{"id":3585,"date":"2017-01-30T23:58:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T23:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/?p=3585"},"modified":"2017-01-30T23:58:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T23:58:54","slug":"natural-pain-relief-options-for-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/2017\/01\/30\/natural-pain-relief-options-for-labour\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Pain Relief Options for Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Megan Crockart | Nutritionist<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought I would share a personal experience and give some insight into what natural pain relief options I tried in labour.\u00a0 I gave birth to my baby boy Thomas just over 10 months ago and I used a variety of natural pain relief options during my labour.\u00a0 I had hoped for a completely drug free labour, but due to some minor complications, I did resort to pharmaceuticals about 20 hours into the labour.\u00a0 But here is what I used leading up to that point and post birth:<\/p>\n

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Acupressure\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\"Pregnancy<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to say using certain acupressure points did help for most of my labour.\u00a0 My amazing husband put pressure on these points for a number of non-stop hours (but did have some down time thanks to the trainee midwife who shared some of this).\u00a0 I have to give credit to Acupuncturist Bob Wong<\/a>, who I saw leading up to my labour as during these acupuncture sessions, he taught me these techniques to teach my husband.<\/p>\n

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Massage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This was another thing that really helped.\u00a0 And of course my husband was the one who massaged me in between pressing on the acupuncture points.\u00a0 Also with the help of the midwives.\u00a0 Definitely make sure you have a good support person by your side to help with the physical modalities.<\/p>\n

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Homeopathy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I have seen a homeopath for some years and I decided to use a homeopathic labour and birthing kit which contains a number of remedies suitable for different aspects of labour.\u00a0 I put some of these in a water bottle and sipped on it throughout the labour.\u00a0 This kit is designed to be started before your due date and also after birth.\u00a0 I believe I recovered quite well due to taking some of these remedies.\u00a0 Arnica would have to be my favourite homeopathic!<\/p>\n

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Nutrition\/Herbs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As a nutritionist, I made sure that during my whole pregnancy I was having nutrient rich foods and taking certain supplements.\u00a0 Magnesium is a supplement that certainly helps with labour and after birth.\u00a0 After the birth I was taking turmeric and fish oil for the anti-inflammatory properties and found that magnesium and turmeric really helped managed after birth pain.\u00a0 Also post birth vitamin C and silica are good to help repair connective tissue.<\/p>\n

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\"Easy<\/a><\/p>\n

TENS<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is a fantastic machine!\u00a0 I highly recommend hiring a labour TENS machine.\u00a0 It\u2019s well worth it in my opinion.\u00a0 I wore this nearly the entire labour (up until I needed an epidural to take over after 20 hours).\u00a0 The only downside is it couldn\u2019t go in the water, so it has to be taken off if going in the shower or the bath.<\/p>\n

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Hypnobirthing\/Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I decided leading up to my labour to learn about this.\u00a0 So I saw hypnotherapist Katina Gleeson<\/a>, who taught me how to do this.\u00a0 I certainly used the techniques she taught me during the labour and really tried to zone out with hypnotherapy\/meditation as much as possible.\u00a0 I have to admit I was listening to her meditation CD when my water\u2019s broke.<\/p>\n

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Hydrotherapy<\/strong>\"Hydrotherapy\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

This was one of the most effective pain relievers at the time.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to get into the bath, but I sat on a fit ball for about 2 hours under the shower.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t have come out, but I was starting to shrivel up and dehydrate.<\/p>\n

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Relaxation Music<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This was helpful for a short period of time.\u00a0 I had my favourite relaxation CD playing.\u00a0 The downside was after about the 20th<\/sup> repetition and the increase in contractions and pain, it became annoying rather than soothing.\u00a0 Unfortunately I can no longer listen to this CD as it transports me back to when my pain was at its worst (when the CD was turned off).<\/p>\n

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There are many options and it\u2019s worth trying different things to see what suits you in labour.\u00a0 My greatest advice is don\u2019t get stuck on what you want to happen in your birthing experience, but be open to anything.\u00a0 You really don\u2019t know how you are going to feel at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/a><\/p>\n

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Contact Megan<\/a> who is a qualified nutritionist specialising in pre-pregnancy planning, pregnancy advice, breastfeeding advice etc.\u00a0 Contact her on megan@balancingnutrition.com.au for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan Crockart | Nutritionist I thought I would share a personal experience and give some insight into what natural pain relief options I tried in labour.\u00a0 I gave birth to my baby boy Thomas just over 10 months ago … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[941,940,450,943,942,944,939,946,948,945,947],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3585"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3604,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585\/revisions\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vivehealth.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}