How to Prevent Tearing During Childbirth
This post is all about how to prevent tearing during childbirth. As a doula and prenatal trainer, I get asked this question A LOT. How do you prevent tearing during birth? Can you? I have to break it to you honest. You can’t really prevent tearing during birth, but stick with me friend because I do have three tips that will be helpful for you!
First of all, tearing is most definitely better than an episiotomy (where the perineum is cut to allow baby out), oftentimes it heals faster and in a more natural pattern. Sometimes you just can’t control what that tissue does under the pressure, especially if it’s your first birth and that tissue has never undergone that amount of stretching or you’ve got a big baby with a big ol’ head.
That being said, there are things you can do to prepare the muscles and the tissues of the perineum for stretching and manage the degree of tearing during birth. So, that’s what I’m here to tell you! Never fear, there is hope here.
First, it’s important to start with learning where the pelvic floor is and how to relax and release it. You can watch the video below for a video that is often helpful for my clients and people I teach to learn where the pelvic floor is and what it feels like to relax it.
Once you’ve learned that, you can move on to the next pieces of the puzzle, some of which you should be doing before birth and one in particular that you can do during birth to allow for more stretching and room in the perineum.
How to Prevent Tearing During Childbirth: Relax the Pelvic Floor
If you’re planning on having a vaginal birth, which you likely are if you’re here, stretches that open up the pelvis and pelvic floor are so helpful- not only for daily life but in preparing for birth. One great stretch is the happy baby pose you often see in yoga. Another is in the video below, this is a stretch you can do seated but I love the supine version because it also provides a little extra relief for pelvic pressure and allows the PF to relax a bit more. I’ve also included some photos of great anti-gravity positions that can help relax the pelvic floor AND relieve pelvic pressure at the same time!
How to Prevent Tearing During Childbirth: Perineal Massages and Stretching
Perineal massage and stretching are two different things, but also very important for preparing the tissues of the perineum and pelvic floor muscles to stretch during birth. Perineal massage is a manual technique that is shown in the video below. This is also great for people who have experienced tearing or an episiotomy in the past for massaging the scar tissue.
Perineal stretching is very similar to the last point, and you’ll actually see the seated version of the butterfly stretch in this video as well! All great stretches to relax and release the pelvic floor and stretch the perineum in preparation for birth.
How to Prevent Tearing During Childbirth: Warm Compresses during Birth
The final thing you can do to help minimize tearing during birth is one that is done, well, during birth. You can also apply warm compresses to the perineum prior to birth to relax the pelvic floor muscles and prepare the tissues for stretching, but this is also a great thing to do during the second stage of labor, transition and pushing, to help as well. This is something you can ask your provider about and, if you have a doula, your doula. While the evidence from the World Health Organization suggests that warm compresses have little to no impact on having an intact perineum after birth, however it does suggest that warm compresses reduce the likelihood of having third or fourth degree tear.
At the end of the day while we may not be able to fully prevent tearing during birth due to a number of reasons, there are things you can do to manage the degree of tearing and prepare the perineal tissues and muscles of the pelvic floor for a vaginal birth. Not to mention, some of these methods can keep you more comfortable in your body leading up to birth, when your hips and pelvic floor are usually really over being pregnant already.
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