The words “your baby is breech” can introduce a tremendous amount of anxiety into the preparation for birth. The doctor, midwife and doula may be well-acquainted with the attendant risks, but the expectant mother may be left feeling out of control over what will happen when it comes time to deliver.

What is a breech birth?

Most babies are positioned head-down in the womb so that they are positioned to come out of the birth canal/vagina head first. If the baby is positioned so that the feet or bum will come out first, this is described as “breech presentation”. Reasons for this may be: that the baby is simply most comfortable in this position, there may be too little amniotic fluid, it may happen in a multiple pregnancy, the length of the umbilical cord and the size of the uterus. Doctors used to prefer to deliver breech babies via Caesarean section, but, depending on the circumstances, a breech baby may still be born vaginally, according to SOGC.org.

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We have three videos which may encourage you if you are anticipating a breech birth; sometimes watching a birth take place helps to demystify what an expectant mom will go through:

[Click on the images below to play the videos]

Warning: Birth videos may be extremely graphic and may not be suitable for sensitive viewers.

Aurora’s beautiful and inspiring Frank breech home birth via YouTube/MyBirthMovie



Spontaneous breech delivery breech birth via YouTube/PiexItalia



Taylor’s natural breech birth



More videos on:

Home birth

Natural birth

Caesarean section

Natural birth: it’s twins!

Would you prefer natural birth if possible?