BREATHING Techniques for an EASIER LABOR | How To Breathe During Labor | Lamaze | Doula

hey parents most people in situations that are stressful intense or painful end up hyperventilating or holding their breath and this is especially true for women in labor especially when they are going into their experience uninformed about labor and birth in labor holding your breath or hyperventilating often leads to increased pain feelings of being out of control and it poses a higher risk for momma and her baby knowing how to properly breathe in labor is the foundation of staying comfortable confident and in control and you're here to learn just that so that you can have a happier healthier and easier birth i'm bridget and i'm a child birth educator and a birth doula and it's my passion to help parents just like you to be educated and empowered for your pregnancy birth and postpartum if you're new here make sure you subscribe and hit the little bell so you don't miss any future videos so the first breathing technique you're about to learn is the de-stressor breath and it does exactly what the name entails helps eliminate stress because when stress fear and anxiousness is eliminated in labor pain also decreases so using this breath is so valuable in achieving a positive birth experience whether you have an unmedicated labor use an epidural or have a c-section the de-stressor breath is going to make your labor experience a better one so to do this de-stress or breath you're going to breathe in deeply and steadily through your nose for four to six seconds and then exhale through your mouth for about six to eight seconds you don't have to go exactly for that amount of time but the goal is to make the exhale longer than the inhale to practice i'm going to put my hands on my belly and i would encourage you to do the same because it helps you focus on where to send your breath on the inhale the goal is to expand your belly with each breath because one that's where your baby is so that's where you want to send all your oxygen into because as you expand your belly you are getting a deeper breath of air using your diaphragm that brings more oxygen into your body to help your muscles like your uterus recover better and your other muscles to rest so imagine your belly is like a balloon and as you're inhaling you're expanding that balloon and as you're exhaling you're releasing that air out of the balloon as you release that air try to do it as slowly and steadily as you can so let's try that together right now as i count for you and then after we practice a few times i'll let you do it on your own so get comfortable put your hands on your belly and let's breathe together in two three four out two three four five six all right so that is the basic gist of how to do the de-stress or breath now to go a little bit deeper before you practice it on your own i want to remind you that with each exhale your goal is to relax your entire body from top to bottom in labor you want to try to have every part of your body relaxed so that the only muscle that is working is your uterus so let's breathe together now for a total of five breaths and as you inhale and exhale really focus on your body softening from head to toes so go ahead and get comfy now in two three four out two three four five six in two three four out two three four five six in out in out in out my bet after doing those five simple breaths is that you're feeling so much more relaxed if you're not used to breathing like that you might feel a little light-headed or you might have seemed like that amount of time for each inhale and exhale seemed too challenging to accomplish this is very normal and the more you practice the easier and more comfortable it will become and you can practice this breathing technique all throughout pregnancy in groups of five breaths and the reason for that is that at the pace of about four seconds in on the inhale and six seconds for the exhale in groups of five will pretty much get you through a surge or at least the most intense part of it when you start doing it in labor since most surges or contractions last usually around one minute long and once the surge has passed you finish off the breathing sequence with a cleansing breath in for as long as comfortable and on the exhale you release every single tiny bit of tension in your body so that you come back to a completely relaxed state and really the more you practice this breathing technique in pregnancy the more natural it becomes so i encourage you to practice it often during your pregnancy no matter how far along you are it's never too early or too late and to get your birth partner in on it as well sort of as your coach helping guide you through the breaths and to help you practice you can check out this guided breathing meditation that i created just for you to use in labor to actually breathe along with me during labor you can use this breathing technique from early labor to active through transition and even while pushing although you are going to learn another breathing technique specifically for pushing now before we jump into that second way of breathing in labor i want you to know that breathing is just one of the ways to find comfort and calm in labor and there are so many other techniques that you and your partner can utilize to make labor more comfortable and efficient and i teach all of those techniques in my built to birth online course that you can access down in the link below so during the pushing stage it's important to remember that your baby wants to be born and that in most scenarios you don't have to use all your power and might to make that happen so instead of having the mindset of pushing your baby out let's reframe it to breathing your baby out and to do that we use the j breath this breath is a lot more flexible and active than the de-stressor breath the de-stressor breath is about letting go and total relaxation and the j breath is helping move your baby from womb to world so to do it you'll breathe in as fully as comfortable to you and as you exhale you will send your air and your energy down to the womb to your baby through the birth canal and out the vagina in a j shape and the main part that i want you to focus on is the exhale your baby is not being born out of your mouth obviously so we don't want the energy and air of your breath escaping through your mouth if you put your hand in front of your mouth and breathe in through your nose and then blow out through your mouth as you would with the de-stressor breath you can feel all that air escaping through your mouth onto your palm but with the j breath we want to send that energy down down down so to do that we create a deep and low moan or moo like this so now with that lomone put your palm in front of your mouth inhale and then mu [Music] or and notice the difference of the air against your hand if you're doing it correctly you should feel very little air against your hand and as you exhale due to the low moo or groan you'll almost naturally tighten your belly from the top under your breasts downward towards your vagina as you send your air downward but you can also mindfully be tightening your abdominal muscles as well so that as you're moving or moaning you're also gently but effectively moving your baby down and out so let's try that together for just three breaths and your exhale should be significantly longer than your inhale it's going to sound a little funny but practicing it now is going to help you actually do it well in labor so inhale purposefully and then breathe down as you tighten your belly ah [Music] you notice that i made different noises on the exhale and no matter what noise you make while you are breathing your baby out you want to keep it focused low and deep into your body so that you are making that j breath now this breath does take a bit of practice and a great time to do it is when you're pooping because it gives you a sense of how to use your breath in rhythm with your body's instinct to push like the de-stressor breath i encourage you to practice this during pregnancy so that it becomes natural enough to use it during labor and don't worry you're not going to birth your baby now unless your body and baby are ready by doing this breath you don't however need to practice this breathing technique as much as the destress or breath so i would focus the majority of your breathing practice on the destresser breath if you want to take a deeper look into breathing your baby out you can also check out this video up here now the foundation is just the beginning of whatever you're building and in labor breathing is just the start so now that you know the basics of breathing there is still so much to discover to walk into your birth space totally educated empowered and ready for a beautiful birth in the built to birth online course you learn so many other comfort measures from affirmation meditations to pressure points to light touch massage that will help build onto the foundation that you've already started to achieve a happier healthier and easier birth plus you'll learn loads more on common interventions how to avoid them how to advocate for yourself and how to prepare yourself for birth body mind and team you can check out the bill to birth course down below or if you're not quite ready to commit feel free to take the free mini birth class which you can also access down below in the descriptions education is power parent so i'll be seeing you very soon in the built birth course bye

Channel: Bridget Teyler

Views: 754,022

Keywords: breathing in labor, labor breathing techniques, j breathing, how to breathe in labor, managing labor, bridget teyler, easier labor, labor breathing exercises, how to breath during labor, breathing techniques, lamaze, birth class, how to make labor easier, how to make birth easier, scared about birth, preparing for labor, preparing for birth, how to cope with contractions, labour pain relief, labor without an epidural, scared to give birth, having a baby, birth doula

Id: qKDujazvDGM

Length: 11min 28sec (688 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021