Title: Baby is lying sideways
Course: Antenatal Care Part 1 - Ethiopia (Full)

Baby is lying sideways

Sideways babies cannot fit through the mother's pelvis to be born (Figure 11.13). If you try to deliver the baby without surgery, the mother's uterus will rupture during labour, and she and the baby will die without medical care. If the baby turns head down at any time — even on the day the mother goes into labour — it is OK for her to give birth at home or at the Health Post.

A baby lying sideways must be delivered by caesarean surgery in a hospital. Do not attempt to turn a sideways baby by hand. This is just as dangerous as trying to turn a breech baby, and should be done only by a doctor in a hospital.

Figure 11.13 If the baby is lying sideways (transverse lie) by eight months, you should make arrangements for a hospital birth by caesarean surgery.