Breathing During Labor and Pushing
How should I breathe during labor?
This is the number one question I get asked as a prenatal yoga teacher and doula, how should I breath during labor? I know there a lot of birthing classes and techniques that teach specific methods to use during labor. While I don’t discount their methods, my issues with prescribed methods is most people don’t practice them regularly enough for it to be effective or they forget them completely.
First, why is breathing so important?
Breathing is intimately related to your core.
Your breathing pattern tells me if you are stressed or relaxed.
Shallow breathing means that you are not getting maximum of oxygen. If you are not getting the maximum amount of oxygen, then neither is baby.
What to do Instead:
Keep it simple! During labor: maintain continuous breathing. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
During class we practice rib cage breathing or lateral breathing. This allows maximum expansion of the breath and does not put stress on pelvic floor.
What about holding your breath during pushing?
Unfortunately, I still see this routinely practiced in hospitals, “coached pushing” or “purple pushing”. This is where the breath is held/retained and the birthing person is asked to blow/exhale and push at the same time. This practice maybe appropriate if there is a true emergency and baby needs to get out quickly. However, in normal circumstance this practice is not recommend because it can cause damage to the pelvic floor. Instead pushing should be done on their own urges with a continuous breathing pattern.
