Saying that giving birth can be stressful is a major understatement. An expectant mother will try just about anything do to make the process physically or emotionally easier.

One thing moms-to-be have to worry about is whether their baby is in the breech position when they go into labor.

Breech position describes when the baby is bottom down. This can be problematic during the delivery, causing a number of potential difficulties. Ideally, the baby will be head down, otherwise known as the anterior position. Many babies will naturally move to the anterior position in the 7th or 8th month of pregnancy, but some finicky holdouts stay breech. Thankfully for mothers of these stubborn babies, there is a natural practice that has been turning breech babies into the preferred position successfully for centuries.

Katie, 34, found out at 34 weeks pregnant that her baby was in the breech position. Luckily, that falls right in the window of time that acupuncture and moxibustion become a viable way to safely turn the baby into the correct position. Katie had undergone acupuncture when trying to conceive, with positive results. So she decided to try again to see if it would help her baby move from the breech position.

Katie saw her acupuncturist who performed both moxibustion and acupuncture.  “The increased placental oestrogen caused by the heat from the moxa stick increases the baby’s heart rate and, in turn, encourages the baby to move around,” said Fiona Wolfendon, the acupuncturist.

As acupuncture helped Katie get pregnant, it also helped her delivery become much less stressful than it could have been.

“The baby stayed the right way round and there were no problems with the birth,” Katie said. “There were no complications and I only had a 12 hour labour.”

Sometimes babies just need a little help to make things a lot easier on mommy. Acupuncture has been providing the gentle but effective nudge successfully for a very long time, and will continue to do so in the future for moms everywhere.