Over and over again, in my research and in personal conversations, I hear how important videos are to health professionals who are self-educating themselves about breech birth. I am still exploring the role of video as a learning tool, but they seem to assist professionals to develop pattern recognition abilities, and enable discussions about clinical decision-making. By watching and talking through what happens in birth videos, these skills can be practiced before they are required in a real-life context.
Here is a list of publicly available on-line videos for health professionals to watch when preparing to attend a breech birth, or to periodically update. Some of them may be close to your idea of ‘ideal,’ and some of them may present a different perspective, or an opportunity for discussion. All of them offer learning opportunity.
Suggested activities:
- Identify key movements and rotations in the mechanism of breech birth
- Consider and discuss what prompted intervention, if the video includes intervention
- What would you do?
You can link to the original posting of the YouTube videos by clicking “View on YouTube” in the bottom right hand corner of the viewer.
Nascimento Mariana – with Dr Priscila Ribeiro Huguet
Frank Breech Home Birth – Spinning Babies Blog, with Gail Tully
The Breech Home Birth of Annaka Faith
Thank you to the very brave and generous mothers, fathers, midwives and doctors who have shared these videos so that others can learn about breech birth.
If you have posted a video of your breech birth, and would like to share that with others, please do include a link in the comments below.
– Shawn
A fellow midwifery educator and consultant midwife wrote to me of her shock at how hard it is to find completely hands-off videos of breech births. I agree, it is hard! But not impossible, as you can see especially in the first few linked above.
When I have similar emotional reactions (which I do), I try to understand why I felt that way, and move past it to a position of scientific curiosity.
Why do practitioners feel the need to become hands-on? In some of the videos above, there are signs that intervention is required. In others, it seems to be either nerves, inexperience, or a different practice tradition in which some practitioners operate. So I ask myself and my students: How would I react in a similar situation? How would I check my own reaction? How would I like my inner coach to “talk me through it” if I am confronted with a similar situation? How would I (calmly and quietly) support a novice attending any of these births? What would s/he need from me to act in the most beneficial and least harmful way?
How can I know which babies need help and which don’t? In some of the videos, the hands don’t seem to make much difference, but the progress and the mechanism is clear with each contraction. The birth carries on despite interference. By concentrating on the birth and how it is progressing, rather than critiquing the attendant’s performance, we can build up an impression of what is normal for breech. Then, when in a similar situation, we can reassure ourselves that all is progressing normally and no interference is needed, or we can determine that help is needed and intervene decisively in the most appropriate way.
We cannot avoid intervention in some breech births. Gerhard Bogner’s research indicated that 1:3 babies needed some sort of assistance when women were in the all fours position. We just need better ways of developing the skills required to know when it is needed and when it is not.
Shawn
Hello, is there any other opportunity to watch posted here videos? Cause there aren’t available or are cancalled. Will be gratefull. Regards.
Hi Paulina — yes, this is a very old blog, and unfortunately things change. We have loads of videos available through our on-line training, but we only post a few publicly when women definitely want to share in that way. https://breechbirth.org.uk/the-training/courses/