Pregnancy: Breech and Posterior Presentation

For breech presentation the ideal time to treat is 34 weeks or before, after this the baby becomes increasingly too large to turn. However, even as late as 38 or 39 weeks some of these babies will turn. One treatment is required using a herb to warm acupuncture points (placed over the points but does not touch the skin) and then self-treatment is continued at home for up to 10 days.

Acupuncture can be used in conjunction with external manual version. Again one treatment is required followed by home self-treatment. Midwives have commented that in their opinion there appears to be a higher success rate in those women who have been able to have acupuncture and self-treatment for at least five days before the procedure.

For babies presenting posteriorly, either left or right occipital posterior, one treatment using the special herb is required, with self-treatment during labour (using acupressure and press tacks) where necessary. These simple treatments during labour are non-invasive and have been surprisingly effective in helping women who are experiencing failure to progress and back pain (typical of a malposition), to go to an efficient labour as the baby turns from a posterior position to an anterior one. Midwives report that if the treatment is successful, the nature of labour changes positively within ten to 15 minutes.

The New Zealand Evidence Based practice guidelines for care of women with Breech presentation (1) recommends that moxibustion may be offered to women from 33 weeks gestation. This follows research from Italy (2) that demonstrated moxibustion can have a significant effect in helping to turn breech babies.

References:
(1) http://www.nzgg.org.nz/guidelines/0074/caesarean
(2) Cardini F, Weixin H. (1998). “Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation”. Journal American Medical Association. 280:1580-1584.