Unsure what breathing technique to be practising?

Classact

Just a quick question regarding breathing to be practising every day to prepare for during labour.

Just wondering if someone could best explain to me. Is it when contractions start, that you should take deep breathe in through nose, allowing tummy to fill up (like balloon) and then out through mouth??????

Or could someone explain better or HOW they concentrate on breathing?? Have you specific technique you use??

I would appreciate the advise if it something I can be doing now that I can put in to practice when labour and contractions begin....

Thanks a lot

How Strange

Always start with breathing out. Breathe out through your mouth to empty lungs and in through your nose. Out breathe should be twice as long as in breathe so it's helpful to count 20-25 on out breathe, 10 on in breathe.

When breathing out try make a noise in the back of your throat.

Practice it at home for a few weeks before your due date do you know what to do when you're having contractions. The idea is to breathe out on the painful part of contraction to relax the body. Hope that explains it. I found proper breathing essential; it gave me focus especially by counting and making noises and it kept me calm. You'll conserve a lot of energy by breathing properly.

How Strange

Also just to say, I found it useful when I got a particularly intense contraction to close my eyes and visualise my mouth breathing out and feel my chest falling and visualise my nostrils expanding to breathe in and feel my chest filling up with that breathe. As I said it takes practice to be effective.

fiona stephanie

Exactly what How Strange said !
And try breathing slow breaths, so you dont get out of breath!
If you know how to breath properly it really does help. I closed my eyes and really concentrated on my breathing, so your concentrating more on the breathing and not the contractions.
Good luck x

January

Will you be attending ante-natal classes Classact? They should teach you how to do your breathing there.

Rosy Posy

It would also be a good idea to get your birthing partner to learn the breathing technique so that they can coach you when it gets a bit intense. When I was having my first baby my husband kept saying to me 'you're not doing your breathing properly'...very unhelpful! We discussed it afterwards and during my second labour he was able to help me relax into the deep breathing with much better results. Its hard to focus on your breathing when you're in the thick of it but if you can have someone there to do it with you it makes all the difference.

Also, that short, panty breathing that they do in movies is totally inappropriate and will probably make you lightheaded!

wmpdd3

At my classes the instructor got us to hold an ice cube in our hands while our partner timed it for 30 sec.

Its only then that you see what you naturally do when in discomfort and then she built up on this changing the way we did breath to produce different feelings.

Sounds a bit hippy but it really did work, I preferred it to the tens!

If you really cant imagine doing this google hypnobirthing.

How Strange

In our physio ante natal class we partnered up and had to pinch each other on the back of the arm. We pinched lightly to start and then harder and harder. The first time breathing normally and the second using focused breathing. We all lasted longer through the pain using focused breathing.

GoerGirl

One trick which I always found worked brilliantly was to place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth in active labour - it keeps your mouth relaxed which helps with breathing. If you mouth is relaxed, the rest of you tends to follow suit. Worked for me