Prenatal Acupuncture & Labour Preparation
& Encouraging Labour
PRENATAL ACUPUNCTURE
Conditions Commonly Treated With Acupuncture During Pregnancy
Treatment can be done at any time throughout the pregnancy to help alleviate symptoms pre existing or pregnancy induced. I highly recommend seeing a specialist.
• muscular pain • insomnia • headaches • anxiety
• constipation • fatigue • anemia • sinusitis
• pregnancy induced hypertension • oedema • heartburn
LABOUR PREPARATION
Acupuncture offers a safe and effective treatment to promote natural labour.
It has been studied and shown that with a few acupuncture treatments before labour, overall labour time was decreased, averaging from 8 hours down to 6 hours. More women had natural births with less medical interventions and had a quicker recovery time after birth.
A Chinese Medicine View
In Traditional Chinese Medicine we say "if the Qi is correct and if the blood is circulating well, labour is described as harmonious" Thus treatments before labour are aimed at helping to support the moms Qi and blood to help prepare her body for birth, with emphasis on preparing the cervix and the pelvis for labour. Alongside preparing the body for labour, any other conditions or concerns will be addressed and treated at this time, for example muscular pain, anemia, oedema, heartburn etc.
When to get treatment
It is recommended that you start your labour preparation Acupuncture at 36 weeks. 60 minute treatments are done weekly, with each week it will be decided what is best to work on, always modifying treatment to be specific to each individual. At 40 weeks, if baby hasn't decided to come, the treatment will shift more towards helping the encouragement of labour.
ENCOURAGING LABOUR
The day you've been planning your life around for the last 9 months comes, and it goes, and still no baby. What can you do to encourage things along?
There is a long list of things to do and activities you can try to help get your labour going. ACUPUNCTURE CAN HELP!
A Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment
Over the years it has been studied and shown that Acupuncture can influence cervical ripening and induction of labour. A point on the hand Li4 and a point located on the inner shin Sp6 used together in studies showed cervical ripening at term and shortened the time interval between the expected due date and the actual delivery time. Another main point to help the encouraging process is located on the low back in the second sacral foramen (hole) Bl32, when needled it affects the uterus to help get contractions going.
Acupuncture helps to encourage your body's own natural process so it is an effective gentle way to encourage the body into labour. If your body is not ready, it cannot force the process.
When to get treatment
Everyone is different but often the best time to start the encouraging treatments is close to your due date. It recommended women get labour preparation treatments done starting at 36 weeks, if you are receiving treatment already, depending on your body and your pregnancy, gentle encouraging may be done around the 39 weeks.
Once you've passed your due date, to help encourage more strongly, It is recommend to get encouraging 60 minute treatments 3 days in a row. When studied, this method has was found to be the most effective in helping to encourage labour.
Other Methods and Activities to Encourage
• sex, sperm stimulates the cervix, orgasm in the female releases oxytocin which is helpful to stimulate contractions
• nipple stimulation • pineapple core
• evening primrose oil, this is often started earlier to help ripen the cervix
• red raspberry leaf tea
• spicy foods • long walks/ stairs • dancing • castor oil
• acupressure encouraging points (you'll be given a handout and educated on how to locate these points during your visit)