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This video shows mechanisms of labor for breech birth.

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Kristine discusses how to uncomplicate/ not over think arms in a breech baby. She goes through the steps on how to resolve an arm gently and calmly.

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Kristine Lauria on Instagram: "Don't make things more complicated than they need to be. 

#breech #midwife #cpm #birth #homebirth"

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1,281 likes, 60 comments - globalmidwife64 on April 2, 2026: "Don't make things more complicated than they need to be. 

#breech #midwife #cpm #birth #homebirth". 

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View this post on Instagram

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Breech Birth: Information to help you decide

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Breech Birth: Information to help you decide

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Great resource for Parents: This course contains counselling videos about your birth choices when your baby is breech.

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Breech Birth: Information to help you decide

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Videos and research-based information about your birth choices when your baby is breech.

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shared via YouTube by Janell Shockey

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Tehya Benedict

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This breech video from Global Health Media Project gives basic instructions on how to determine a breech presentation and hand positioning/maneuvers for delivery. I haven't watched any instructional videos on breech up until now, just videos from people's personal births, so this was really interesting. - Leah Sandow

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This instructional video demonstrates the normal mechanisms of vaginal breech birth and reviews several maneuvers that may be used if assistance becomes necessary, including the Pinard, Lovset, and Mauriceau Smellie Veit maneuvers. It emphasizes supporting physiologic breech birth while intervening only when clinically indicated.

Meredith Bowling

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BREECH DELIVERY MANEUVERS: HANDS OFF, ROJAS, MAURICEAU... BASIC RULES. - Gynecology and Obstetrics -

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Evidence Based Birth Podcast #172: Breech Vaginal Birth with Dr. Rixa Freeze and Dr. David Hayes

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Evidence Based Birth Podcast #172: Breech Vaginal Birth with Dr. Rixa Freeze and Dr. David Hayes

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This episode reviews the current evidence surrounding planned vaginal breech birth, discusses appropriate candidate selection, physiologic breech birth principles, and explains the rationale behind many of the maneuvers used when assistance becomes necessary. It also introduces the work of Breech Without Borders, a respected educational organization dedicated to improving clinician training in vaginal breech birth

Katelynn Walker

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EBB 172 - Breech Vaginal Birth with Dr. Rixa Freeze and Dr. David Hayes - Evidence Based Birth®

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This is a great video from Breech without borders. It is focused on freeing a head trapped in the vagina. This is a good resource for demonstrating many different techniques to free the head once the rest of the body is delivered. So at this point the you would now the baby is breech and focus on birthing the head.

This and the post "mechanisms of upright breech birth" are posted by Grace Willkomm

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This is a blog post by Jane Evans which is based off of many evidence-based works. One of the indicators of a breech presentation is lack of engagement until the cervix is complete. Breech babies descending are going to feel asynclitic during a vaginal exam. She explains that the bottom is born through wiggling through the vaginal canal. There will be meconium as the bottom is born. She explains that after the pelvis is born the legs should follow in the next contraction. If they do not come out spontaneously, the midwife can push the knees in towards the abdomen to help them come out. The arms need assistance if the baby is not rotating or progress stalls for 30+ seconds. Once the body is out, the head should line up in a occiput-anterior position. As long as it is well-flexed, it should pass through. This is a very helpful resource to check out with tips for each part of breech delivery and pictures!

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The following pictures show the way a breech baby wiggles her way through a mother's pelvis when mum is upright (e.g. kneeling or hands/knees), and the signs a breech birth attendant looks for to tell if this process needs help or not.

A breech baby may engage before labour, or may not engage until after her mother's cervix is fully dilated.

Some midwives feel engagement with the back on one side or another may be ideal. (See Jane Evans 's ideas on this, on Rixa Freeze's blog.)

I am happy for the back to be on either side, and these pictures depict the birth of a baby whose legs are extended (frank breech), with her back on her mother's left.

The breech typically descends with the sacrum transverse, anterior buttock leading. On vaginal examination, this will feel asynclitic - the anal cleft is closest to the maternal sacrum. This is normal for breech.

Maternal movement assists this process in the same way it assists cephalic descent.

The buttocks will be born by lateral spinal flexion (wiggling the bum from side to side).

The anterior (maternal front) buttock is born first, followed by the baby's anus (usually squirting a thick glob of meconium) and the posterior buttock.

The sacrum will soon rotate to sacro-anterior ('tum to bum' - the baby's rear should be in line with the mother's front). If rotation is tending toward sacro-posterior, this may be an indication for intervention (to gently encourage sacro-anterior rotation).

Baby's legs seem to stretch forever, but will be born spontaneously as long as there is descent with each contraction. If one leg slips down before the other, this may indicate that full internal rotation has not occurred, and help with the arms may be needed.

"If it progresses, wait and see." - Mary Cronk

After baby's legs flop down, you will have a clear view of the umbilicus and may even be able to see the baby's heart rate from her chest. Do not touch the umbilicus, but observe: colour, tone, flexion/movement.

Reassuring sign: If you observe cleavage (the sternal crease) on the baby's chest, you know the arms are in front and should be born with the next contraction or active maternal effort between contractions. If not, you need to help.

Indication for intervention: If full rotation has not occurred by the time the nipple line is visible, or progress stops for >90 seconds at any point, you will need to assist with the birth of the arms.

In most breech births, the arms will be born spontaneously with the baby's torso in a sacrum-anterior position ('tum to bum').

Occasionally, as the head engages, baby rotates slightly to release one arm below the pubic arch, then rotates the other direction to release the other arm.

Baby should be 'tum to bum' following the birth of the arms, and the head should be aligned in the pelvis in an occipit-anterior position.

A well-flexed head will pass easily through the pelvis.

Commonly, women experience an urge to lower their bottoms to the surface on which they are kneeling (e.g. bed, floor mat, etc.) This maintains and promotes flexion in the baby's body and should not be interrupted.

Babies have often been observed doing a 'tummy crunch,' or full body flexion recoil, spontaneously pulling their knees up into a fetal position. This also promotes flexion and helps the head to be born.
Note: A compromised baby will not do this, and you will need to assist more, and sooner.
If progress arrests - no descent with maternal effort - help to flex the head is indicated, especially if baby's tone and colour are not ideal.
Want to learn more?
More on Mechanisms from this blog.
Excellent sources of information:
Evans, Jane. (2012). Understanding physiological breech birth. Essentially MIDIRS, 3(2), 17-21.

Evans, Jane. (2012). The final piece of the breech birth jigsaw? Essentially MIDIRS, 3(3), 46-49.

Frye, Anne. (2004). Holistic Midwifery, Volume II, Care of the Mother and Baby from the onset of Labour through the First Hours after Birth. Labrys Press. (available here)

Reitter A, Halliday A and Walker 2 (2020) Practical insight into upright breech birth from birth videos: a structured analysis. Birth. doi.org/10.1111/birt.12480

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Mechanisms of upright breech birth - Breech Birth Network

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Understanding the physiological process of a breech birth The following pictures show the way a breech baby wiggles her way through a mother's pelvis when mum is upright (e.g. kneeling or hands/knees), and the signs a breech birth attendant looks for to tell if this process needs help or not.

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Kristine Lauria on Instagram: "Doing a chest or shoulder press in a hands and knees position can be easier than in a standing position. Don't hesitate to ask the mother to change positions to facilitate birth of the aftercoming breech head.

#breech #birth #midwife #homebirth #cpm"

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881 likes, 36 comments - globalmidwife64 on April 22, 2026: "Doing a chest or shoulder press in a hands and knees position can be easier than in a standing position. Don't hesitate to ask the mother to change positions to facilitate birth of the aftercoming breech head.

#breech #birth #midwife #homebirth #cpm". 

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This video is a great way to see the difference between a crunch or gasp.

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Tummy crunch vs gasp during a vaginal breech birth

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During a vaginal breech birth, "tummy crunches" (full-body movements like leg lifts, abdominal contractions, and arm curls) indicate that the baby is vigorous. In contrast, gasping indicates that the baby is compromised.

This video shows you how to distinguish between tummy crunches and gasping. 

Tummy crunches are smooth, controlled, and muscular and engage the entire body. They mimic the movements of gymnasts and weight lifters. 

Gasping is jerky and involves the upper arms/chest/shoulders only.

ps--this version of Thriller was filmed in BWB's hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA!

Audio credits:
Prelude in C (BWV 846) Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
“Thriller” by Michael Jackson

Video credits: 
The Movement | Midas @ midasmvmt
Andrew Alinda @ CaliToTheCrowd
Matt Carlson @ mattcarson12

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Most breech births I have seen the birther is upright or on their hands and knees. This was interesting to watch!

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Most breech births I have seen the birther is upright or on their hands and knees. This was interesting to watch!

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Breech Without Borders infographics. (2023). Posted by Brianna Aline Backhaus.

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Brandi Kreckow

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Demonstration of the mechanism of a breech birth

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Mechanism of Breech Delivery - By Love Obstetrics And Gynecology

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10 mechanisms of upright physiological breech birth

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10 mechanisms of upright physiological breech birth

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Jessica Sewell-Mabson

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Mechanisms of different types of breech births (Phoebe Banks)

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Mechanisms of different types of breech births (Phoebe Banks)

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Breech birth mechanisms - really awesome to see the different types of breech deliveries all together, from Breech Without Borders.

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Free lecture covering why vaginal breech birth skills are important and how it works (Jenn Rumsey)

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Free lecture covering why vaginal breech birth skills are important and how it works (Jenn Rumsey)

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Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds.

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"The art of vaginal breech birth at term on all fours" (Mace Gosch)

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"The art of vaginal breech birth at term on all fours" (Mace Gosch)

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Amazing pictures of a breech vaginal birth! In this case, a midwife caught an unexpectedly breech baby at home as birth was imminent.

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Online resource about breech birth (Mace Gosch)

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Online resource about breech birth (Mace Gosch)

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This is a recording of a webinar from Evidence Based Birth several years ago that discusses the evidence on breech birth.

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Evidence on Breech Birth with Dr. Rebecca Dekker and Sara Ailshire, MA