Team Equilibrio just got back from a Spinning Babies seminar! Here we are with Gail Tully and the other Baby Spinners who drove up from San Diego. :) (that's Nicole in the front with Gail, and Allison and Marissa on the far right in the back).
What on earth is Spinning Babies?Spinning Babies was developed by midwife Gail Tully as a series of techniques for balancing the pelvis throughout pregnancy and finding optimal fetal positioning during childbirth. Because guess what? Fetal position matters and Mama's body and position can influence it. In fact, baby's position is not arbitrary. Babies get into the best position they can based on the space that is available to them. (more on how mama's alignment affects baby's alignment at nutritiousmovement.com)
Gail's work is part of a movement that is starting to shift the paradigm -- concerned much, much less with what's happening at the cervix (how many cm dilated are you?) and more concerned with baby's position.
The first principle of Spinning Babies is finding balance and symmetry in your body during pregnancy. Tension and misalignments in muscles, fascia and ligaments can place movement restrictions on the baby preventing her from getting into an ideal position -- this can delay the start of labor, slow down the progress of labor and cause less than optimal positioning (OP baby, even breech). The next principles are the use of gravity and movement in Mama's positioning to help the baby rotate and descend.
We are so excited to weave "spinning babies" into our work with our mamas!