Correct breathing during contractions and childbirth

The experience of giving birth is profound and transformative, and being able to control your breathing during contractions can help a lot. The labor process will go more smoothly for you and your baby if you use the right breathing techniques to keep yourself composed and focused. Gaining knowledge about these techniques will enable you to manage the birthing process and deal with contractions more skillfully.

Accurate breathing during contractions is important for more reasons than just comfort; it gives your body the oxygen it needs to function properly. By using targeted breathing exercises, you can ease pain, lower stress levels, and support your body’s natural labor progression. You can get assistance from this straightforward but effective tool at every stage of childbirth.

We’ll look at some useful breathing exercises in this article that can help you while you’re in labor. These tips will help you approach childbirth with calm and confidence, regardless of whether you’re getting ready for your first childbirth or just want to hone your skills. Let’s explore how you can support yourself on this amazing journey by using your breath.

Why is this necessary?

The type and intensity of a person’s inhalation and exhalation have an immediate impact on his internal processes and overall health. If you don’t believe me, try breathing in and out through your mouth in short, shallow breaths, just like a dog does. You will notice that you start to feel a little lightheaded after a minute or two.

Breathing can stimulate blood circulation, increase oxygen saturation, and speed up or decrease the body’s gas exchange. Even in stressful situations, breathing calmly and evenly is a great way to de-stress.

Even and relaxed breathing allows you to fully relax in the moments between contractions during the early stages of labor. Painkillers can easily be replaced by such relaxation. Women typically have the most issues when they are relaxing. Most of the time, a woman’s inability to relax is caused by her fear of giving birth and the pain she has read and heard so much about.

It will be easier for a woman to tune into the correct breathing rhythm during real contractions if you practice the correct breathing beforehand, for example, during training contractions (which do not require either correct breathing or drug pain relief).

She will feel less physical pain during contractions the more at ease she is during the initial latent stage. This is undeniably true—doctors have confirmed it and numerous laboring women have tested it.

Following the breathing guidelines during the fetus’s expulsion from the uterus increases the effectiveness of each push, potentially resulting in the baby’s birthing process beginning several pushes earlier. Adhering to breathing guidelines minimizes the risk of harm to the mother during childbirth. Skilled obstetricians advise women to breathe deliberately and not gasp in order to prevent cervix and vaginal ruptures.

During the active stage of labor, the child also benefits from proper inhalation and exhalation. If there is no premature placental detachment, the baby receives oxygen from the mother’s blood even after the waters have broken and during the passage through her genital tract thanks to intensive gas exchange. The "child’s place" works tirelessly to fulfill its duties and give the infant everything they require.

Using rhythmic breathing techniques during labor helps a woman maintain better self-control, hear all of the medical team’s instructions, and follow them promptly. This lessens the possibility of difficulties and birth trauma to the infant. It has been demonstrated that breathing correctly during labor speeds up the process, feels much better for both the mother and the baby, and results in a gentle, trauma-free birth of the baby’s head.

The rules of breathing during contractions and pushing are taught to women absolutely free of charge in courses for expectant mothers at any antenatal clinic. But in Russia, for some reason, these courses are neglected, only 15% of primiparous women attend such classes. Among women giving birth again, this percentage is even lower – no more than 2%. Classes at the school for expectant mothers are not considered mandatory, women in Russia can attend them or not at their own discretion. In some European countries, pregnant women are not given such a choice – in order to get into the maternity hospital to see the chosen doctor, the expectant mother is simply obliged to take classes and provide the appropriate document.

It doesn’t seem very correct for Russian women to refuse to attend classes. If a woman knew, by the end of her pregnancy, how she should respond in the event of labor beginning, water breaking, or the onset of contractions, a lot of questions and problems could be avoided.

Refusal can stem from a variety of factors, such as being overly busy at work or at home, studying, being ill, etc. However, you must then dedicate all of your personal time to learning the essential breathing techniques for labor. Experts recommend that expectant mothers practice breathing techniques for ten minutes a day starting in the second half of their pregnancy.

Basic techniques

There are several techniques, but they are all based on certain types of breathing. In everyday life, we breathe with our chest and stomach (observe yourself right now, and you will understand that both are quite comfortable for you, besides, from time to time we breathe mixed – both from the top and the peritoneum at the same time). You will have to forget about such chaotic breathing at the crucial moment of the birth of a new life. To learn how to breathe the right way, you should start by mastering the key types of breathing that will come in handy. Master them in the order in which they are indicated, do not run ahead.

• Abdominal, lower (stomach breathing) – the chest remains motionless, when taking in air and exhaling, only the stomach rises and falls. Place one palm on the chest, the other on the stomach. During training, the hand that is on the chest should not rise, and the second, which is located on the stomach, should rise as high as possible. Inhalations should be deep enough, exhalations should be smooth.

• Full combined – when inhaling and exhaling, both the chest and the abdominal wall rise and fall. The difficulty (at least at the very beginning of the classes) arises in order to do all this in a wave-like manner – from the bottom up. Imagine that you are breathing with the lower part of the abdomen. First, the abdomen is filled with air (an element of abdominal breathing), then the air smoothly flows from the abdomen to the chest, and then goes back.

Additionally, learning will be facilitated by placing your palms on the peritoneum and chest. Your palm should rise smoothly on your abdomen during inhalation and fall to your chest during exhalation.

• Economical breathing – after you can breathe in a combined manner, you need to learn to save oxygen. Continue to breathe in a combined manner, but now the inhalation remains the same in duration, and the exhalation becomes twice as long. A long exhalation will help with pushing.
• Frequent breathing – a series of short inhalations and exhalations. This type of breathing will be especially useful during contractions. People call the main technique “candle” – after a short inhalation, the woman makes a sharp and short exhalation, the same as she would do to extinguish the flame of a candle if it were in front of her face. The “Big Candle” technique involves stronger, repeated exhalations, as if the woman needed to blow out several candles at once. You may also need to breathe “like a dog”, with your mouth open.

• Technique for pushing – this is a special breathing technique that should be trained with special care during pregnancy. It will be useful precisely during the process of expelling the fetus. As soon as the obstetrician gives the command to push, the woman takes as much air as possible into her chest with her mouth. Imagining how the air “cushion” begins to press on the uterus from above, helping the baby to be born, you need to hold your breath. You should exhale briefly after it becomes impossible to hold your breath. Immediately you need to take another breath with your mouth and push again. As soon as the obstetrician asks you to relax, you need to breathe in the full (combined) type, which was mastered earlier.

During the second and third trimesters, breathing exercises should become the expectant mother’s best "friend." Although you can perform the exercises in any position, it is ideal to perform them with your body in a variety of spatial orientations, such as sitting, standing, and even walking. This will help bring the ability to breathe correctly almost to automatism, so that during labor—even if it starts unexpectedly—there won’t be any special difficulties recalling and repeating the necessary techniques.

The primary techniques will be combined in different ways depending on the stage of labor. So let’s examine the birthing process from the perspective of breathing regulations from start to finish.

Contractions

The cervix’s muscle fibers shorten, become shorter, open up, and allow the baby to exit during labor contractions. This phase can take anywhere between six and ten hours on average to complete. When the cervix fully opens, it will automatically signal the start of the second stage of labor, which involves the baby being expelled from the mother’s womb because it is now too small for him.

Proper breathing at this stage helps to relieve pain during contractions. But it all starts with a preliminary period, which smoothly turns into the development of contractions. The contractions intensify gradually, and therefore at the very beginning, when they are still rare and weak, the woman should breathe in a combined type, calmly and deeply enough. This will give her the opportunity to relax, relieve fear, tension, saturate the body with oxygen. If there is a lot of oxygen, it works as a natural anesthetic in the body, the pain decreases. With an excess of oxygen in the body, endorphins begin to be produced, they help to relieve pain during the contractions.

It will be sufficient at this point to take a long, slow breath in and an equally long and slow breath out. You do not need to use only abdominal or rapid breathing.

Combined breathing won’t be enough to relieve the intensity of the contractions; instead, rapid breathing components must be added. It is helpful in this situation to be able to "blow out the candle," extinguish the "large candle," and breathe like a bakinghip.

Breathing regularly raises the body’s oxygen concentration, endorphin production picks back up, and a woman experiences less pain during a fight. You are now free to select any of their methods on your own, whether it be "large candle" or "candle," paying close attention to your own feelings. The most important thing is to adjust respiratory rhythm so that holding your breath doesn’t coincide with the height of the fight.

Оогда схватки станут сильными, примерно к концу первой фазы, женхине нужно выстроить ритм таким образом, чтобы делать вдохи носом и выдыхать через рот. When the fight is just getting started, you should breathe more calmly and frequently at the peak of the fight. As soon as the fight starts to decline, you should align your breath to the calm once more.

If a partner birth is intended, a woman and her spouse can learn the breathing techniques during the initial stages of labor. He will take on the role of her assistant during contractions, controlling her breathing and changing it from deep to frequent and shallow as well as slow to fast.

Pushing

A lot depends on the woman’s attentiveness to the obstetrician’s instructions during pushing. It is not appropriate to push before being told to stop; doing so could injure the woman going into labor’s uterus and genital tract in addition to harming the unborn child. Once the cervix is fully opened, pushing can start.

You are not allowed to use the previously discussed "pushing breathing" during the beginning of this labor period. It will help to breathe "like a dog" to ease the symptoms. When it’s time to push in a systematic manner, you should take a deep breath at the beginning and hold it throughout the push. Recall that pushing will be ineffective if you forcefully release all of the air during the push; the baby will either move forward very little or not at all. If the exhalation is not smooth, there won’t be enough diaphragm pressure on the uterus.

No matter how much you might want to push against the doctor’s orders or scream in place of taking a proper breath and holding it, you must adhere to the obstetrician’s orders and follow the prescribed rhythm.

You are free to unwind and breathe after the baby is born. The placenta’s birth process won’t be impacted by this. Very little of this process is dependent on the laboring woman.

It is essential to breathe correctly during contractions and childbirth in order to control pain, maintain concentration, and facilitate the delivery process. Expectant mothers can increase their comfort, sustain their energy, and help their bodies function more effectively through each stage of labor by learning and using specific breathing techniques.

The danger of screaming

When a woman screams, she does so by forcing the sound to come out. Screaming causes the bottom of the uterus to contract harder and tighten. Cervical ruptures and head injuries to the unborn child are risks associated with this. Fetal hypoxia is ten times more likely if the laboring woman screams nonstop.

Nobody says a woman should give birth like a Spartan, speaking not a word the entire time. You can make the sound "ee-ee-ee" while keeping your mouth shut during labor. Screaming aloud disrupts the natural pushing process, wastes valuable energy, and interferes with the work of obstetricians who want the baby to be born as soon as possible and in good health.

“Kobas-breathing”

Obstetrician-gynecologist Alexander Kobas created a training manual on breathing during various stages of labor. The technique was called "Kobas-breathing" in his honor. The physician advised following this schedule.

• The initial stage of contractions – even, calm breathing, through the mouth or nose – does not matter much, the main thing is that the inhalation is long and the exhalation is smooth. The doctor does not impose any special restrictions on physical activity. A woman can walk along with relaxing, full-fledged combined breathing, check whether all things are packed for the maternity hospital, you can do an enema, not forgetting to inhale and exhale correctly. During this period, you cannot cry, scream, sit or lie still, drink a lot of liquid and eat food.
• Active contractions – at the beginning of the contraction, you need to take slow and deep breaths, mentally counting from 1 to 4. Then even slower exhalations, counting from 1 to 6. At the peak stage of the contraction, short and frequent breathing is used (one of the types described above). At this stage, the doctor no longer recommends drinking liquids, only rinsing your mouth. You can walk, sing songs, you cannot scream or cry, eat, strain, trying to “hold back” the pain, clamp down – this prevents the cervix from opening faster.

• The stage of transition from contractions to pushing – breathing is even, deep with “rounding” of the chest and diaphragm. You cannot push.
• Pushing – deep inhalation, holding your breath and pushing down – into the perineum. Then a smooth exhalation. Three pushings are repeated during one contraction. When the head is born, you need to stop breathing like this, and breathe shallowly and superficially on the obstetrician"s command "doggy style". During this period, Dr. Kobas does not recommend straining the upper body to avoid hemorrhages, it is also not recommended to bring your legs together and scream.
• The birth of the "baby"s" place can be accompanied by any type of breathing, says Kobas, and therefore allows everything. A woman can push if she wants, she can cough.

Women who used "Kobas breathing" during childbirth report that the process went smoothly and that the pain was tolerable. Some even succeeded in doing so without yelling at all.

Breathing Technique	Description
Deep Breathing	Inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your abdomen to expand, then exhale slowly through your mouth. This helps to relax and manage pain.
Slow Breathing	Take long, slow breaths to help maintain control and calmness. This can be useful during early labor or when contractions are mild.
Paced Breathing	Inhale and exhale in a rhythmic pattern, such as inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of four. This helps to stay focused and reduce tension.
Panting	Short, quick breaths can help during intense contractions. This technique can keep you from holding your breath and help manage pain.
Blowing Breaths	Blow out short bursts of air, similar to blowing out candles. This can help during the pushing phase to control and manage the urge to push.

More than just a technique, breathing correctly during contractions and childbirth is essential for controlling the intensity of labor and ensuring your safety and the safety of your unborn child. Gaining an understanding of and putting these breathing techniques into practice will help you stay composed and focused, which will make navigating the difficulties of labor easier.

Recall that your comfort and energy levels are influenced by each breath you take as your labor advances. While relaxation techniques can help reduce stress and tension, deep, controlled breaths can help manage pain. Maintaining a consistent breathing pattern can also improve your body’s capacity to withstand contractions.

It’s crucial to practice these breathing exercises in advance so that they come naturally to you when labor starts. Additional support and reassurance can be obtained by talking about these techniques with your healthcare provider and incorporating them into your birth plan. You give yourself the strength and resilience to face childbirth by paying attention to your breathing.

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