Australia's mothers and babies

Presentation refers to the anatomical part of the baby that is facing down the birth canal at birth.

The ideal presentation is when the baby is head first with their chin tucked to their chest (vertex presentation), which results in the smallest head circumference (Makajeva and Ashraf 2023). Babies in a breech presentation (buttocks or feet first) can have an increased risk of trauma during birth or lack of oxygen (RANZCOG 2022).

Whilst vaginal breech birth can be a safe option, many mothers with babies in a breech presentation are recommended to give birth by caesarean section (RANZCOG 2022).

In 2022, more than 9 in 10 (94%) women gave birth to babies in a vertex presentation.

Figure 1 presents data on baby presentation for women who gave birth, by selected maternal characteristics, for 2022. Select the trend button to see how data has changed over a 13-year period (where available).

Figure 1: Proportion of women who gave birth, by presentation and selected topic

Less than 1 in 20 (4.2%) mothers had a baby in the breech position. A higher proportion of mothers aged 40 and over (6.2%) had babies in a breech presentation than did younger mothers (for example, 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively, for both mothers aged under 20 and those aged 20–24).

Only 0.7% of mothers who had a baby in the breech position had a non-instrumental vaginal birth, compared with 9.7% of mothers who had a caesarean section.

Women who had a multiple birth were more likely to have a baby in a breech presentation (22%, compared with 75% of mothers with a baby in the vertex presentation), based on the presentation of the first born baby.

For more information on presentation for babies see National Perinatal Data Collection annual update data table 2.34 and National Perinatal Data Collection annual update data visualisations table 3.7.

References

Makajeva J, Ashraf M (2023) Face and brow presentation, Treasure Island, Florida.

RANZCOG (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) (2022) Management of breech presentation, RANZCOG, accessed 04 June 2024.