How we breathe during labor can support a more relaxing experience! Breathing is a great tool that we can use to slow our heart rate, respiration rate, and activate our parasympathetic nervous system! Let’s explore four ways to use breathing during labor!
Breathing Techniques for Labor and Pushing
There are four main breathing techniques we can use during labor and pushing to support our birth!
- Diaphragmatic Breathing During Contractions
- Releasing Jaw Tension
- Open Glottis Pushing
- Short Puffs while Crowning
Each of these breathing techniques is used at a different point during our labor! Let’s break down each one.
1) During Contractions: Diaphragmatic Breathing
During contractions, we can use slow breathing techniques to manage our pain and find relief.
Diaphragmatic breathing is a great way to control our breathing during contractions!
- Inhale to feel the rib cage expand, which will increase pressure DOWN and OUT into the abdominal cavity. This can act as some internal counterpressure!
- Exhale to relax and release.
- Inhales should last for a count of 3-4.
- Exhales should last for a count of 3-4.
If you are breathing at a faster rate, your partner can cue you to slow down and count with you!
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Still feeling confused on diaphragmatic breathing? Here is a breakdown of this breathing technique and how we can use it during our daily lives!
2) Need to Relax? Release the Jaw with Breath
If you find that you are having more trouble releasing tension and relaxing, we can focus on releasing tension in our jaw with some breathing techniques!
- Inhale to shake the jaw around
- Exhale to blow the lips like a horse
This breathing technique does not need to be used the entire contraction, but can be used for a few breaths during if you need to release some extra tension!
3) Pushing: Open Glottis
When we progress into the second stage of labor, or pushing, we can use breathing techniques to support our push!
Open glottis pushing, or open throat, is when you exhale as you push as opposed to holding your breath.
While open versus closed is not necessarily which is better, there are some benefits of open glottis over closed glottis (holding your breath or purple pushing) such as:
- Open glottis tends to be less stressful and strenuous for you and baby,
- Open glottis tends to be better for your pelvis floor,
- Both are just as effective!
- But open glottis can be difficult to teach in the moment.
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When doing open glottis pushing, we want to inhale to feel an increase of pressure DOWN, and the exhale to continue to bear DOWN.
It is important that this exhale is deep and forceful still! We are not just blowing air out, it is a deep, forceful exhalation down.
Want to learn more about pushing? Our childbirth education course includes an entire section on pushing, or you can take our pushing mini-course!
4) Crowning: Short Puffs/Blows
And finally, when baby is crowning we have a few breathing techniques we can use! When baby is crowning, we want them to SLOWLY stretch the perineum which can decrease the severity and likelihood of tearing!
As baby crowns, start doing short puffs or blows of air. Think about a candle being on the other side of the room that you are trying to blow out. So, it is a strong blow or puff of air, but it is short in duration.
If crowning is really overwhelming, you can do soft breaths to ease baby out too!
Breathing Techniques for Birth!
We can use breathing techniques during labor and pushing to find relaxation and maintain some control during our birth!
During contractions, focus on diaphragmatic breathing to exhale and release or relax. If you find you have more tension, focus on releasing tension in the jaw to support relaxation in the rest of the body.
When it comes to pushing, open glottis pushing can help keep everything as relaxed as it can be during pushing. And as baby begins to crown, ease them out with short puffs of air!
Learn more tips for your birth in our childbirth education courses!