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Birth Kit
Hypnobirthing
Inductions

Birth Kit

The team:

Many women have benefited from natural labours using aromatherapy massage oils and/or homeopathic remedies. Homeopathy is a natural system of medicine that has no side effects and is completely safe. They do not harm the baby and can be used at any stage of labour.

The remedies work extremely quickly and effectively in labour. For example a labour attended recently seemed to have been going on for 2 days with the woman on all fours unable to move. She was exhausted, chilly and miserable. After giving Kali Carb, within a few minutes she was up and moving around, warmer, more cheerful and better able to cope. She continued to use remedies throughout the labour and was successfully delivered of a baby boy. A little preparation and study of a homeopathic birthing kit can facilitate a positive labour where the mother and birth partner can feel more in control.

The following 14 remedies are ideal in labour and it would be worth buying a THW (The Health Works) kit so as to be well prepared.

1. ACONITE

Often used for panic attacks, Aconite is needed when the mother is anxious, restless and fearful. She is convinced she and/or the baby will die. It can be used for a quick violent labour, which can have a shocking effect on mother and/or baby. It can also be used in newborns when they are immobilized with shock - the remedy can be held inside the baby's lower lip for a few seconds and then removed.

2. ARNICA

Homeopathy's most famous remedy - used for trauma and bruising. It is always prescribed after birth to promote healing - women recover incredibly quickly with Arnica. It is also useful in cases of haemorrhaging during or after labour.

3. BELLIS PERENNIS

This is known as the "arnica of the soft tissues". It is used for healing trauma and bruising to soft tissue areas like the womb, abdomen and perineum. These are all areas affected by the labour process so this remedy is used after giving birth especially when there has been a caesarian, forceps, episiotomy or tearing.

4. CALENDULA

The number one remedy for healing pus and wounds, eg tears, episiotomies, caesarians. Use in pill form taken internally; tincture form and diluted in water or a cream applied directly to the wound instead of anti-septic. Use calendula or chamomile cream on the baby's bottom as a nappy change cream instead of the usual ones containing heavy metals and suppressive ingredients. THW sell an organic hand-made organic chamomile cream that is excellent for baby's bottoms, sore breasts and skin in general.

5. CARBO VEG

The indications for this remedy are oxygen starvation of either the mother or the baby - they will be cold, limp, blue or pale looking. It is used in foetal distress cases by giving it to the mother, it will then cross the placenta quickly to reduce risk of asphyxia to the baby. It is also good for painful trapped wind after labour, particularly a caesarian.

6. CAULOPHYLLUM

A great remedy for inducing labour if you are overdue. Also sometimes women in labour experience ineffective contractions that stop/start, or the cervix fails to dilate. In this situation Caulophyllum can establish strong productive contractions.

7. CHAMOMILLA

Many people associate this remedy just with teething and colic - however, it is excellent for a bad-tempered, argumentative labouring woman who finds the pains so unbearable she wants to die.

8. HYPERICUM

This is known as the "arnica of the nerves" and is for healing damaged nerves after caesarians, episiotomies and epidurals. It also helps with the pain felt in the nerve rich areas that have experienced trauma during labour.

9. KALI CARB

Used for backache labours where the baby is in posterior presentation and most of the pain is felt in the back and thighs. This can be relieved by firm massage on the lower back. The mother is chilly after each contraction, irritable but needs you to be there for her.

10. KALI PHOS

An excellent remedy for exhaustion for both mother and birth partner. It can be crushed and dissolved in a bottle of mineral water and sipped at intervals.

11. PHYTOLACCA

This is essential for post-labour, for cracked, painful nipples. It has averted many a case of mastitis if taken in time - the early symptoms being fever, blocked milk ducts, swollen red lumps on the breast, occasional flu-like symptoms. Don't stop feeding, ring the N.C.T. breast feeding counsellor and a homeopath.

12. PULSATILLA

Needed when the mother gets weepy and clingy and seems generally helpless and childlike. She can't bear stuffy rooms and wants lots of fresh air and sympathy. This remedy can be used successfully between 33 and 38 weeks to turn a breech baby naturally and painlessly. It is entirely safe. Pulsatilla is also excellent for the baby blues - that period a few days after labour when every little thing produces tears from the highly hormonal/ emotional new mother. If she then goes on to become post-natally depressed, a THW homeopath can give her a course of specialized treatment involving constitutional and hormonal balancing remedies.

13. SECALE

Tends to be routinely used after the labour to help expel the placenta. If the woman decides to have Syntometrine then Secale can be used to antidote the injection immediately afterwards.

14. SEPIA

A great remedy for severe pains that cause a dragging heavy sensation in the pelvis. The woman is irritable, snappish and weepy.

Pulsatilla and Sepia are often used during pregnancy for all sorts of reasons - anxiety, piles, weepiness, morning sickness etc. A qualified THW homeopath would be able to choose the best remedies for your condition.

The following prescription is usually recommended after labour:-

Hypericum 200c morning

Calendula 200c lunch time

Bellis Perennis 200c p.m.

Arnica 200c night

Take the above for a week or so after delivery until more or less recovered.

Lastly, some women can feel traumatised by a birth with lots of medical treatment including painful internals, catheters etc. Staphisagria can help them to get over the anger, resentment and humiliation that can haunt a woman after such an experience. This is best prescribed by a qualified THW homeopath.

During labour the above 14 remedies can be given in single doses. If the correct remedy has been selected you should see an improvement within 5/10 minutes. If the symptoms start to relapse then repeat the remedy as often as needed. If the symptoms change then choose another remedy.

You can buy a ready made kit from The Health Works for £20. Homeopaths at THW can arrange an individual appointment for you and your birth partner to explain how to use the kit in more detail.

They can also provide a special pregnancy programme of homeopathic tissue salts that provide cellular nutrition for you and the baby during pregnancy.

After the birth, both you and the baby can benefit from constitutional homeopathic treatment. Your THW homeopath can give you advice about natural approaches to parenting and childhood ailments in general.

Hypnobirthing

The team:

Jo Redmond |

More information will follow

Inductions

The team:

Health Works has several experienced practitioners that can carry out natural inductions if your labour has not started on time. A chemical induction at the hospital has a much higher chance of ending with medical intervention, eg, forceps, ventouse or even Caesarian. A hospital induction increases your likelihood of needing drugs and possibly taking away your ideal image of how you wanted your labour to be.

Give your labour a better start with one of the following options - acupuncture, homeopathy or reflexology. These are available 6 days a week, ring reception to book. We strongly advise that you start thinking about a natural induction as soon as you reach 40 weeks as the doctors may not let you go too long after your due date.