How Often Does This Actually Happen?

This almost happened with my daughter. I was having a hard time and she was delivering face up and the dr said her shoulders were stuck and may break when she came out. He used his hands to maneuver her and help her out and her shoulders did not break. I have heard of it happening to other people before

It is very common. My 1st born son had a broken collar bone. We did not know it until it had healed up. He was a very fussy baby for awhile this could have been why. Now you would never know.

My son had shoulder dystocia and it was rectified quickly (though painfully for me) with the hands and knees position. It's like pushing another head out, the babies shoulders do not just "slip out" one at a time like they should, the baby's shoulders hunch in toward his sternum (like I said, NOT COMFY!), but it prevented any injury to my son. I can't imagine the typical ob/gyn that would know to do this, I have heard some horror stories. That birth was at home with a midwife, she was so strong for me, it would have been traumatizing if not for her and the other midwife present at my birth.
However, birth injuries DO happen, the most important thing is to trust your midwife/doctor. If you can't do that, find one you can.

Unfortunately yes this does happen a lot (it happened to my oldest nephew) and it's often the doctors fault because they are not properly trained in how to resolve a shoulder distocia (and has nothing to do with the size of a woman's hips but in the position most women are forced to labor and push in). Proper technique would be to flip a mother onto her hands and knees or into a squatting position to help open up the pelvic and allow the baby to pass. Most mom's are pushing on their back which actually reduces the pelvic opening by 20%. Once a baby is stuck the doctor gets scared and starts pulling on the neck and often break the clavicle to get the baby out fast. This can often result in a birth injury where the nerves are damaged in the neck and numbness can happen in the arm. A lot of the time the baby is fine though and it heals very, very quickly (6 weeks or less). Unfortently due to such a large number of mom's using epidural during delivery a position change is often out of the question (though even turning them onto their side would be better then on their back) so a better technique (and one that is taught to and practiced by midwives in a true stuck situation where a position change doesn't resolve the SD) is to hook two fingers under the shoulders and pull. This prevents the neck injury and still get the baby out. My OB used this technique when I found myself in the hospital for my last birth stuck pushing on my back (the doctor put me there to help hold a cervical lip back so I could start pushing and I didn't have the the mental capability to think that I needed to change positions in the middle of pushing because I was so caught up in the moment) and my son got stuck.The doctor only used one finger though so my son's arm broke (two fingers distributes the pressure over a larger area and greatly reduces the chance of this happening). It was pinned just as you described for your daughter and he was fighting the restraint my 5 weeks. You would never know that his arm was broken looking at him now at 14 months.

Updated

Unfortunately yes this does happen a lot (it happened to my oldest nephew) and it's often the doctors fault because they are not properly trained in how to resolve a shoulder distocia. Proper technique would be to flip a mother onto her hands and knees or into a squatting position to help open up the pelvic and allow the baby to pass. Most mom's are pushing on their back which actually reduces the pelvic opening by 20%. Once a baby is stuck the doctor gets scared and starts pulling on the neck and often break the clavicle to get the baby out fast. This can often result in a birth injury where the nerves are damaged in the neck and numbness can happen in the arm. A lot of the time the baby is fine though and it heals very, very quickly (6 weeks or less). Unfortently due to such a large number of mom's using epidural during delivery a position change is often out of the question (though even turning them onto their side would be better then on their back) so a better technique (and one that is taught to and practiced by midwives in a true stuck situation where a position change doesn't resolve the SD) is to hook two fingers under the shoulders and pull. This prevents the neck injury and still get the baby out. My OB used this technique when I found myself in the hospital for my last birth stuck pushing on my back (the doctor put me there to help hold a cervical lip back so I could start pushing and I didn't have the the mental capability to think that I needed to change positions in the middle of pushing because I was so caught up in the moment) and my son got stuck.The doctor only used one finger though so my son's arm broke (two fingers distributes the pressure over a larger area and greatly reduces the chance of this happening). It was pinned just as you described for your daughter and he was fighting the restraint my 5 weeks. You would never know that his arm was broken looking at him now at 14 months.

I should add that the reason that a child has no issue with a bone break, as long as their is no nerve damage, is because their bones grow so much that by the time they are adults the bone that was broken will have become the marrow inside the adult bone.

Shoulder dystocia - - I wish OBs were more versed in how to make sure this doesn't happen. With OBs, the incidence is much higher than you'd expect. Midwives - who know what positions to move into, how to use gravity and their hands better - - it's almost unheard of newborn's bones breaking.

It happens as often as a woman with slim hips gives birth to a whopper ;) If babys head is already engaged in the birth canal, they can't do a c-section (they CAN but it's extremely risky)... If you're a small person by nature, the doctors have no reason to believe that you're going to have a huge baby... ultrasounds can be off by a pound either way, and that's a lot when you're thinking of a little thing that's only a few pounds to begin with. Babys bones are extremely soft and heal marvelously... I think your daughter will live without any permenant side effects. I've broken tons of bones myself, and only one bothers me on a pretty regular basis (but only because it's been broken THREE TIMES!!).... just call me 'Grace' ;)

When it happens, a clavicle break is often done by the doctor -- ON PURPOSE. When big babies get stuck and have already dropped past the point of no return, the doctor will gently pop the bone so that the shoulders can collapse to a more narrow fit.

I have a friend whose baby broke his collar bone during delivery - she had 3 more kids after that with no problem.....I think it just sometimes happens! He is fine now, and you would never even know that it happened ~ Good Luck, I am sure that must seem really awful right now, but you will get past it! Babies heal super fast! My son had open heart surgery when he was 3 years old, and was up and running around the hospital 3 days later!!! It's amazing!

This happened to my nephew 2....

It is quite common, I know a few friends who children had this happen and my son was lucky to not have t his happen. Instead of him I suffered from his shouldier dystocia. Still healing 4 years later from the tearing and contimplating having reconstructive surgery! usually they heal with no issues.

It's not terribly common, but it's common enough to be "not unheard of." Shoulder dystocia happens in I think something like 1% of births, and most of those are fairly quickly and easily resolved without breaking the baby's clavicle (or anything else), so the incidence of a baby breaking a bone during birth is probably less than 1/1000. The good news is, babies heal very quickly.

I've heard of it much more than you think, especially with larger babies and smaller-framed moms. She'll be fine. Babies heal super fast :)

This is VERY common. glad shes doing well!

It happens in 2% of US births according to the Canadian government.
https://infantbrace.com/

I'm not sure, but I know in my lamaze type labor/delivery classes they talked about it. Even without all the extra complications of the preecclampsia or pic drip or anything else. In a normal, natural, unmedicated uncomplicated birth (well, uncomplicated except for the shoulder getting hung up) it can happen, and really there isn't any "treatment" for it. They usually heal just fine, and quickly.

My brother's clavicle was broken when he was delivered. They treated it the same way they treated your daughters as not much else can be done. He is now 34 and you'd never know it had happened.

I had "Shoulder dystocia" with our 2nd...... The midwife yelled for the doc (he had stepped out of the room to get some air) and the doc and one other nurse had to push REALLY hard on certain spots of my stomach to get him out. VERY SCARY! It took a couple minutes to get him out and then they had to do CPR on him. (No heartbeat/breathing.) They got him out without breaking his clavicles but it was a scary situation. They told me that it only happens 1 to 2 times per year at that hospital...... God was watching over us though. After they sent him by ambulance to another hospital with a NICU (they thought he had brain damage...was moaning...wouldn't move one arm....wouldn't nurse....etc.), he snapped out of it and was PERFECT! He is a wonderful healthy 3 1/2 year old!

I had two cousins from the same Aunt that had broken collar bones during delivery. It happens more than we talk about I guess. Both boys grew up with no problems tho....