Pre-birth acupuncture on a weekly basis from week 36 or 37 is particularly helpful in promoting a smooth transition into labour. Specific points are used to help ripen the cervix. Studies from New Zealand and Germany have shown a reduction of labour time for women who have had weekly treatments, and midwives also report reduced rates of intervention.
Teaching acupressure (direct pressure to a specific area) points to you and your birth partner can make a great difference to pain relief, intensity of contractions and efficiency of progress in labour. I suggest that birth partners come along to a session around 36 weeks.
After a difficult first experience of birth, treatment can support and prepare you for a different experience with your second baby
Adjusting to life with a newborn and tuning into her needs is challenging. It is a time of huge changes, physically, hormonally and emotionally. There are shifts in your relationship and on your lifestyle. It is likely to be the biggest change in your life so far, and may involve losses as well as joys. You may be inundated with advice, from family, friends and baby manuals. Feelings of uncertainly and lack of confidence are natural. You need time to adjust to your new role. And you are tired!
New mums need support. Unlike some cultures, we do not truly support, reassure and empower new mums, and a woman can feel under pressure to do too much too soon, to ‘get back onto shape’or to follow other people’s advice rather than her own instincts. Yet new mums usually intuitively know what nurtures them and their babies. It may be helpful to think of the first 3 months of your baby’s life as another trimester, when the focus is simply the well-being of you and your baby and adapting to life together. A little like learning to dance….. a totally unique experience of practising, tuning into each other, taking wrong steps, but gradually becoming a fluid and easy partnership.
Maintaining support for yourself during this time with acupuncture treatment will help you to recover and balance physically and emotionally. It can help to establish breast feeding and relieve some of the possible breast problems. I am happy to visit a new mother and baby at home for the first one or two treatments, from 4 or 5 days after birth.
Later, as your baby grows, prioritising occasional treatment for you will contribute to keeping you healthy and balanced. Your baby is always welcome with you, and you are welcome to feed in my room or in a specially equipped room at The Cotton Nappy Company shop directly below.
