Breathing Techniques During Labor

One of the best ways to manage contractions is through good breathing. Maintaining a steady rhythm of breathing throughout your contractions will help you feel less anxious, give you more pain relief, and even help keep your baby’s heart rate more steady.

You may have heard your mother or your aunt talk about the old Lamaze breathing method of “hooo hooo hooo heee”. Fortunately, this isn’t really the recommendation anymore. Really, finding a breathing pattern that works for you is going to be your best option. Read on to find out some of your options.

Guided breathing can be a great option for labor. In this technique, you would inhale to a count of 4, hold it a beat, and then exhale to a count of 6. Continue this pattern throughout the whole contraction. Some people like to sigh through the exhale or do “horse lips”. Most active labor contractions last about a minute long so this count of 4 in and 6 out can be repeated about 6 times and suddenly you’ve made it all the way through the contraction! You might consider having your partner keep count while you inhale and exhale. This can even act as a mental focal point for you and helps you feel supported by your partner.

Rainbow breathing is another approach to managing your breath during labor. Rainbow breathing can be done a couple of different ways. As you inhale you can visualize starting at one end of the rainbow and breathing in all the way to the other end. When you reach the end you can visualize go back the other direction as you exhale. Think of a different color of the rainbow for each new breath. Some people just do this in their head but it may be help for you to have a printout of a rainbow to hang in your birth space to make it easier to visualize going back and forth to each end of the rainbow. You should have breathed your way through the rainbow by the end of your contraction.

Box breathing is another way to count your way through labor contractions while making sure you have a steady rate of breathing. With box breathing you can inhale to a count of 4, hold your breath to a count of 4, and exhale to a count of 4. Repeat this pattern until you feel your contraction fading away. Definitely consider having your partner count for you with this method so you don’t hold your breath for too long.

There are many other options to help you with your breathing through labor. These can be found through a Hypnobirthing or Hypnobabies coutse. You may also be able to use your breathing that you’ve developed during a yoga practice. No matter how you breathe during labor, just make sure that you are actually breathing. When you hold your breath through a contraction you will feel the contraction more intensely, become more anxious and fearful, and not be able to cope as well. So, don’t do that! Take control of your labor, and make it a better experience, by taking each contraction one breath at a time.