Breech Babes in Active Women

Breech babes, oh the frustration you cause. But no worries, there’s a lot of factors that go into why a baby turns. And there are many, many successful turn stories!

There is no research stating squats, lunges, or handstands are the culprits for breech babies. However, it makes sense that a strong, fit woman has tight muscles. Tight and/or imbalanced muscles and/or misalignment can lead to a baby getting stuck or turning a certain way.

For help spinning the right way round, see a chiropractor to balance out your nervous system and get structures into alignment. You want your pelvis, spine, and core structures to be as optimized as possible!

You’ll also want to elongate muscles, specifically targeting the psoas, hip flexors, obliques, lats with very gentle stretching and traction.

Remember, big belly breathing/diaphragmatic breathing throughout these movements and your exercise will create as much space as possible for baby. It’ll also calm your nervous system to allow your body to relax deeply.

Recommendations:

– child’s pose with side reach and big belly breaths
– side/oblique stretch standing reach or with a band on a pull up bar for pull traction
– any lat stretch that feels good and you can do with belly
– couch stretch for quads and hip flexors
– lying or reclining IT band stretch with band/strap
– lying psoas release on block
– glute rolling/stretching

Spinning Babies techniques include:
– Inversions (down dog or knees on couch/hands or elbows on ground) for 3 breaths
– Side lying release (here’s the technique. You need a partner, preferably a trained doula or midwife.)
*Spinning Babies has a ‘body balancing’ protocol for pregnancy and during birth. Find a workshop near you or a doula who is trained to help you on your motherhood journey!

Remember, the best thing you can do is keep stretching and elongating! This is not the sexy part of an active lifestyle yet it’s the most important for recovery and now, you and your babe’s birth story. The more supple your insides are for that intuitive baby to move around, the better.