Have you ever wondered what position your baby is in inside the womb? It’s a fascinating window into the mysterious and miraculous world of pregnancy, and there are lots of fun facts to learn about it. While all babies take different paths, there are some general patterns that most babies go through as they develop, and this article will explore them!
We’ll look at the baby positions in the womb week by week and what to expect during each trimester of pregnancy. From the fetal age when babies begin to move around to signs that indicate a breech presentation, we’ve got you covered on all things related to baby positions in womb development.
We’ll start with a brief overview of the different positions that babies can take in the womb. Most babies will be either in a head-down position or a breech presentation. These are the most common positions and are generally considered to be normal. Other less common positions include transverse lie, oblique lie, and compound presentation. Each of these has its own unique characteristics, so it’s important to discuss them with your doctor or midwife if you’re concerned about your baby’s position.
Finally, we’ll discuss signs that indicate your baby is in a breech presentation. A baby is considered to be breech if their feet or bottom are positioned closest to the cervix instead of their head. If this is the case for you, read on to this article to know more about baby positions in the womb week by week.
Baby’s Position In The Womb Week By Week
As your baby grows, they will start to move around in your womb. Here is a week-by-week guide to what position your baby is likely to be in:
Week 1: At this stage, your baby is nothing more than a cluster of cells. These cells begin to divide and grow rapidly, forming a hollow ball of cells called a blastocyst. The blastocyst implants into the lining of your uterus, where it will continue to grow and develop over the coming weeks.
Week 2: Your baby’s heart begins to beat and their neural tube starts to form. This tube will eventually become their spinal cord and brain.
Week 3: By the end of this week, all of your baby’s major organs will have begun to develop. This includes their liver, kidneys and lungs. Your baby’s heart will also be fully formed and beating steadily.
Week 4: Your baby’s limbs begin to grow and they start to move around inside the womb. You may even be able to feel them kicking!
Week 5: By this stage, your baby’s fingers and toes are fully formed and they continue to grow rapidly, reaching around 10mm in length. Their bones are also beginning to harden.
Week 6: Your baby’s eyes start to form this week and their intestines move from their umbilical cord into their abdomen. They can now swallow small amounts of amn.
Week 8: Your baby will be about the size of a kidney bean and is starting to move around. They may be moving their head and body, but their limbs are still tucked in close to their body.
Week 10: At this stage, your baby is about the size of a prune. They will be curled up in a fetal position and will be too small to move around much.
Week 8: Your baby will be about the size of a kidney bean and is starting to move around. They may be moving their head and body, but their limbs are still tucked in close to their body.
Week 12: Your baby is now about the size of a lime and is starting to stretch out. They may be moving their arms and legs more now and you may even feel them hiccup!
Week 16: Your baby is now about the size of an avocado and is continuing to grow and move around. Their limbs are now fully developed and they may even be able to suck their thumb!
Week 20: Your baby is now about the size of a small cantaloupe melon and is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. They are very active now, moving around frequently. You may even feel them kicking!
Week 24: Your baby is now about the size of a large grapefruit and is getting ready to enter the world! They are typically head down at this point, but they may still move around until closer to labor.
Week 20: By now your baby has grown significantly and can start to move around. They will be in the head-down position, which is the ideal position for delivery.
Week 30: At this stage, your baby is likely to stay in the head-down position, although they may also switch between lying on their back or side as well as twisting their body around.
Week 37: As you approach your due date, your baby should be firmly fixed in the head-down position ready for delivery.
Different Baby Positions During Pregnancy
The implications of each fetal position for your pregnancy and delivery will vary. Babies frequently change positions throughout pregnancy, so the position they adopt during the first trimester might not be the same as the position they adopt on the expected day of delivery.
Providing your baby with the best possible start in life begins with ensuring they are in the optimum position for birth. Here is a guide to help you understand what positions your baby may adopt in the womb week by week.
Anterior
Also referred to as occipto-anterior or cephalic presentation. In this position, the baby’s head is towards the cervix while their head is facing your back and and their chin is tuck into their chest. Around the 33 to 36-week mark, most babies settle into the head-down position. This is the preferred and safest position to deliver a baby.
Posterior
Also referred to as occipto-posterior position. The baby’s head is also towards the cervix but their face is facing the stomach. One-tenth to one-third of babies are in this position during the first stage of labor. Before birth, the majority of these infants will turn themselves naturally to face in the proper direction.
The infant does not rotate in many instances, though. Your likelihood of enduring prolonged labor and back pain increases if your baby is in this position. In order to lessen the discomfort during labor, an epidural may be administered.
Transverse Lie
This is an extremely rare baby position where they are lying horizontally during pregnancy. Most babies will turn their heads downward before their due date. If not, cesarean delivery will be necessary for newborns in this position.
Oblique Lie
When the infant’s head is pointing toward the mother’s hip, the infant is in an oblique position. The baby’s head and body are diagonal, not horizontal or vertical. There is no specific body part pressing up against the cervix.
Breech
Unlike the anterior and posterior position in which the baby is head-down, a breech baby is in an upright position where their feet or buttocks is toward the cervix. Read along as we dive on the variations in breech position.
Breech Position
As your baby grows, they will start to assume different positions in your womb. By the end of pregnancy, most babies will be in a head-down position, ready for delivery. However, some babies remain in a breech position (bottom down) until close to the time of birth.
There are three main types of breech presentation:
Frank breech
Baby’s bottom is close to the mother’s cervix and their legs folded straight up against their chest in a pike position and their feet are closely placed near their head. Approximately 3-4% of babies are in this position at 37 weeks.
Complete breech
Baby’s bottom is near the mother’s cervix and their knees are bent with their feet near their bottom as if they are sitting tightly inside the uterus. About 1% of babies are in this position at 37 weeks gestation.
Footling breech
Also referred to as incomplete breech. Similar to complete breech, but one or both feet are pointing down towards the cervix rather than being tucked up next to the bottom. This is the least common type of breech presentation, occurring in about 0.5% of pregnancies at 37 weeks gestation.
Research says that it poses the highest risk of cord prolapse, happening to 15% of pregnancies in a footling breech.
What Is An Ideal Position?
There are generally two types of baby positions in the womb: vertex and breech. The ideal position for a baby at full term is the vertex, or head-down, position. In this position, the baby’s head is down near the mother’s pelvis, and the baby’s back is facing the mother’s spine. This allows for a more natural delivery and avoids complications that can occur with breech babies.
The breech position, where the baby’s bottom or feet are down near the mother’s pelvis, is not as ideal because it can cause difficulties during delivery. However, some babies do remain in the breech position until close to their due date and can still be delivered safely. If you’re unsure about your baby’s position, your healthcare provider can check via ultrasound.
Why Knowing Your Baby’s Position Is Important
If you’re pregnant, you may have heard that it’s important to know your baby’s position in the womb. There are a few reasons for this.
First, if you know your baby’s position, you can better plan for a vaginal delivery. Some positions make it more difficult for the baby to descend into the birth canal, so if you know your baby is in one of those positions, you and your provider can plan accordingly.
Second, knowing your baby’s position can help you and your provider understand why you may be experiencing certain symptoms. For example, if your baby is breech (bottom down), you may experience more back pain. If your baby is in a transverse lie (sideways), you may experience more round ligament pain as your body tries to adjust to accommodate the position.
Lastly, knowing your baby’s position can give you peace of mind. It can be reassuring to see that everything is progressing as it should be and that your little one is healthy and growing!
How To Find Out Your Baby’s Position
Around week 28 of pregnancy, most babies settle into a head-down position in the mother’s pelvis in preparation for birth. This is known as cephalic presentation. There are three ways to find out your baby’s position:
Consult Your Midwife Or Doctor
Ask your midwife or doctor to feel your abdomen. They will be able to tell you if your baby is head-down, breech (bottom first), or transverse (lying sideways).
Home Doppler Device
Use a home Doppler device to listen to your baby’s heartbeat. If you can hear the heartbeat high up in your tummy, this usually means the baby is head-down. If you can hear it lower down or towards the side, this usually means the baby is breech or transverse. The equipment typically runs on batteries and includes a probe to move across the growing uterus. You, your partner, a friend, or a family member can all hear your baby’s heartbeat using headphones so you might want to consider having this during your pregnancy!
Ultrasound Scan
An ultrasound scan can give you a good idea of how your baby is positioned, although it is not always possible to get a clear view because the position of the placenta can obscure the view of the baby. An ultrasound of a fetus can reveal the baby’s heart, head, spine, and other body parts for assessment. The evaluation could be done either in the vagina or the mother’s abdomen.
How To Reposition A Baby Inside A Womb
If your baby is found to be in a breech position during an ultrasound scan after 36 weeks, you may be offered a procedure called external cephalic version (ECV). An ECV is a way to reposition your baby inside the uterus. During ECV, your obstetrician will attempt to manually move your baby into a head-down position by applying pressure on your abdomen and manipulating the baby inside the womb. In some cases, your doctor may give you an intravenous medication that is administered through your veins to relax the muscles in your uterus. This entire procedure is completely safe so you don’t have to worry about the safety of your child as well as yourself.
This procedure is usually for pregnant women who would undergo a normal delivery without complications in both the mother and the baby. If you wish to do so, this should be done with a prior examination of clearance to undergo ECV.
ECV can be done for every woman who has normal delivery, however, there are some exceptions that should be looked upon that could. This procedure is not recommended if you have these complications during pregnancy:
- Vaginal bleeding in the previous days
- Abnormal fetal heart rate
- Conceiving a twin or triplet
- Unusual shape of uterus
- Low amount of amniotic fluid
- Placenta previa (placenta is near or covering the cervix)
This Might Help You Further
The development the baby inside your womb should never be compromised as it is one of the vital stages of your child’s growth. While maintaining good health and nutrition with a proper diet and right amount of physical activities, it is essential to monitor how well your baby is doing. We want all the best for our babies by practicing habits that could help them develop in the most healthy way possible. Optimally, we want to avoid any complications not only for ourselves but also for our babies. That is why we need to provide proper care and nutrition for them.
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It is made of natural nutrients, such as EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid) and DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid), as well as 23 different types of vegetables and 100% yeast-derived folic acid. It is also available in little tablets, which are very simple to swallow. It contains the following nutrients: Iron (20 mg), Calcium (250 mg), 13 vitamins (Vitamin C, Niacin, Folic Acid, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B, Vitamine B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Inositol, Beta Carotine, Biotin), and 14 minerals (Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Selenium, Molybdenum, and Iodine.
Women are allowed to take the supplement four times daily: after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner, and right before bed.
Summing It All Up
As you can see, baby’s positions in the womb vary depending on the different weeks of pregnancy. Knowing when and what position your baby is in helps prepare you for childbirth as well as provides comfort and assurance that everything is going smoothly with the development of your unborn child. We hope our article has helped give you an understanding of how babies move around in the uterus during various stages of pregnancy!
