ANSWER “How do babies get stuck in labor? A true shoulder dystocia is when the baby’s shoulder, the bony prominence is stuck up behind the mother’s pubic bone. That wedge has to be resolved in order for the baby to pass under the pubic bone and be born. That’s what the practitioner has to do in the shoulder dystocia. A shoulder dystocia is a very rare clinical emergency and it is important that a healthcare provider has experience and understand how to resolve it, but it’s not something that occurs very often and what is important is that if the mother is unmedicated and allowed to choose any birth position that she feels is most beneficial, it’s least likely to happen.”
