How to Get a Baby to Move Through the Birth Canal

A woman’s body is naturally designed to grow a baby and give birth. You can prepare your body for a more comfortable pregnancy and easier birth through daily range of motion exercises, simple stretches and ligament relaxation techniques. These will help your baby be more aligned for labor and your body be more prepared for birth. 

During labor and delivery, a baby must rotate as it descends through the pelvis. The pelvis must flex for the baby to fit through. By focusing on body physiology before force, we can help the pelvis flex and assist the baby to rotate and naturally move through the birth canal. 

• TOP OF PELVIS GOAL (Engage Head): at the beginning of labor, the baby is at the top of the pelvis. Physiological movements like the jiggle, forward-leaning inversion, and side-lying release balances your body and makes room for the baby. After body balancing, engaging techniques like the posterior pelvic tilt, abdominal lift and tuck, or variation of Walcher’s will help engage the baby in the pelvis. 
• MIDPELVIS GOAL (Rotate Baby): the baby must rotate to fit through. Movements that help make space in the midpelvis include lunges, an exaggerated side-lying using a peanut ball, the forward-leaning inversion and the jiggle to help relax the pelvic floor. 
• BOTTOM OF PELVIS GOAL (Descend): movements focus on opening the pelvic outlet both front-to-back and side-to-side. Anterior pelvic tilts, internal femur rotation, standing, squatting, kneeling, doing a kneeling lunge, or lying on your side opens the lower pelvis so the baby may come out. Our obstetrics team is trained in these techniques from Spinning Babies to focus on physiology before force. All techniques can be modified to personal preferences or to perform with an epidural. The techniques can benefit all birthing persons no matter their birth plan.