How to breathe during contractions and childbirth

Today we invite you to discuss how to breathe properly during contractions and attempts. In addition, in this article we focus on preparing for the birth process and exercises that will help get rid of pain during contractions.

Of course, the main attention will be paid specifically to breathing techniques used in the process of the birth of a child. They will become indispensable assistants in this difficult task. It is very important to know that at different stages of childbirth you need your own special technique. For example:

1. Deep breathing during the first contractions helps to avoid panic and save energy before childbirth.
2. Frequent intermittent breathing acts as an analgesic, this will help during the period when the contractions become stronger.
3. Particular attention should be paid to breathing during the busy period, because seventy percent of the effectiveness of the effort depends on proper breathing (take air in time, breathe out in a timely manner).

This is what you can learn if you carefully read the article and follow all the recommendations. It is also worth a good workout at home before going to the hospital.

Why do you need proper breathing?

We begin our fascinating and useful article by finding out why you need proper breathing. To understand how to breathe properly during contractions, you need to know the benefits of each type of breathing.

Absolutely all women should know how to give birth without pain. This will help us breathing techniques. But what is proper breathing? This is a whole range of exercises that help relax muscles and reduce pain (including during childbirth). In this matter, the pain threshold is completely irrelevant. All women, even during intense contractions, can control muscle relaxation.

So, the benefits of proper breathing in the birth process:

• good health of the woman in childbirth;
• child's health;
• fast delivery;
• the possibility of relaxation;
• distraction from pain;
• Avoidance of medication.

Deliverance from fear

So, from time immemorial, mothers passed their daughters parting words on how to behave properly during childbirth. These were just two tips:

1. Listen to your body and its desires.
2. Breathe properly.

About how to breathe properly during contractions, you should be told in detail and shown by specialists in the lessons of the motherhood school. Best of all, complexes of breathing exercises are owned by vocalists. Everyone who does not belong to this area, it is important to remember that when you exhale, the stomach should retract, and when you inhale - protrude. See, do not confuse.

So, this breath has many advantages:

• calming nerves;
• power saving;
• body muscle relaxation;
• help in the correct expulsion of the fetus (to avoid tearing).

Frequent deep breathing promotes hyperventilation of the lungs, this helps:

• wash CO2 from the blood;
• narrow the vessels of the brain;
• activate the subcortex.

As a result, ousting panic and feelings from consciousness.

It should be noted right away that you should not use this technique in everyday life, because it is necessary precisely in stressful situations (childbirth also applies here). If you have completed all the exercises, remembered how to breathe correctly, but you have doubts, sign up for pregnancy courses. They are practiced all over the world, there they will help you with breathing and postures that will be useful in the process of childbirth.

If you are planning a twin birth, then you should worry about this in advance. Your partner must also take courses. What is it for? Paired birth is a good example of how to breathe properly. The partner will help the woman in labor to restore proper breathing, because childbirth is stress for the body, and, as you know, at such moments everything “flies” from the head. If you do not have a partner, then try to focus on breathing as much as possible, this will significantly reduce pain during contractions.

Helping a child to be born

What do experienced obstetrician-gynecologists think about proper breathing? They argue that this not only simplifies the birth process, but also creates more comfortable conditions for the baby. After all, the baby is now very stressed. You will learn very soon how to breathe properly during contractions and push hard, and now a small parting word. If you do not feel sorry for yourself, then take pity on the baby. Improper breathing, holding it and screaming only exacerbate the situation. Wrong behavior of a woman during childbirth leads to a lot of consequences, such as:

• tearing of blood vessels in a child;
• lack of oxygen;
• squeezing the birth canal and so on.

The type of work on proper breathing is called Lamaze. This is due to the fact that the method of cooperation between obstetricians and expectant mothers was developed by Dr. Lamaz. This French specialist was engaged in psycho-prophylaxis with women in an “interesting” position. More precisely, he taught the correct breathing technique at different stages of labor. The basis of training is muscle control during contractions. What does it give? Focusing on breathing not only reduces pain, but also makes it possible to convince yourself that it is completely absent. So, the uterus during the contractions can relax.

In addition, Lamaz taught women not only proper breathing, but also responsibility. The expectant mother should at the time of birth be aware of how difficult her baby is. She should do everything possible to make it easier for her child. Proper breathing in this case is simply necessary, because the baby should receive a sufficient amount of oxygen.

Preparation for childbirth

So, now you will learn how to relieve pain, how to breathe correctly during labor and delivery. Women start to panic when strong contractions appear and the water has moved. Do not worry, listen to the advice of a doctor, focus on breathing.

After the water has gone and you are in the birth ward, you should prepare your body for the very last minutes before the birth of the baby. During contractions, mom needs to take a deep breath through her nose. Breathing at all stages of labor is different. It is important to remember that with the advancement of the birth process, the respiratory rate increases. Do not be lazy to breathe.

The most common mistake women make is laziness in the first bouts. They think that the fight is not strong, it will pass itself, and breathing exercises can not be performed yet. This is the wrong tactic, right now the moment of muscle training is being missed. Without breathing training during strong contractions, women begin to behave a little differently (than those who started exercises in the first contractions):

• screaming out loud;
• strain the body and so on.

And all this only increases the pain. With strong contractions, it is worth focusing on breathing as much as possible, a delay at the peak leads to the fact that breathing is lost, and the child begins to receive insufficient oxygen.

No panic

So, how to breathe properly during contractions, if mom is panicking? Experienced experts advise the following method: find the point of concentration. It can be absolutely any thing - a pen, watch, button and so on. From the very beginning of fights, focus your attention on this subject. This will certainly help. When a strong battle begins, focus your attention on this object, and the brain will already give the right signal to your body.

The main thing is to take a deep breath at the beginning of the bout, this will help to avoid loss of control over breathing, and rhythmic breathing should be continued until it becomes easier. When the fight receded, do not forget to breathe deeply and calmly.

Do not push until the doctor allows you to. When you received this signal, it is worth working exclusively with the diaphragm. Do not strain your eyes or forehead, this can lead to bad consequences. A scream during attempts to shorten the birth canal, which prevents the baby from moving along them. Push the baby with a diaphragm, exhale quickly, take a deep breath and repeat.

Exercises

How to breathe when fighting and trying? To do this, you need to perform a series of exercises. It is about them that will be discussed in this section of the article:

1. It is very important to take a comfortable pose for yourself. Everything is individual here. Perhaps you should lie on your side or stand on all fours. Some people prefer to lean on the wall and stretch along it (like a cat) and so on.
2. Once a comfortable posture is accepted, you are comfortable in it - take a deep breath. Once again, we recall that in this case, the stomach should protrude, and not be retracted. Next, exhale, while the abdomen returns to its original position. This exercise should be done ten times. It is necessary in order not to lose control of breathing and relax.
3. It is very important to start such a training (diaphragm) before you travel to the hospital. Then the analgesic effect will be much more powerful.
4. When the moment of the baby’s appearance becomes closer, contractions become more powerful and frequent - breathe faster. You can use the same technique. Do not be distracted, concentrate on breathing. Once again, we recall that the concentration point chosen in advance will help in this.
5. Attempts - the final stage of childbirth. Now you need a trained diaphragm. If you do not scream, do not strain, and work exclusively with a diaphragm, then this will help the child to be born faster and avoid internal gaps.

Open the cervix

How to breathe properly during contractions and childbirth will be described in more detail below. Now we will talk about the most painful stage of childbirth - the opening of the cervix.

In order to reduce pain, of course, you need proper breathing, but there are some more tricks to get rid of discomfort. Now briefly about them:

1. Remember, if you fell, what do you instinctively do? Of course, rub the bruised place. The thing is that at the moment when two signals enter the brain, it perceives the latter. So it is during childbirth. When the scrum begins, start rubbing your stomach and lower back. So the pain will be much less.
2. During this period, we need to relax the pelvic muscles as much as possible. Fitball will help us with this. Simple swings on the ball will help to relax. Try to prepare in advance for childbirth, exercise on fitball as often as possible before childbirth.

First stage of labor

The first phase has a name - latent. Fights are now subtle, lasting only five to fifteen seconds, and the interval between them is about twenty minutes. At this moment, the cervix opens very slowly, so the expectant mother does not feel severe discomfort. Now it is important to relax as much as possible and gain strength before childbirth. It will be more than one hour before the contractions begin to intensify. Now about how to breathe properly during contractions of the latent period.

Deep breathing (abdominal) will help you now. It is used in yoga or choral singing. Do not worry, try to relax more.

Deep breathing

Now there is a lesson on how to breathe properly during contractions of the latent period. When the contractions begin, take a deep breath with your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Do not forget that this is abdominal breathing. The stomach is inflated when inhaled, and when it is exhaled, it is retracted.

The account will help you breathe correctly. If the fight lasts five seconds:

• 1-2 - inhale.
• 3-4-5 - exhale.

Delivery exercises

So, how to breathe properly during labor and delivery? When the cervix has opened about five centimeters, the active phase of the first stage of labor begins. At the moment, contractions are intensifying and becoming more frequent. They can greatly disturb a woman. As a rule, at this stage, the fetal bladder breaks and amniotic fluid flows. This contributes to the buildup of uterine contractions. Here you definitely need to know how to breathe properly during contractions.

The advice of doctors is numerous, the most popular exercises are presented in this section of the article:

1. Candle. In the active phase of the first stage of labor, contractions are quite noticeable and last twenty seconds. At this point, quick shallow breathing will help. Imagine that you have a candle in front of you, and you blow it out. Take a shallow breath with your nose, and exhale through your mouth. Twenty seconds of such breathing can lead to slight dizziness, the fact is that this is the way the oxygen is saturated with the respiratory center of the brain. In response, the release of endorphins that increase the pain threshold occurs.
2. When the previous method stops working, we move on to a large candle. With such breathing, the wings of the nose and cheeks are actively working. It is also superficial inhalation and exhalation. Inhalation should be sharper (as if your nose is stuffy), and exhale through almost closed lips, make a little effort.
3. When the cervix is ​​fully open, and the child tries to overcome it, contractions can last a minute, and the interval between them also does not exceed 1 minute. The fight can be represented in the form of a wave. First - weak, then gaining momentum, then goes into decline. At this point, it is worth using the train train exercise. The fight begins - the exercise "candle", as the struggle increases, breathing accelerates - the transition to the "big candle", in recession - the transition to the "candle". After this, take a deep breath and exhale, which helps to restore the pulse.

The second period of childbirth

Now briefly about proper breathing during childbirth and labor of the second period. Despite the fact that there is a desire to push, it is absolutely impossible to do this until the moment the doctor approves. Why? As a result, a cervical rupture can be obtained.

How to restrain the effort? A special breathing technique will also help us with this. As soon as you have a desire to push, you need to open your mouth and breathe superficially. The nose is not used in this case. How does this help? During dog-like breathing, you force the diaphragm to constantly rise and fall, in this case an attempt is impossible.

When the moment has come, it is important at the very beginning of the fight to draw as much air as possible with your mouth (imagine that you are going to dive). Then hold your breath and squeeze, tensing your abdominal muscles. When the air is over and the fight has not stopped, exhale quickly, take in air and continue to push. When the fight has passed, calmly and slowly exhale, so you will help the child gain a foothold in the position where he is now.

Now you know everything about how to breathe properly during childbirth and labor, it remains only to summarize. About this in the final part of the article.

conclusions

Now we offer to summarize the article. How to breathe correctly during labor, so that childbirth passes less painfully and quickly?

1. For weak contractions, use abdominal breathing (the stomach rises and falls).
2. Strong contractions - shallow breathing (exercises "candle", "big candle" and "train").
3. If you want to push, and the doctor still does not allow, use the breath "dog-like."