Belly Mapping and Breech Presentation
Belly mapping is a three step process that involves learning how your baby is lying in your womb. It’s easiest to do after 20 weeks gestation as this is when you are most likely to feel kicks and determine the difference between the bulges of the baby's rump and head.
This method was introduced by Gail Tully, the founder of Spinning Babies. This method provides security for our clients as they find it easy to do at home with their birthing partner. It’s a great way to ensure the baby is head down and there is nothing more empowering than knowing how to identify your baby's position based on touch and feel.
How To Belly Map
Feel for your baby starting from the base of the uterus and walking up both sides. Be aware of what you are feeling. Is it firm? Is it squishy? Does the baby react when gently pressed, does it feel like a foot or firm like their back/rump?
Visualize their position based on what you’re feeling. Starting at the base of the uterus you may feel a firm head, then, figure out which side the spine and rump are laying. You can close your eyes and envision in your head or even draw on a piece of paper what you are feeling. There are a variety of different positions a baby can be in and it’s normal for a baby to not be head down until 36 weeks gestation. It’s also been told that babies flip right before or even during labor. Try not to stress the position of baby too much.
Name the position of your baby. Below is a photo from Gail Tully at Spinning Babies. You will hear terms such as ROA, LOP, OP, or ROT. These are all terms referencing the position of your baby.
Belly Mapping Resources:
Belly Mapping | Spinning Babies
Belly Mapping 101 | Mommy Labor Nurse
Fetal Compass Rose Handout | Spinning Babies
Belly Mapping Breech Presentation
Breech presentation is when the baby is not head down. There are only two ways to get a definite answer whether or not your baby is breech, by ultrasound and by palpation (abdominal examination). Many times, if your care provider suspects your baby is breech, an ultrasound will be recommended for a better idea of presentation. The following information was pulled from the article “Belly Mapping Breech” by Spinning Babies.
“The drawings begin with the four quadrants of a belly map.
A simple circle can be drawn on a piece of paper, with two lines that cross at the navel. Next, draw the bumps and wiggles that the mother with a breech might feel when she is lying down.
The kicks may not be stronger than the hand movements due to the legs being straight in a frank breech position. Then they can’t kick. A footling or complete breech may wiggle their feet on your cervix or bladder.
The head may be easy to feel at the top or hiding in the back.Details that will help you think about what you are feeling:
When the feet are folded near the baby’s buttocks, the pelvis and feet together make a hard ball shape.
Feeling the folded feet and hips of the baby through the abdominal muscles and uterus can, at times, feel much like a head.
The head, however, tilts on the neck when moved by hand. Grasping and tipping the buttocks will move the entire trunk of the baby.
Sometimes the uterus over the fetal head in the fundus (top of the uterus) feels warm and tender.
When the baby is stretching a leg away from their body, the hips will have a cylinder shape emerging from it — the thigh. The head doesn’t have a cylinder coming out of it.
At times there may be a cylinder shape overlapping the head, when the baby has their arm up. Sometimes fingers can even be felt near the face.
Lower in the pelvis, the foot movement of a breech is quite memorable. One mother said, “The baby has made a treadmill of my bladder.” Compare that to the Frank breech position, in which the legs are up towards the tummy and chest and there is little movement from the feet in the lower part of the abdomen.
A transverse baby will be laying sideways (nothing will be in the pelvis). Limbs will cross the belly, high, low, or right across, depending on how the baby is lying. The limbs might even be towards the back, which would make the baby seem less active. The bottom and head will still slide against the mother’s abdomen on a regular basis, reassuring everyone of the baby’s wellbeing.
Other areas of interest to look for:
Which side the baby’s back is on (when planning a physiological breech birth, breech babies whose backs are on the right may have an easier rotation)
Location of the placenta
Amount of head flexion (how much and which way the neck is bent)
What type of breech position the baby is in at the moment
Head size in relation to body
The baby’s weight (While not always accurate, we want the head and body to be in the same proportion, rather than having the baby’s head much bigger than usual for the size of the body. If the full term baby’s frank breech bottom fits, we expect the head to fit, but it must be flexed chin down.)
Belly Mapping Breech Resources:
Belly Mapping Breech | Spinning Babies
Breech Presentation | American Pregnancy Association