It is unlikely that any of us thinks about how we breathe. For us, this process is natural and occurs at a reflex level. Therefore, few people pay any attention to it at all. Nevertheless, there may be occasions in life when breathing control is simply necessary. And if someone already guessed, this applies absolutely to any woman who is preparing to become a mother. In particular, we are talking about how to breathe correctly during childbirth.
Do not underestimate this, since breathing during the process of the birth of a child allows you to facilitate the course of this process. There are different techniques, and the speed of its advancement through the birth canal will depend on the correctness of their implementation. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We will begin to understand this issue in order.
Summarized about breathing during contractions
The benefits of breathing are difficult to overestimate or even underestimate. Indeed, performing it in the right way, a woman can relax during the first half of childbirth. It is better to take deep breaths, which act as the best alternative to analgesics, when a woman in labor feels intense painful contractions.
But before you apply this or that technique, you must practice in advance. Having trained, a woman can significantly facilitate the whole process of childbirth. To do this, it is worth exploring several methods, consult with your doctor in order to choose the best option for yourself. In addition, the breathing technique during childbirth will give the woman more confidence, and the whole process will go smoothly.
What is the need for?
Unfortunately, most women are skeptical of many breathing techniques. In their opinion, there simply cannot be much difficulty in breathing correctly. In addition, these techniques will not save a pregnant woman from the pain of contractions and attempts.
And they are all wrong, because the condition of not only the woman herself, but also her child depends on proper breathing. At the moment when the contractions begin, many mothers are nervous, trying to at least somehow alleviate the pain that is growing. Often they scream or try to hold their breath. In other words, control over the situation is lost.
According to some reviews, how to breathe properly during childbirth does not matter so much. However, this approach is fundamentally wrong, and neither one nor the other is beneficial. Such expectant mothers clearly underestimate the benefits of proper breathing:
- The muscles of the genital organ during childbirth need a sufficient amount of oxygen, and often the pain arises precisely because of hypoxia.
- Performed attempts become more effective. The pressure exerted by the diaphragm on the uterus helps the birth of a baby. If the mother just holds her breath, this will not help promote the baby through the birth canal.
- This is not only control over attempts, but also protection of the child from birth trauma.
- The risk of hypoxia is markedly reduced.
In addition, if a woman in labor is focused on breathing exercises, she will not have time to think about pain. For this reason, proper breathing should begin to work out during pregnancy in the early stages. Daily training, which will teach a woman how to push and breathe properly during childbirth, will allow the expectant mother to prepare well for childbirth. And if you're lucky, then she will not feel pain.
Deliverance from fear
What is interesting, having mastered one or another technique of proper breathing, you can rid yourself of a sense of fear. This is especially important for pregnant women, because their “special status” makes them more sensitive to everything. From time immemorial, mothers passed on to their daughters very valuable information regarding childbirth. Basically, it all came down to listening to your body and breathing properly.
The above benefits of proper breathing include the following:
- the nervous system calms down, which allows a woman to save her strength;
- the muscles relax, which helps gently promote the child, eliminating tears.
Rapid breathing, which causes hyperventilation of the lungs, is a good performance, and as a result of this, CO 2 is removed from the blood, the vessels of the brain begin to narrow, which leads to activation of the subcortex. At this point, all experiences go away. Of course, you should not use such breathing exercises every day, since it is relevant only for stressful situations, which are the birth itself.
If there is any doubt, a woman is better to use special courses for pregnant women, which are in almost every city around the world. Here, the expectant mother is best acquainted with how to properly breathe during childbirth, based on breathing techniques and special postures.
Training period
As noted above, it is necessary to master the proper breathing technique in advance, and not on the way to the maternity ward. At the same time, the home environment is unlikely to be suitable for this, since breathing exercises are characterized by a strong effect and some side effects.
For this reason, experts recommend that future mothers sign up for special courses where they will be supervised by experienced trainers. Usually they take place in a group, but an individual approach is also possible. At the courses, trainers will help you choose the best breathing technique for a woman, taking into account the characteristics of her body. The minimum number of classes that should be completed is 6. When mastering breathing exercises, each time a woman gains invaluable experience and knowledge that will help her in the upcoming birth.
There are a great many methods regarding how to breathe properly during childbirth, and each of them is aimed at facilitating the whole process of the birth of a child. The expectant mother can only choose for herself the most convenient technique.
Effective breathing techniques
There are a lot of methods of proper breathing, and each of them is particularly effective and is designed for a certain period of labor. With some exercises, you can dull the pain, while others will allow the child to move freely through the birth canal. We will analyze the most popular and effective techniques.
Breath on account
This is the simplest and easiest digestible technique. All that a woman needs is to count on inspiration to any specific number. Let, for example, it be 5. The same will need to be done on the exhale.
The speed of the exercise, as well as the duration of breathing, it is advisable to acquire individually and until the woman finds comfort. Therefore, this should be learned in advance. This technique will not only allow the expectant mother to protect herself from an unnecessary panic attack, but also provide the child with enough oxygen.
Syllable breath
This technique also has sufficient effectiveness in terms of how to breathe during childbirth. Proper breathing in this case involves the rhythmic pronunciation of a word in syllables. In this case, a simple and easy training is performed, which will allow a woman to control her well-being.
You can choose a word to your preference, take at least this - “baby”. Speaking it, mother herself will understand that this is especially pleasant for her. This is done very simply: each time you breathe in, you take the first syllable - “ma” as slowly as you can while singing under your breath, while pronouncing the second syllable - “lysh” with each exhalation. And you need to focus on the pronunciation of vowels.
You also need to fully focus on the spoken word, while breathing should be deep and slow. If the breathing exercise is performed correctly, you can feel muscle relaxation, and the pain will not be so strong.
Candle technique: how to breathe during childbirth
With this technique, breathing should be frequent and shallow, with inhalation through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. Successfully complete such an exercise will help simple visualization. It is enough for a woman to imagine a burning candle in front of her, which she needs to blow out. And you need to try to do it very quickly, but not until the end. There should not be pauses between inspiratory-expiration cycles, and the duration of such gymnastics should be equal to the time of one fight.
It is worth noting that after 20 seconds a woman may feel lightly dizzy. This indicates that the respiratory center of the brain receives too much oxygen and in response to this begins to produce endorphins, which are popularly known as “hormones of happiness”. They are valuable in that they increase the pain threshold, thereby reducing pain. It is a kind of natural pain reliever or analgesic of natural origin.
Sometimes such a method regarding how to breathe during contractions and childbirth is not enough to relieve pain, then an accelerated version will help, in which the rhythm remains the same, but a certain effort needs to be added. Moreover, inhalation should be done as if the nose is stuffed up, and it needs to be cleaned, and exhale through almost closed lips.
Respiratory Technique
When the moment has come when a woman has to push, it is necessary to completely fill her lungs with air, then hold her breath and push in the lower abdomen. The main thing is not to direct all your strength into the head, as this will not help the child move forward.
Of course, holding on for a long time will not work and therefore, when it becomes impossible to hold the air, you need to exhale, relax, and repeat everything again. Moreover, one should breathe through the chest, which will avoid the pressure of the diaphragm on the uterus. But between contractions, you can use the full breathing technique.
Features of abdominal breathing
It is imperative for any woman not only to know how to breathe properly during childbirth, but also to learn how to breathe in the stomach, in other words, it is his muscles that must move, and not the muscles of the chest. To master this skill is not difficult. To do this, put the palms of the hands parallel to each other: one is located on the stomach, the other on the chest.
During breathing, the hand that lies on the stomach should rise and fall, while the other should remain motionless.
Breathe deeply
Such gymnastics implies not only chest, but also abdominal breathing techniques. At the stage of inspiration, the lower abdomen is gradually filled with air, rising to the upper lobes of the lungs. When you exhale, air is released in the reverse order. In this case, the muscles of the chest and abdomen should be in the most relaxed state.
In this case, you can also use the palms, as in the exercise above, only they should rise alternately.
Contraction breathing
The rhythm of breathing should differ depending on the stage of the birth process. And if the expectant mother has well mastered the basic techniques of proper breathing, then directly during childbirth she will know what she should do. In extreme cases, medical staff will help.
And now on the way, childbirth - how to breathe properly during contractions? The answers to this question are very important. With the onset of the latent phase of labor, the manifestations of contractions are usually rare and weak. At this time, you can apply the method of economical breathing. That is, you need to inhale sharply and deeply, but the exhalation should be slow and calm. This will allow the woman to maintain her strength. In addition, the work of the heart is stabilized and the blood is enriched with oxygen. In between fights, you should give yourself rest.
As the contractions increase, the technique worked out earlier by the woman will come in handy. In this case, you need to breathe deeply, measuredly, steadily. At the peak of contractions, if the pain is impossible to endure, it is better to resort to rapid breathing. Often, many mothers begin to do it like a dog: a sharp breath, followed by a loud exhale. With the advent of a break, it’s worth moving on to the mastered technique.
Attempts at breathing
During attempts, a woman needs to control her emotions, and here more than ever it is important to breathe correctly. As soon as the attempts begin, the deepest breath is taken, after which it is necessary to push in the perineum. The main effort is not to direct the head or face, otherwise small blood vessels may burst.
How to breathe properly during childbirth, especially during attempts? During the whole effort you need to try to push at least 3 times. It is important to keep your breath under control in such a way that the air exerts pressure on the diaphragm, and it, in turn, presses on the uterus. So the baby is easier to move along the birth canal.
At the moment when maximum effort is required to push the child out, it is worth using the potent technique, which was discussed above. After the head of the baby (or baby) appears, it is worthwhile to stop pushing for a while, starting dog breathing. Then the midwife should give a command, then the attempt continues, and the child goes completely outside.
After the baby is completely out, the woman can relax for a while before making the last effort. This is necessary in order to “give birth” to the placenta.
In the end
The effectiveness of breathing exercises during labor has been proven by many years of experience in obstetrics. And most of the modern courses for pregnant women are based on the methods and techniques of world experts. For this reason, such classes enjoy a well-deserved high reputation among many expectant mothers.
After such special courses, every woman will know how to breathe properly during childbirth. Reviews of many women prove in practice the effectiveness of breathing exercises. After that, it remains for the small - to give birth to a healthy child. His cry will be the most coveted reward for any mother.