Acupuncture for Pregnancy
Many women find acupuncture to be a safe and effective way to ease symptoms and conditions commonly associated with pregnancy.
Benefits of Pregnancy Support Treatments:
Minimize morning sickness
Reduce bleeding or spotting in the early months of pregnancy
Help prevent or reduce swelling, fatigue, GI issues, headaches and migraines, heartburn, and similar pregnancy-related symptoms
Reduce depression and anxiety
Alleviate pain in the low back, hips, and legs, low back pain, hip pain, and leg pain
Help shorten the span of labor
Promote a natural, easy delivery
What to Expect:
Christiane will conduct a thorough intake and ensure you feel comfortable with the treatment plan before progressing. Additional TCM modalities, such as herbal therapy, electro-acupuncture, Gua sha, and cupping, may supplement traditional needling.
Did You Know?
At Mauro Acupuncture, we have a special, hollowed prenatal treatment table to allow for women at any stage of pregnancy the option to lie comfortably face down.
Preparing for Labor
Preparing for labor can be emotionally and physically taxing. The inclusion of acupuncture and other tools of TCM to traditional labor preparation can not only reduce stress and physical pain, but also shorten the labor period and help to ease the delivery process.
TCM treatment for labor preparation starts at 35 weeks with regular sessions until labor. The objective is to promote a more efficient labor by increasing blood flow to the cervix as it prepares for labor by softening, thinning out and stretching. What’s more, positioning the mother in a prone position on a pregnancy table, while increasing blood flow to the uterus and cervix, helps to guide the baby in a more optimal position for labor. This can also reduce the total time of labor.
Sometimes women arrive at the birthing experience feeling depleted. Slowing down and balancing the systems of your body during the final weeks of pregnancy can help restore energy levels and open your body for labor. If receiving treatment throughout your entire pregnancy is not possible, adding a TCM treatment plan during your last weeks is still an effectual way to prepare you for labor.
Acupuncture during labor preparation can:
Reduce stress levels and help you sleep better
Promote better sleep
Help guide the baby in an optimal labor position and descend
Relax tissues and muscles and nourish your body’s fluids to help the cervix dilate, efface, and soften
Alleviate pain in the hips, back, feet, and other parts of your body
Balances the system of your body
Help you understand which parts of your system need nourishment and how to adjust your lifestyle, diet, etc.
As with all treatments, Christiane will individualize each TCM treatment prior to labor, offering whatever support and information you need to feel as comfortable as possible before, during, and after delivery.
Breech Babies
In numerous studies, the use of moxibustion, or moxa, prior to labor reduced the risk of giving birth to a breech baby. When used to turn a breech baby, moxa is heated close to the skin of the fifth toes of both feet for around 15-20 minutes. This heats the receptors on the skin of the toe, encouraging the release of two pregnancy hormones: placental estrogen and prostaglandins, which lead to uterine contractions and encourage the baby to move.
Treatment usually begins between weeks 30 and 37 of pregnancy. When coming in for treatment specifically to turn a breech baby, Christiane uses moxa as well as some acupuncture needles and light electrical stimulation to the fifth toe on each foot, the same place where moxa was burned. You will receive instructions and your own smokeless moxa sticks to continue the treatment at home twice a day for seven days or up until the baby turns.