Birth Positions for a More Aligned, Supported Labor

Inspired by Spinning Babies® | Adapted for your real, intuitive body

Every labor unfolds differently — and your body holds ancient wisdom. When we combine that with tools from Spinning Babies, biomechanics, and your nervous system’s signals, we create space for your baby to move and your body to open.

💫 Why Movement Matters

Modern birth too often encourages stillness — but movement is medicine. Gentle shifts in posture can:

• Encourage a more optimal fetal position
• Relieve back or hip pain
• Open different parts of the pelvis
• Support a shorter, smoother labor

As your doula, I bring in these positions with a grounded, trauma-informed lens — never forceful, always supportive.

🕊 Early Labor

• Side Lunges (with chair or partner): Creates space on one side of the pelvis to help baby enter the brim.
• Standing Sacral Rocks: Hands against a wall or bed, gently rock hips forward and back.
• Open-Knee Chest Rest: Relieves uterine ligament tension; grounding posture for anxiety or overthinking.
• Stair Stepping: Use stairs or a curb to walk one foot higher than the other — this asymmetry can encourage engagement.
• Rebozo Belly Sifting: A gentle abdominal jiggle (with cloth or scarf) to relax abdominal muscles and soothe nerves.

🌿 Active Labor

• All Fours (Hands & Knees): Opens the pelvic inlet, especially helpful for back labor.
• Birth Ball Hip Circles: Smooth, slow circles to soften pelvic ligaments and help baby rotate.
• Side-Lying Release: A Spinning Babies technique used with support — helps release muscle tension and reset pelvic alignment.
• Standing Asymmetrical Sway: One foot elevated, slow hip swaying — very helpful for babies stuck in a certain position.
• Sitting on Toilet: Encourages spontaneous urge to bear down, relaxes the pelvic floor without pressure.

⬇️ Transition & Pushing

• Exaggerated Side-Lying: With pillows between the legs — ideal for birthers who need rest while baby moves down.
• Kneeling with Upper Body Support: Lean forward onto birth ball or bed — gravity + relief for tailbone pressure.
• Supported Squat: May be done with partner or squatting bar. Opens pelvic outlet and encourages fetal descent.
• Blow Through & Rest Positions: Calming positions that reduce adrenaline spikes and honor rest between contractions.

✨ Posture Meets Nervous System

This isn’t just about “getting baby in position.” It’s about *your body feeling safe enough to open*. We use each of these movements as invitations — not demands — based on your energy, emotions, and unfolding labor rhythm.

Feeling overwhelmed? Stuck? Exhausted? That tells us what to try next. Not from a script, but from a partnership with your body’s cues.