Preparing Your Body for Labour: How Exercise, Rest and Acupuncture Helps

As a patient recently shared at our Dublin acupuncture clinic, there’s a reason it’s called ‘labour’ and not a ‘walk in the park’.

While labour may be the shortest phase of pregnancy, it’s likely to be the most significant. However, it’s possible and easy for women to minimise the effort and pain of natural childbirth.

Labour typically begins when the body is ready and prepared. However, you can help nature along the way. Preparation should start before and throughout pregnancy, but especially in the last few weeks before your due date.

Here are a few tips and tricks:

Pelvic floor exercises: Delivering a baby involves a group of muscles called the pelvic floor muscles. Like most muscles, they can be strengthened through exercise. Pelvic floor exercises, such as kegels, help prepare your body to push your baby out. Contact us for a free guide.

Be healthy and rested: Before labour begins, aim to be as healthy and rested as possible. This means getting plenty of sleep (essential for stamina during a potentially long labour) and eating well. In the last few weeks of pregnancy, consider eating fresh pineapple for an enzyme that helps ripen the cervix for labour.

Acupressure for pain relief: During pre-birth acupuncture treatments at my clinic, I introduce women and their partners to easy-to-use and accessible acupressure points. These points can be applied by the woman or her partner to promote labour and alleviate pain.

Pre-birth acupuncture: Acupuncture once a week from around Week 34 until labour can help prepare the mother for childbirth. It reduces the time spent in labour and the rate of medical intervention. This gentle treatment aims to physically and emotionally prepare the body for the most efficient labour, help the baby assume a favourable position within the pelvis, and gradually soften and dilate the cervix.

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