Webinar Wednesday 19 November 2025, Microsoft Teams
Vaginal breech birth (VBB), where a baby is born bottom or feet first, is becoming increasingly accepted as a safe option for some women when supported by skilled professionals. However, there’s still uncertainty about what happens if labour needs to be started or “induced.” Because there isn’t much evidence about the risks and benefits of induction of labour (IOL) for breech babies, many clinicians remain cautious. This can limit women’s choices and could potentially lead to some women making unsafe decisions, especially when birth needs to be brought forward for medical reasons.
This webinar will share findings from a recent systematic review which looked at what is currently known about the safety of inducing labour for women with a breech baby at term. It compared outcomes with:
- Women who went into labour spontaneously
- Women who had a planned caesarean when earlier birth was advised
- Women with a head-down (cephalic) baby who had labour induced
I’ll share what the research tells us, and where the gaps still are.
We’ll open the conversation to explore what further research is needed, and how both women and professionals can work together to shape safer, more informed choices for breech birth in the future.
The term “women” is used here in relation to biological sex. We recognise and respect that people of diverse gender identities also give birth, and we aim to include and welcome everyone with lived experience of pregnancy and birth in this discussion.
Everyone is welcome, whether you’re a parent, birth worker, midwife, obstetrician, researcher, or simply interested in supporting informed decision making in maternity care.
Amy Meadowcroft, Breech Specialist Midwife, NIHR Pre-doctoral clinical fellow, Oldham
We will also discuss induction of labour for planned vaginal breech birth in our upcoming half-day study day on 21st November, also available via subscription to our OptiBreech Webinars series.
OptiBreech 