Belly Mapping

Belly Mapping is a helpful tool to tell where baby is sitting in the final months of pregnancy. It is not diagnostic, and can't tell you with certainty how your labor will go, but it gives great insight and is a fun and empowering activity!

How to:

1. Tune into baby's movement throughout the day. Where do you feel kicks? This is most likely where the feet are! Where do you feel "flutters"? This is may be where the arms are!

2. Lay down on your back, with your abdominal muscles relaxed as possible. Use the pads of your fingers, not the very tips. Press slow and steady until you feel baby’s contours.

3. Follow the contours and notice when they change direction, or you feel a bulge, such as when your fingers “walk” from the baby’s back over the hip to the little bum, like coming around a round corner.

The smooth back is across from the limbs. It's felt as a "firmness". If baby isn’t directly facing back or front, but faces a side, you’ll feel a smooth, hard side and a softer, lumpier side.

If everything feels lumpy, consider you might be feeling limbs that are close together.

4. Draw a circle and make your map! Match head to firm head, match bum to bulge, match feet to kicks and match back to the firm side.

Don't feel wiggles in the front? Turn the back forward on your map.

5. Assign a label for the position.

The first letter in a three-letter label stands for which side of the mother the back of baby’s head is along, left (L) or right (R). The second letter in a trio, or first in a two-letter label, is the baby part, which is O for occiput (the back of the baby’s head) for a head down baby. The last letter is A for Anterior (front), T for Transverse or P for Posterior (back).

If baby is not head down, other positions include Frank or Footling Breech and Transverse lie. If you believe your baby may be in one of these positions at 36 weeks gestation or later, it is important to consult with your birth team as soon as possible.