Maternal Positioning is a term used for talking about the posture and positions women use in pregnancy and in labor for comfort and labor progress. The 2nd Principle of Spinning Babies is Gravity. Maternal positioning uses the 2nd Principle of Spinning Babies: Gravity.

Fetal Positioning is a term to talk about the baby’s position in the womb AND how maternal positioning influences the fetal position during pregnancy and birth.

Babies change position in the womb and during the birth process.

I do not believe fetal position changes are random. I believe several factors come together to effect the fetal position changes.

One of these factors is maternal position.

If a woman’s womb is relatively balanced, then getting into gravity-friendly positions during pregnancy can help a breech baby to flip head down

And can occasionally help a posterior baby to scoot over to the mother’s left side and face her right hip.

The contractions of labor may help a posterior rotate to an anterior position with time. But that time may be shortened when a woman uses gravity-friendly maternal positions.

Some helpful maternal positions in pregnancy are:

• Sitting with your hips higher than your knees
• Sitting with your back straight and your rib cage lifted off your middle
• Sitting on a firm exercise ball that allows your hips to be level with your knees or higher than your knees
• Laying with your navel aiming towards the bed, floor or couch/ sofa, if not directly on your belly, then so that eventually an imagined light-beam coming from your navel would eventually find the floor
• Brief forward-leaning inversions, once a day
• Squatting or supported squatting with your back flat against the wall and your knees bent (work gradually up to where you can squat with your feet flat on the floor for 2-5 minutes)
• Holding your shoulders back, yet relaxed, while you walk briskly

Some helpful maternal positions in labor are:

• All the same that are listed above, plus
• Standing and leaning forward with your knees “soft” (slightly bent)
• Standing and leaning back (straightening, even arching your back slightly)
• Standing and flattening your lower back against the wall while lifting your lower abdomen during the entire contraction (See Belly Lift)
• Kneeling
• Kneeling and leaning forward on a bed or chair or exercise ball (hands and knees)
• Kneeling and lifting your arms to grip a shawl or rope or bar above you
• Kneeling and resting your elbows on the mattress or floor in front of you
• Kneeling and resting your shoulders on the floor or mattress in front of you
• In the deep birth tub, kneeling in a way that stretches your knees far away from your hips, so that your thighs are at a diagonal and your knees are further from your belly than your hips. This opens your pubic bone away from your spine and lets a posterior baby drop into the pelvis (engage). Do this only in active labor after you’ve tried to help baby rotate to the Left occiput transverse and that hasn’t been able to happen for whatever reason.
• Sitting on a birth stool
• Lifting your arms to grip a shawl (Rebozo) and standing with your knees “soft” (slightly bent)

Adding your instinctual movements to these and other maternal positions is an excellent way to “tune in” to what your body needs to do to respond to your labor.

What positions to avoid resting in.

There are times in pregnancy and labor when it is perfectly OK to lie on your back. During an exam, rolling over, doing exercises and getting body work, for example. But when you are resting, its better not to be on your back for the purposes of fetal positioning. You may feel comfortable on your back in the first half of pregnancy. Towards the end of pregnancy your blood circulation will be better if you lay on your side than on your back. You can lay on your left or right as comfort directs you. Fetal positioning may be a concern of yours, however. For instance, you had a posterior labor previously or a cesarean for a long or stalling labor. Then, your resting position may matter as early as the end of the first trimester! 

For some women, good maternal positioning includes not sitting and leaning back against the birthing tub. Lay on your side in the birthing tub, but don’t semi sit if you have any history of a long or posterior labor, shoulder dystocia or are experiencing a long second stage (pushing). Most of the time the baby will come out fine anyway, but its best to avoid this position for any longer than 15 minutes and avoid being spine-down for birthing your first baby (first vaginal birth).

You can also lie on your right side. The directions to lie on your left side are not meant to be a prohibition against laying on your right side. You can favor your left, if your care providers suggest you lay on your left. But once in a while you need to roll over just to give your left shoulder some circulation! Somewhere, there is a woman who must lay in one particular position and will have to ignore this advice to do her care giver's advice. I acknowledge that and hope you do, too.

Conclusion:

• Maternal position alone is not usually enough to ensure a good fetal position by the time labor begins.
• Balance in the uterus and pelvis precedes the success of using maternal positioning for changing fetal position.
• Maternal positioning is Spinning Babies Principle 2: Gravity.