The 5 senses and how to use them to hormone hack your labour 

When we are stressed, our body produces adrenaline and cortisol. The presence of these hormones reduces Oxytocin and Endorphins. Oxytocin is the love hormone. It is an important part of starting labour and keeping those contractions coming effectively until the placenta is delivered. It then helps with bonding and breastfeeding, all whilst making us feel calm. Basically, we want it in bucket loads for birth. Endorphins are our own body’s natural pain relief. They are said to be 200 times stronger than morphine and we have them in our bodies provided we feel safe. So, as you can see we are already perfectly designed to have efficient and comfortable labours. But, sometimes that stress comes creeping in knocking off the good hormones. So how can we hack this survival mechanism?

A Mum’s surrounding can hugely impact her emotional state during labor. Let’s take each of the senses in turn.

Sight

When the labour room is brightly light it keeps us in an alert state. By switching off the lights another hormone called melatonin is increased which makes us feel relaxed and sleepy. When melatonin is high, Oxytocin naturally increases. So simply making the room dark by switching off the lights or wearing an eye mask will mean your labour is more efficient/quicker and more comfortable!

Sounds

Hospitals are noisy places. Voices and ambient noises can influence stress levels and keep mum alert. Ask your birth partner and midwife to talk as little as possible to you so that your brain can switch off. Wear ear plugs and play relaxing/spa type music in the background to help drown out the noises.

Touch

Any touch on your skin produces endorphins, and when it’s someone you love then Oxytocin is also released. You can see then that touch is a brilliant tool in labour. However, mums rarely want to be massaged, so think of touch as simply hand holding, slow strokes on the arm/back or head. Something very repetitive, this isn’t the day for technical massage moves!

Smell

Smells can hugely affect emotions through association. Lots of people can have negative association with hospitals and can even experience flashbacks triggered by typical hospital smells of cleaning products, bleach etc. By making the scents in the birthing environment positive and familiar we can help the body feel safe and therefore help labour to progress forward effectively. Take in your own pillow from home, use a pillow spray from home that reminds you of times of relaxation. Or consult a professional on the safe use of Aromatherapy in pregnancy.

Taste

Labour is a workout! Think of your body like a car. If we don’t keep topping it up it will run out of fuel and stop working. Take lots of tasty snacks in with you. Things that you will fancy. Don’t just take super healthy stuff that you think you “should” eat. In labour the blood is concentrated in the uterus and moves away from the stomach, so you may not feel hungry, and your digestion will be slow so graze and keep drinking.

Keep reminding yourself every day that your body know how to birth your baby. You haven’t had to set reminders for your body to grow and nurture your baby because it just knows what to do. It doesn’t get to labour and forget how to function. Trust that your body will know exactly what to do on the day. You can just help by keeping yourself calm and safe.

New blogs on breathing for birth coming soon and why I don’t want you to time your contraction.

Wishing you a positive and empowering birth.