Labor hurts. Even for the woman with a high tolerance for pain, labor is not going to feel good. There is nothing to feel bad or ashamed about if a woman needs some labor pain relief. For many women, pain relief treatments during labor are assumed a long time before labor ever begins. For some women, however, avoiding medications that may detract from the natural birth experience, or that may impact their baby in even the slightest way is a realistic objective. For these women, understanding what your labor pain relief options are can be an important part of the childbirth experience.

One natural way to relieve labor pain is through hypnosis, or even just relaxation techniques. There are a variety of ways that hypnosis and relaxation techniques can be used for labor pain relief. You can see a professional hypnotherapist ahead of time, for example. Or, you can practice techniques that utilize hypnosis to learn to control your own pain level. There are even CDs that use one degree or another of hypnosis and relaxation techniques to help a woman relax during labor, thereby providing labor pain relief.

There are also herbal remedies for labor pain relief. Some of these herbal remedies for labor pain relief might include creams or lotions, for example, that contain a variety of ingredients that can not only provide a natural alternative labor pain relief, but can actually help to move labor along. These creams use a variety of herbs and ingredients such as Vitamin E, vanilla oil, kukui nut, lavender, and blue and black cohosh. In some cases, these lotions or creams are also designed to be used for perineal massage, which can help avoid tearing of the perineum or an episiotomy.

Even if you intend to use alternative methods of labor pain relief, it can be good to know what the other options are for labor pain relief. Understanding how narcotics such as stadol or demerol will work, for example, can help you to know whether you want to use them. Understanding how an epidural or a spinal block works can help you know whether you’d rather use them, or an alternate labor pain relief. Being informed about your options is the best way to know exactly how you would like to manage your labor pain relief.

This entry was posted in Pregnancy.