Mauriceau–Smellie–Veit maneuver or Mauriceau maneuver (named after

François Mauriceau François Mauriceau (1637 – 17 October 1709) was a French obstetrician. __TOC__ Life Born in Paris, he received his training in obstetrics at the Hôtel-Dieu. He was a leading obstetrician in 17th-century Europe — in 1668 he published, ...

, William Smellie and

Gustav Veit Aloys Constantin Conrad Gustav Veit (June 3, 1824 – April 20, 1903) was a German gynecologist and obstetrician who was a native of Leobschütz. He was the father of gynecologist Johann Veit (1852–1917). In 1848 he received his medical doctora ...

) is an

obstetric Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

or emergent medical maneuver utilized in cases of

breech delivery A breech birth is when a baby is born bottom first instead of head first, as is normal. Around 3–5% of pregnant women at term (37–40 weeks pregnant) have a breech baby. Due to their higher than average rate of possible complications for the ...

. This procedure entails suprapubic pressure by one obstetrician on the mother/uterus, while another obstetrician inserts left hand in vagina, palpating the fetal maxilla using the index and middle finger and gently pressing on the maxilla, bringing the neck to a moderate flexion. The left hand's palm should rest against the fetus' chest, while the right hand can grab either shoulder of the fetus and pull in the direction of the fetus' pelvis. The combined neck flexion, traction on the fetus toward the hip/pelvis, and the suprapubic pressure on the mother/uterus allows for delivery of the head of a breech infant, granted prior breech delivery steps are followed and the infant's occipitus is rotated/facing anteriorly relative to the mother.

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