Acupuncture to turn a breech baby

Did you know that acupuncture can be used to turn a breech baby? Let’s take a look at how that works, both in clinic and at home.

When should I seek help to turn a breech baby?

Ideally, your baby should be head down and in position by 34 weeks. If you don’t have any ultrasounds scheduled between 32 and 34 weeks, often your OB or midwife can feel your belly to see if baby is head down.

The sooner you begin acupuncture to turn your baby, the more room there is for baby to turn. This helps increase the likelihood of success with the treatment. After 36 weeks, the success rate of the treatment significantly drops. However, there are instances where baby can still turn after 36 weeks. The treatment course is about 10 days long so starting by week 34 is highly recommended.

What do treatments to turn a breech baby look like?

When you come into the clinic, we’ll focus on creating space for baby by using small acupuncture needles. Needles are mainly inserted in the arms and legs. We’ll also do some moxibustion. This consists of lighting mugwort (moxa) sticks and holding them near certain acupuncture points that have been shown to help turn the baby.

This will be a great opportunity to show you how to do moxibustion at home. You’ll then go home with some moxa sticks and do daily moxibustion for 10 days. Continuing regular acupuncture treatments during that time is recommended as well.

Additionally, you’ll have exercises to do at home to help encourage the baby to turn.

Do treatments involve any manipulation of the baby?

Turning a breech baby with acupuncture doesn’t involve any manipulation of the baby. The focus of the treatment is to create favourable conditions for your baby to turn. The benefit of this approach is that it won’t force your baby to do anything that can’t safely be done.

Trying acupuncture and moxibustion before an external cephalic version (ECV) is recommended to help reduce risks of complications.

If you’re looking for help to turn your breech baby in Ottawa, schedule your acupuncture appointment today!