.

My belly is getting tired.