If the baby is breech, is it always safer to have a caesarian or can they turn the baby for a safe vaginal birth?

C-sections are only used for emergency cases. I was a breech baby. I was turned in time and my mom had two other children later on, with no trouble.

DCMerkle

But isn't there a danger of the cord wrapping around the baby's neck if the baby is breech? Isn't it a more dangerous delivery? Or is that not true in all cases?

Lily, you are correct it is not true in all cases. I was a breech baby, my mother (me being her 3rd) decided to go home and bathe before going to the hospital (quite stubborn). By the time she ended up at the hospital, my father got her out of the car into the ER room, went back to park the car. At this time, the doctor is yelling at my mother for making him wait, it was too late to turn me, and they were worried (she was 36), I was born in 15 minutes and they had no time to give her any meds. I still feel bad for that. Research up on the subject, I will try to help if I can. Most of the time the doctors know before hand and will attempt a change of position if they feel it is absolutely necessary. :)

Wow thanks for that info Alexis! I know a couple of my friends had breech babies and were manually turned. I never heard anything about the cord being an issue. In your standard scenario that cord is coming out the belly and aiming to the feet. It shouldn't be in the neck area at all to be a consideration. Of course that's not always the case, but they constantly monitor baby during delivery, they'd catch it if something happened at that point.

mamasita , you are correct for most women it is not an issue, minus the pain of possibly not having any medicine. If they can turn the baby they will attempt it, but it depends how far down that baby has dropped before they can attempt a turn about. If they know the baby will for some reason or another (cord around neck, too much stress, etc.) they will opt for a direct ER C-section to be on the safe side. :)