Q&A: Acupuncture for a Breech Baby

Ideally your baby settles in a head down position in the third trimester. Some babies do not get into the head down position and are breech. A breech baby can present some challenges with a vaginal birth and unfortunately it has become common practice is U.S. hospitals to have a scheduled cesarean for a breech baby. Many moms who have a breech baby towards the end of their pregnancy will try all kinds of ideas to get their babies to flip. One of the popular methods is acupuncture, which is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine. When this practice is applied to a woman whose baby is breech, it involves an additional technique called moxibustion. In this practice, an herb is burned near a specific acupuncture point on your smallest toe. This is thought to help stimulate blood flow to your uterus and promote your baby getting in a head down position. This episode looks at the research and answers a listener question about how safe or how effective acupuncture is to reposition a baby.

Show notes: http://pregnancypodcast.com/acupuncture/

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