It’s been a crazy week here at Midwifery Traditions with more breech inquiries in one week than in almost 40 years of practice!
According to baby-center.ca “Where there are experienced doctors available and strict guidelines are applied, vaginal birth can be as safe as caesarean birth”.
As of 2009 The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecology in Canada has switched to supporting most vaginal breech births.
When will the United States catch up? Currently, there is a trend in the United States to perform caesarean delivery for breech births. The ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) states that the mode of delivery should consider patient wishes and experience of the healthcare provider, unfortunately, there are very few experienced healthcare providers because of the trend to default to caesarean births when breech.
Thankfully, locally, there are a few physicians who are providing breech births!
During our research we found that Maternal Fetal Medicine at Jefferson hospital and one physician at Reading Hospital are offering breech vaginal births (for mothers who have had previous deliveries).
