Using traditional Moxibustion to help turn breech babies

What does Breech mean?

A baby presenting in the breech position is when the baby's feet are down or laying transverse instead of the head during the third trimester. This positioning of baby can at times make birth harder and come with some higher risk.

What causes breech positioning?

It isn’t really known why some babies present in the wrong direction. It does seem to be more common in cases of multiple babies, abnormal shaped uterus, and also preterm.

What is moxibustion

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese therapy that is the burning and herb called mugwort, or moxa, to help healing or in this case to stimulate the truing of baby. The herb is burned near skin or acupuncture points to increase circulation, warm the body, nourishes QI and blood. It can also easy pain and treat stagnation. It is considered a very nourishing treatment and a wonderful tool for treating women’s health and prenatal care.

So does moxibustion actually help Turn breek babies?

Short answer is yes! For turning a breech baby, moxa is applied to the acupuncture point, BL-67 (Zhiyin) right on the outside corner of the pinkie toe. This specific acupuncture point on the Bladder Channel helps turn the fetus. The application of the moxa is either with a moxa stick or using a small cone shaped ball of moxa to this point. Therapy usually starts around weeks 32-34 on average. There have been cases of babies turning as late as week 37, but the earlier the better. Time is of the essence.

how does moxa turn the baby?

The theories behind how it works is that the heat from moxibustion stimulates prostaglandin receptors that cause mild contractions (similar to Braxton hicks contractions). These mild and gentle contractions help stimulate the baby to turn head down. It has been found that this works about 60% of the time which is a pretty high efficacy rate, so much so that many OB-GYNs prescribe moxibustion for breech presentation.

What’s next

Moxibustion is easily accessible and something that can be performed at home but it is important to do so with the guidance of a licensed acupuncturist. Because it is burning of herbs on or near the skin it is important to be instructed on the safest ways to apply the treatment at home to avoid injury, to be sure that it is indicated. Reach out to a licensed acupuncturist get more details.