No more: ‘Hands off the breech’

Abstract

This article explores recent research about physiological breech birth and implications for midwifery practice, challenging whether some ‘common understandings’ for breech births are evidence based. For example, ‘hands off the breech’, has been the golden rule, but how long is it safe to remain hands off? If you have only been taught supine manoeuvres, should you ask the woman to give birth on her back for her baby’s safety? The article ends with a call for developing more local midwife breech specialists, working with one voice alongside their obstetric colleagues.