Natural pain relief-Breathing as a labour pain reliever

Each woman and each medical practitioner has a different story about labour. One thing that, however, remains constant is the labour pain. How you prefer to have your baby matters less; the pain, you will still feel. While some mothers would opt for drugs to relieve themselves of the pain, a good portion of us choose to do it natural embracing natural pain relief techniques which include breathing.

How then does breathing ease your pain during labour? First, you must understand that breathing requires your active participation. You need to learn the techniques well to feel the relief. When you are relaxed, you breathe slowly and better than when you are tense.

How does breathing work?
The theory of childbirth breathing is based on the concentration of your inhaling and exhaling. If you do this effectively as you contract, your thought process is redirected from the tension in your womb that causes you to hold your breath, to the relaxed breathing. Remember, this does not happen in a jiffy. It requires a lot of practice at least before the onset of labour. You will also need to allow your body to completely relax and work with the contractions you feel.

Nonetheless, there is no right or wrong or text book approach to the pain relieving breathing. Your style of breathing should be your own masterpiece. The techniques available in medical practice are only guidelines that you could adopt depending on how comfortable it feels for you. The key is to have the breathing feel natural, relaxed and even .

As you breathe, you should be able to practice two features: a cleansing breath and a focal point. The cleansing breath focuses on the contraction. Here you to take a deep, exaggerated breath by breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

This will:

• Allow for more oxygen to your baby through the contraction
• Alert you when a contraction is beginning so that you can begin breathing, focusing and relaxing. On the other hand, the focal point will improve your relaxation and increase your concentration as you contract. You could identify a focal point like your partner’s eyes, the forthcoming baby or an object in the room to enhance your concentration and eliminate distractions. Always bear in mind that you need to give yourself an opportunity to breathe easily and evenly.

Breathing techniques
According to Oxford University’s Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth Handbook:

Think of the two syllables in the word ‘relax’. These are ‘re’ and ‘lax’. As you breath in, think ‘re’ to yourself, and as you breath out, think ‘lax’. Focus on repeating the word in tune with your breathing. When breathing out, allow your body to let go of any tension you may be feeling.

• Try counting your breath. As you breathe in, slowly count 1,2,3,4 or even more depending on your com- fort ability and repeat the same when breathing out, but maybe up to three only such that you count more as you breath in and less when breathing out.
• Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Ensure you keep your sound soh as you sigh and breathe out. Some women may find it helpful to make some sounds on the out breath to keep you calm and avoid distracting other mothers. Sipping water in between the breaths will help prevent your mouth from drying.

You could do with help from:

• Your birth partner, who will help you keep your breathing steady by co- breathing with you. You therefore need to be in eye contact with him/her and follow his/her pattern of breathing.
• Your midwife, who will encourage you to concentrate on breathing but pushing. Depending on your cervix dilation, she will advice you either to push or not to.
• Learning to become aware of your breathing during labour. You could do this by resting your hands on the lower abdomen and feel it move as you breathe. Concentrate on the increasing pressure under your hand as you breathe.

END: PG 36 /40