When a baby drops, it simply means they are descending a little lower in your birth canal as delivery nears. Also called "lightening," because your baby's shifting position may make your upper abdomen feel a little lighter, this event happens close to your due date. But your baby can drop anywhere from a few weeks to a few hours before labor begins.

Read on to learn precisely what it means when your baby drops, how you can tell it has happened, and when labor may begin.

When Does a Baby Drop?

Dropping can occur as early as a few weeks before labor or as late as during the early stage of labor. Health care providers refer to a baby's position in the womb as their "fetal station," which corresponds to the position of your baby's head—or, if they are in a breech presentation, their butt or feet—in relation to your pelvis.

After your baby drops, a number of things happen:

• Engagement: The widest part of your baby's head has entered the pelvis.
• Descent: Your baby's head moves down (descends) further through your pelvis, usually during labor.
• Flexion: Your baby's chin tucks down towards their chest.
• Internal Rotation: The back of their head moves just below your pubic bone.
• Extension: The back of their head is in contact with your pubic bone.
• External Rotation: As your baby's head is delivered, it rotates a quarter turn to be in line with your body.
• Expulsion: After their head is delivered, their top shoulder is delivered, and then the rest of their body.
  

How Does It Feel When Your Baby Drops?

The word "drop" is kind of misleading: It suggests a sudden downward movement, but in fact a baby dropping typically is a gradual process. It is unlikely you'll feel your baby drop, but you may notice signs that it has happened.

Pregnant people have reported the following changes during lightening:

• Easier breathing: When a baby moves downward, it creates more room for the lungs to expand, so you may notice that you can breathe more freely.
• Your belly hangs lower: You may notice that there's more space between your breasts and the top of your baby bump.
• Pressure on your pelvis: When the baby drops, their head will rest more heavily on top of the cervix and will take up more space in the lower part of the birth canal. It may feel as if there's a bowling bowl between your legs and even cause you to walk oddly.
• The need to pee more often: The pressure of the baby's head in the pelvis can affect the bladder, causing you to feel as if you need to urinate a lot.
• The ability to eat more in one sitting: While high up in your uterus, your baby crowded your stomach, so you may have noticed that you felt full pretty quickly. When your baby drops, there will be more room for your stomach to fill up with food.
• Less heartburn: Minus the pressure on your stomach, you may notice relief from pregnancy-related heartburn.
• Increased discharge: The weight of the baby on the cervix may cause more mucus to be expelled from the vagina. This is sometimes experienced as a gob of discharge called the mucus plug.
  
• More Braxton-Hicks contractions: These may be stimulated by the pressure of the baby's head on the cervix.

How Soon Is Labor After a Baby Drops?

It could be anywhere from several weeks to several minutes for labor to begin once your baby starts their descent. If you go into labor before lightening occurs you may have a longer period of labor, since it will take some time for your baby to move into this important position before they progress further.

There are some things you can do to try to help your baby drop into your pelvis in preparation for labor. Talk to a health care provider about trying the following:

• Walking: Being upright and moving can work with gravity to help your baby settle in.
• Squats: These may widen your pelvis so that your baby can become engaged there. Do squats while holding onto a sturdy chair since your balance may be a bit off.
• Pelvic opening exercise: Sit with your legs open wide and lean forward to move the weight from your belly toward your pelvis. Don't fold your torso over your legs or go further than your range of motion.