Positions for Birth

Positions for Birth

G E T  O F F  Y O U R  B A C K … I will always remind you of this during class.

You are not meant to be lying on your back whilst giving birth.

When you’re upright and able to move as you choose, you create a staggering 28-30% more room in your pelvis which basically means you have given your baby a third more room to navigate its way through, to rotate and to descend.

When comparing those that gave birth lying on their backs to those who gave birth in upright positions:

  • 25% less likely to have a forceps or vacuum-assisted birth
  • 25% less likely to have an episiotomy
  • 54% less likely to have abnormal foetal heart rate patters (Decker, 2018)

Contractions are more effective when you are in an upright position and some studies show that the first stage of labour (that’s the cervix opening bit) was on average 1.5 hours shorter in the upright groups (WHO, 2014) and the second stage of labour (that’s the pushing bit) was shortened by about 34 minutes for women who remained in an upright position. They also experienced less pain and were less likely to need artificial oxytocin (Syntocinon) to speed labour up than those that gave birth while lying on their backs in a raised bed (Decker, 2018)

Please please stay off your back.
The only people who benefit from having a woman lying down in labour are those caring for her, because it is easier to see what is going on.