When do babies turn upside down

When Does A Baby Turn Its Head Down?

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As you progress through pregnancy the baby’s position becomes a more important consideration. At about 30 weeks about 25% of babies are not in a “cephalic” (head down) position. It is normal for the baby to turn head down even by about 34 weeks. So don’t worry!

It is a concern if the baby is not head down at 36 weeks and beyond. This does not mean that spontaneous turning will not happen. Indeed occasionally a baby can turn even as late as the onset of labour.

Why are most babies head down?

A singleton baby’s position is related to the size of your baby and the size and shape of your uterus.

In early pregnancy, there is plenty of room for your baby in the uterus and so there is no reason why your baby should be head down. As the pregnancy becomes more advanced there is less room for your baby to move in your uterus and so your baby wants to adopt a more comfortable position. As the buttock area is greater, a more comfortable position is for the buttock area to be at the top (“fundus”) of the uterus and the head to be towards the pelvis.

If your uterus has been overstretched because of previous pregnancies, if you have excessive amniotic fluid (“liquor”) in your uterus or your baby is unusually small then your baby may be quite mobile in advanced pregnancy. We refer to this an “unstable lie”.

If you have an abnormality of the uterus such as a fibroid protruding into your uterine cavity or you have a uterine shape abnormality, or you have an unusual shape to your pelvis then your baby can be prevented for adopting a head down position. If you have twins often one is not head down and sometimes both.

What can be done about it?

There is no need for concern until more advanced pregnancy. The reasons need to be considered as to why your baby is not in a head down position. I will monitor you each visit with an ultrasound scan so we can monitor your baby’s position.

If your baby has been breech and turns to head down spontaneously, then this is a very encouraging sign. It usually then stays head down. If your baby remains breech toward the end of the pregnancy, then there is usually a good reason. A procedure (“external cephalic version“) to try to turn your baby around to head down can be done, but only after a careful ultrasound scan and giving you a medication to relax the uterus. External cephalic version will be done very carefully and with close monitoring on the labour ward/birth unit of your baby and you with the procedure. This is because studies have shown the external cephalic version procedure has risk to your baby’s wellbeing because it can cause an umbilical cord accident, placental separation and preterm labour. Also, it is generally considered that the babies who turn easily with external cephalic version procedures would have turned anyway and the so the procedure was not necessary.

If the lie is unstable and you go into labour or your waters go then you must attend the labour ward/birth unit immediately so your baby’s position and presentation can be checked and umbilical cord presentation/prolapse can be excluded. Sometimes with an unstable lie, a careful stabilising induction is a safer option than waiting for spontaneous labour onset.

Also see my video titled ‘When will my baby turn head down?‘

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When Does a Baby Go Head Down During Pregnancy?

Your baby is likely to turn head down after the 20th week of pregnancy.
A sign that your baby went head down is pelvic discomfort — your doctor can confirm via ultrasound.
If the baby doesn't move into a head-down position, it increases the risk of a breech birth.

For the majority of your pregnancy, the baby in your womb has been dependent on you for everything. But as you near your due date, you need something in return. You need your baby to move into a head-down position.

The medical term for this is vertex presentation. And it's important because it means that during natural birth, the baby will travel through the birth canal head-first, increasing your chance of a smooth and safe delivery.

A fetus will go into head-down position between 20 and 39 weeks

Luckily, babies go into a head-down position on their own in roughly 97% of pregnancies. However, exactly when they are likely to go into that position depends on how far along you are in your pregnancy.

It's different for everyone, but usually, the baby will go into the head-down position after the 20-week mark.

"As the pregnancy progresses, the likelihood that the baby will be head-down, or vertex presentation, will increase," says Gerardo Bustillo, MD, OB-/GYN at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center. "Before 28 weeks, it's about a 75% chance, and at 32 weeks, which is eight weeks before the due date, it's about a 90% chance."

Full term is when you reach the 97% chance.

How to tell if your baby has gone head down

Some pregnant people can feel when the baby's gone head down. When the baby's head is up, you're more likely to experience discomfort under the ribs and to feel kicking in the lower belly.

When the baby is head down, you'll probably be feeling kicking higher up in the belly, and discomfort or pressure in the pelvis rather than the upper belly. And if you can't tell for sure, your doctor will be able to.

"Oftentimes we can tell just by examining the abdomen from the outside. Also, [a doctor] can feel a head usually during a pelvic examination because it definitely feels a lot harder than a butt or feet, but ultrasound is the gold standard for confirming the presentation," says Bustillo.

What happens when a baby doesn't go head down in time

If your baby doesn't move into a head-down position, that increases your risk of what's called a breech birth, which is when the baby usually emerges feet or butt-first.

"A baby that's delivered either butt or feet first has a much higher risk of increased morbidity as well as mortality. The risk of asphyxia [oxygen deprivation] during labor and delivery is much higher," says Bustillo.

Not to mention, it can be a lot harder to deliver the baby in a breech position, which can result in physical trauma to both the baby and mother.

If you're getting close to your due date and the baby is breech, there are a few things you can do.

Expectant management: This is a wait-and-see approach. There is a chance the baby can change positioning without any extra help. "About 25% of breech babies will spontaneously convert into a head-down position," says Bustillo.

Breech exercises: You can try to do some simple movements and exercises to get the baby to change position. Every doctor may recommend a different type of exercise, but as for Bustillo, "I tell my patients to get on all fours like a cat and to kind of raise their buttocks higher than the rest of their body and just to stay in that position for five to ten minutes a couple of times a day. It's kind of an old midwifery technique."
External Cephalic Version: This is an attempt for the doctor to physically turn the baby from the outside of your belly. However, it doesn't always work, and there can be potential trauma to the baby and the placenta.
C-section: Bustillo says many people with breech presentation will have a C-section to reduce traumatic risks associated with vaginal birth.

Insider's takeaway

You can expect your baby to go head down after 20 weeks of pregnancy. You can sometimes tell that your baby has entered the head-down position if you start to feel more pressure in your pelvis, and you experience more kicking in the upper belly. Your doctor will be able to confirm your baby's position using an ultrasound.

When a baby doesn't go head down in time, it increases the risk of a breech birth, which can cause issues during delivery. There are some methods, such as breech exercises, that can help your baby change positions prior to the due date. It's possible that your baby will spontaneously change positions, but if not, your doctor will likely recommend having a C-section.

Regardless if your baby is head down or not, or if you're giving birth vaginally or by C-section, your team of doctors and nurses will do their very best to ensure a safe delivery for both you and your baby.

Ashley Laderer

Ashley Laderer is a freelance writer from New York who specializes in health and wellness. Follow her on Twitter @ashladerer

Baby's vision: the world upside down? | 74.ru

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, and in this regard, parents are often interested in how the baby perceives the world around them, and especially how the baby sees them, since the vision of the newborn is not perfect.

However, for an adult who is able to see the world in all its colors, it is difficult to imagine what imperfect vision means. Therefore, myths are born related to the vision of babies: some argue that the newborn does not see at all, others that they see, but upside down, others are sure that babies perceive the world around them in one plane for almost a year. About whether a mother should worry that at the first meeting with a baby in the maternity hospital, she will not be wearing makeup, how newborns actually see, how to develop a baby’s vision, what vision problems can appear in children with age and how to prevent them, read ChelDoctor.ru material.

The child is indeed born with very low vision, and its acuity gradually develops until school age. “After birth, the child sees light spots, the outlines of objects, but the ability to focus vision, to keep it on an object of interest appears only by the end of the first or second month of life. Parents at this time may be alarmed by the "floating" movements of the eyeballs, but at this age they are the norm. In fact, visually, up to a month, the child still does not recognize either his mother or those around him, ”says chief pediatric ophthalmologist of the Chelyabinsk region, head of the ophthalmology department of CHODKB Ekaterina Tagieva .

However, during the first month, the baby's vision improves significantly. Already at the first medical examination, the ophthalmologist checks the ability of the crumbs to briefly fix their gaze on a light source or a bright object. This object should be in the immediate vicinity of the child - at a distance of 20-30 centimeters - further at this age he cannot yet see, only distinguish between light and shadow. By the way, this is why it is believed that the baby sees the world in black and white, but this is not entirely true. The ability to fix the gaze appears in the third or fourth week of life: it is from this moment that the mother's face (which the child sees and examines most often) becomes the most recognizable.

Gradually, the baby perfects the skill of fixing vision, and by the age of three or four months he already sees more clearly and far, recognizes those around him, and knows how to follow the object. “At this age, the child begins to distinguish the primary colors of the rainbow. It is desirable that the toys of the first six months of life be of the main color scheme, since the baby does not yet perceive the shades, and toys, for example, pink, are simply not interesting to him. For the development of the organ of vision, we recommend purchasing contrasting toys with alternating colors like a bee. Ordinary checkerboard-like squares can be very interesting for a child to look at. You can make an application at the sides of the crib with alternating stripes, squares - it will be interesting for the baby to consider them, ”advises the doctor. However, faces are still the most interesting object for the baby, so toys of communication with mom, dad and other close relatives will not replace.

To see the world as it is, to perceive colors, voluminous objects, in general to see like adults, the baby usually begins closer to the year. However, we must understand that we are talking about full-term children, whose development is normal. In premature babies, the development of the organs of vision will be a little late, as a rule, for the period for which the baby was not informed. His still immature system of organs of vision will continue its formation after birth, and after some time he will catch up with his peers.

As for the common myth that babies have “upside down” vision and see upside down in the first months, this is also not true. The physiology of the eye contributes to the spread of this opinion. “If we consider the eye as a system of lenses, then the picture we have is really purely anatomically projected on the retina inverted. But we must not forget that the eye is a complex organ of perception. There is also the brain - an important structure that puts everything upside down. In the course of processing information, the picture turns over, merges from two eyes into one - due to this, we see in volume. If there are no gross pathologies on the part of the brain, then from birth the child sees as expected, ”the specialist explains.

An experienced ophthalmologist at periodic examinations can determine whether the child's organ of vision is developing normally with the help of indirect signs - fixation, tracking, the distance at which the baby can follow the object, and others. But in quantitative terms, doctors can evaluate visual acuity in children only after three or four years, when the baby begins to talk. A small child, as a rule, cannot yet complain of eye problems, so parents should be more careful, especially if there is a hereditary predisposition to eye diseases.

Thus, the leading position among eye diseases today is occupied by refractive errors. “At present, almost all vision problems are significantly rejuvenated. If earlier the main peak in the incidence of myopia, which today came out on top, was in the third or fifth grade, when the visual load increased at school, the child began to grow intensively during puberty, now myopia is detected at three to five years. This is due to the fact that a lot of electronics have appeared in our lives - tablets, game consoles, phones, and our children spend a lot of time in front of screens, ”explains Ekaterina Petrovna.

It is not easy to identify an illness at this age: the child does not have any complaints yet, children usually undergo a mandatory examination by an ophthalmologist before entering kindergarten - at two or three years old, and then only before school. At the same time, the treatment of reduced visual acuity in children is effective only up to seven or eight years, so precious time is often lost. Parents should be alerted if the baby leans too close to the book (does not withstand the prescribed 30-40 cm), comes close to the TV, but in most cases it is extremely difficult for parents to recognize visual impairment on their own, so doctors recommend visiting an ophthalmologist's office every year just for preventive purposes, especially since, in addition to myopia, there are also a lot of eye conditions in which the child will not have complaints.

In second place in children are diseases of the anterior segment of the eye. Conjunctivitis and keratitis can threaten the baby's love for soap bubbles, games in the sandbox, but the main thing is insufficient hygiene. Parents often do not take such problems too seriously, they buy drops at the pharmacy on their own, they try to cope with the problem on their own. This is especially true for patients living in remote areas where there is no way to contact a specialist. “Not all eye drops that can be used by adults can be used in children, and in general, parents are unlikely to be able to correctly assess the situation. If the eye is reddened, festering, watery, there are some other problems, you need to contact an ophthalmologist, in remote areas it may be a general practitioner. At least a specialist will be able to distinguish a simple situation from a complex one, when the patient needs to be sent to the city or to the regional hospital, ”the doctor notes.

Another fairly common disease in children is strabismus. As a rule, it forms closer to the age of three, but parents may notice deviation of the eye even at an earlier age. “The deviation of the eyeball in some direction should alert the parents and force them to see a doctor. The earlier the treatment of strabismus is started, the better results can be achieved,” says Ekaterina Tagieva.

There are more serious illnesses in children - congenital glaucoma, oncological diseases of the organs of vision, atrophy of the optic nerve, but, fortunately, they are quite rare. Today, ophthalmologists are armed with a lot of both conservative and surgical methods for treating eye diseases in children, it is important that parents turn to specialists in time. This may be an ophthalmologist at a polyclinic at the place of residence or specialists from the Chelyabinsk city consultative and diagnostic ophthalmology center operating on the basis of Children's Clinical Hospital No. 2. Small patients from the region can receive the necessary consultations and inpatient care in the conditions of the Chelyabinsk Regional Children's Clinical Hospital (ChODKB).

But any disease is easier to prevent than to cure. Therefore, doctors recommend that parents limit their children as much as possible from spending time in the company of modern devices. Also, a balanced diet is of great importance in the prevention of eye diseases. For the health of children's eyes, essential vitamins and macronutrients are necessary, such as zinc, selenium, vitamins of groups B, A, E, C. Those parents who are not sure that the child receives them in sufficient quantities can, after prior consultation with the pediatrician, twice a year, in spring and autumn, add vitamin complexes to the diet that are suitable for the child by age. “Vitamins and trace elements necessary for the eyes are contained in almost any vitamin complex, so it’s not worth getting hung up on the fact that some specific drug is needed for eye health,” the doctor notes.

No less useful, especially for schoolchildren who experience serious visual stress, is eye gymnastics. “Some teachers, especially at the primary level, conduct not only physical education sessions, but also exercises for the eyes. This is very helpful because the eyes of young children get tired, especially those who have just begun to learn. A big bow to the teachers who do this during the lessons,” says Ekaterina Petrovna. However, it is also advisable for parents to do such gymnastics with their children at home, especially in the evening when their eyes are tired. The daily fifteen-minute complex may include circular movements of the pupils, movements in the figure eight, in straight lines: up and down, to the sides. If the baby is small, you can offer him to follow the subject. Each exercise must be performed at least ten times. Squinting is very useful, as well as near and far exercises. For the last exercise, you need to make a mark on the glass (you can simply cut a small circle out of paper and attach it to the window), then close one eye, look at the mark, then at a distant object outside the window. This exercise also needs to be done ten times, first with one eye, then with the other.

Visual gymnastics trains the muscles of the eyes very well, improves blood circulation, which increases resistance to stress, improves perception, but do not forget that the effectiveness of any gymnastics lies in the constancy of its performance. However, this applies not only to gymnastics, but also to taking care of the health of the eyes and the body as a whole. A healthy, hardened, well-nourished and adequately exercised baby will certainly have fewer health problems.

Arina Emelyanova

Children's -Glacomaophthalmic -glazing

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Breech presentation - how to turn the baby

Vatagina Maria Alexandrovna

Obstetrician-gynecologist

Clinical hospital Lapino-1 "Mother and Child"

Do not worry and worry if a child under 36 weeks is "ass forward": this is completely normal and the crumbs still have time to roll over. By the way, it happens that the baby turns upside down and immediately before the birth, and even in the birth itself

Try to persuade the baby to turn into the desired position. Tell everything in detail: why he should turn around, what it will give both mother and child in childbirth. You can talk out loud, or you can talk to yourself, the main thing is to talk to your baby about it all the time

In the water, the mother's body relaxes, which means that the muscles of the uterus relax, its volume increases somewhat, and as a result, the child has a little more space "for maneuvers".

Talk to him

There is always a connection between a child and a mother. And mother is the first person whom the baby believes and obeys. Therefore, try to persuade the baby to turn into the desired position. Tell everything in detail: why he should turn around, what it will give both mother and child in childbirth. You can talk out loud, or you can talk to yourself, the main thing is to talk to your baby about it all the time. Be gentle and at the same time persistent. Be sure to connect the future dad to the conversation, children obey men even more. When you persuade the baby, additionally stroke the stomach, as if instructing the child how to turn around. Great option: dad talks and strokes his stomach with you.

Imagine

Visualization - a way in which a person imagines the picture he wants. So the expectant mother just needs to imagine the baby in the right position. If you don't know what it looks like or you just can't imagine a baby in your belly - find a beautiful photo from a magazine, book, Internet. Some kind of anatomical accuracy is not important here, just a pleasant and understandable picture is enough: the baby lies upside down inside the mother's belly. Look at the illustration more often and imagine that inside you the baby is also in the correct position. But you must not only look at someone else's photo, but imagine yourself and your child.

Lure him

Another way is to lure the baby. Children, especially small ones, are very curious, so make the baby turn around by showing him something interesting. But the baby is still in the stomach, how can he see something? We do not know exactly how the baby reacts to the world outside the mother's stomach, but it is believed that he, for example, can hear sounds. Place headphones with pleasant music in the lower abdomen, this can also encourage the child to turn towards the sound. Music should be calm, melodic and not loud so that the baby is not scared.

You can also turn on the flashlight and put it against the mother's stomach in the place where the baby's head is, and then, while talking, slowly move the flashlight to the side and down, dragging the baby along with you.

Swim and relax

Swimming also helps your baby get into head presentation. In the water, the mother’s body relaxes, which means that the muscles of the uterus also relax, its volume increases somewhat, and as a result, the child has a little more space “for maneuvers”. But swimming should be pleasant for mom, if a woman is afraid of water or she is not warm enough, then there will be no relaxation. Therefore, you must want to swim, plus the water must be at a comfortable temperature.

Do exercises

There are very simple exercises , that will help the baby to fit correctly. But first, check with your doctor if you can do such exercises. Gymnastics to turn the baby into head presentation is not carried out if there is gestosis, the threat of termination of pregnancy, a scar on the uterus after a previous cesarean section, placenta previa.

Turns. Lying on the couch, turn from side to side 3-4 times in 10 minutes. Perform 3 times a day. The turn usually occurs within the first week.

Force of attraction. Lie on your back with a large pillow under your lower back and a small one under your head. Bend your knees, placing your feet on the floor. Lie like this for 10 minutes.

Knee-elbow position. Stand on your knees and elbows, at this time the pelvis is located above the head. Stay in this position for 15 minutes several times a day.

Consult a specialist

If exercises and psychological methods do not work, there is another way – prophylactic external rotation performed by an experienced OB/GYN in the maternity hospital. First, the mother is injected with drugs that relax the uterus, then the doctor tries to turn the child with certain hand movements, acting on his head and pelvis through the belly of the expectant mother. All this takes place under the control of ultrasound, and usually a woman does not experience any discomfort during this manipulation.

True, external rotation is now rarely performed: firstly, not all obstetricians and gynecologists can do it, and not all doctors believe that it is needed; secondly, not every woman is psychologically tuned in to him, and, besides, there are not always indications for him.

Psychological methods may seem questionable, but they often help. And if you add gymnastics and swimming, then the likelihood that the baby will turn into the correct position only increases.
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