There’s no need to learn any complicated breathing patterns for labour, but it can be useful to practise it during your pregnancy in preparation.
How deep breathing helps:
- It helps you relax
- It keeps your womb (and your baby) supplied with oxygen
- It gives you something to focus on other than the pain of the contractions
Breathing in first stage of labour
For first stage, all you really need to do is to keep your breathing as deep and as slow as you comfortably can.
Try this:
Either set a timer for 60 seconds or ask someone to time 60 seconds for you. This is to represent a contraction.
Get into a comfortable position. As your timing starts, take a deep breath in, then out, sighing it out with your lips parted. Then breathe slowly and deeply, into your abdomen, for the 60 seconds. Focus particularly on breathing out, with a relaxed mouth (keep your lips parted slightly), so that you make the out-breath last for as long as you can. At the end of the 60 seconds, take another deep breath out.
The purpose of the deep breath at the beginning of the 60 seconds – or at the beginning of a contraction – is to help you to relax, so that rather than tensing up against the contraction, you’re relaxing into it. The breath at the end is to blow that contraction away – phew, it’s gone, it’s one more contraction you’ll never have again, it’s one more contraction nearer to the birth of your baby. (When you’re in labour, try and remember that each contraction is a step nearer the birth of your baby, and is progress to be welcomed, rather than something unwelcome to be resisted.)
The purpose of focussing on the out-breath is to empty your lungs as much as you can, so that when you breathe in, you can take in lots of oxygen (your oxygen needs are greater during labour).
Try and practise this type of deep focussed breathing as often as you can. The more you practise it, the more effective it becomes.
Here are a few things to try that might help you to breathe deeply:
- Focus on an object in the room and breathe out towards it, as if you’re sending your breath across the room towards it
- Face your labour companion and breathe out towards him or her
- As you breathe out, go ‘mmm’ or ‘oooh’ or ‘aaah’ (you might feel a bit silly practising this, but it does help you slow your breathing down and it can be very calming)
When you might need to lighten your breathing
Contractions are like waves, building up slowly, reaching a peak, then tailing off. At the peak of a contraction, your womb rises slightly and pushes up on your diaphragm (the muscle between your chest and your abdomen). This means that your lungs get squashed up a bit too, so you may not be able to breathe quite so deeply. If you need to, it’s OK to lighten your breathing at the peak of a contraction, but remember to deepen it again as the contraction starts to fade. If you breathe too shallowly for too long, you may hyperventilate. (If that happens, cup your hands over your nose and mouth and breathe in the air you’ve breathed out until you stop feeling dizzy).
Breathing in second stage of labour
Remember that what’s happening in second stage is that your womb is contracting to gently ease your baby out of your body. There are two ways in which your breathing can help this process along:
- First, by breathing you help yourself to relax. This is important because in order for your baby to be born, your body needs to open up and it’s difficult for it to do this if you’re tense.
- Secondly, as you breathe out, your tummy muscles tighten and this gives a bit of extra help to the muscles of your womb.
Try this. Get into a comfortable (upright) position and rest your hands lightly on your tummy above your bump. Take a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. As you let the breath out, imagine that it’s going right down through your body, under your hands and out between your legs. Relax your pelvic floor as you breathe.
Try it again, and this time imagine that as your breath goes through your body, it’s helping to press your baby out (though don’t be tempted to make any kind of bearing down movements yet). In labour, some women find that it helps to think of breathing the baby out, rather than pushing him/her out.
How you breathe in second stage will depend to a large extent on the instinctive urges that you feel in your body at the time, so it’s a bit difficult to practise it beforehand. Here are a few suggestions that may help:
- Concentrate on taking slow even breaths out during contractions. You
may find that you feel an urge to push or bear down (though not all women do) which comes in surges or a peak during a contraction. If you do feel this, breathe with the surges, so that you’re breathing out during them - As you breathe out, think about your body opening up
- Avoid holding your breath and straining for a long time. This will make you exhausted, and will also reduce both your and your baby’s supply of oxygen
- Try and keep your mouth and throat relaxed – this will help you to relax your pelvic floor
- It’s OK to make a noise. You’ll probably find that you spontaneously grunt or moan (or yell or scream!) as you breathe out. This is perfectly normal. Don’t try and stop yourself, or you’ll tense up. Also, if you’re making a noise, you’re breathing out, and if you’re breathing out, your tummy muscles are tightening and helping the muscles of your womb
- Go with the flow. Your body wants to give birth to your baby. Let it. Trust your instincts and do what your body is telling you
It’s better for you and your baby if your baby’s head is born slowly and gently. One way of achieving this is as your baby’s head is being born to stop pushing or breathing deeply, and to pant instead. Your midwife will guide you, so listen to what she tells you about when to pant and when to give small gentle pushes.
Loading ...
