Acupuncture for Labor Preparation

Acupuncture is an amazing medicine for expecting mothers. Women who get acupuncture to prepare for giving birth have shorter and less painful labors, a reduced risk of cesarean birth, require less pain medication and chemical induction, and have shorter hospital stays.

At my clinic I offer a labor preparation series of acupuncture treatments. If you are local to the Boise area, or if there’s an acupuncture clinic near you, I highly recommend scheduling a series of acupuncture treatments for labor preparation.

There are some big misconceptions about acupuncture and childbirth, so I’m going to clear those up and explain what labor preparation with acupuncture looks like. I’m also going to share some potentially life-changing information about postpartum recovery, that’s at the end. 

In my clinic, our labor preparation series starts with gentle acupuncture treatments beginning at 36 weeks. I see you for weekly treatments until 40 weeks. At 40 weeks, we start daily treatments until the baby comes. We start using stronger techniques to stimulate more activity and movement, often including electro-acupuncture. 

This series of labor preparation is typically 6-8 visits, and costs $650-850 in total. 

Using this series starting at 36 weeks is the most effective method for supporting shorter and less painful labor. But many people don’t think about starting acupuncture until they have chemical induction scheduled in a day or two, and often approach acupuncture as a Hail Mary to induce labor naturally. This is because of a major misconception about acupuncture and labor. 

Acupuncture is not the same as chemical labor induction. 

Acupuncture is not going to instantly stimulate labor. Instead, it is working with your body to help encourage normal healthy body functions, relax overly tense muscles and tissues, and align your body with nature’s rhythms. 

In other (more scientific) words, acupuncture promotes cervical ripening, prepares the musculoskeletal structures of the body for labor, enhances endogenous oxytocin release, and stimulates endogenous enkephalin release. 

So if you’re planning ahead, I highly encourage you to start getting acupuncture at 36 weeks and follow our labor preparation schedule. That is the ideal scenario. 

And if you’re reading this at 40 (+) weeks and panicking that it’s too late, don’t worry - it’s still a great idea to get acupuncture as soon as you can. I’ve started a lot more labor prep series at 40 weeks than I have at 36 weeks, and all the feedback I’ve received from patients was that it has still been very helpful. 

Do your best to start getting acupuncture as close to 36 weeks as you can, and just know that acupuncture is amazing, but it isn’t induction.

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What does an acupuncture treatment for labor prep look like?

For treatments starting at 36 weeks, I treat expecting mothers in a face-up position, getting them comfortable with an elevated head (if needed) on my electric lift massage table, with pillows under the knees to relax the low back.

I insert acupuncture needles in specific points on the hands, feet, arms and legs. We never do any needles near the baby, the abdomen or genitals. Sometimes we’ll use points on the ears or scalp. Most people find acupuncture treatment easy to tolerate, comfortable, and relaxing. 

As we come to 40 weeks, we start to use some stronger stimulus with needle technique, and I often use electro-acupuncture - which feels like a tapping sensation (similar to a TENs unit, but milder). This can be a bit less comfortable at times, but still very manageable (especially when compared to the events to come).

At 40 weeks we will do a face-up treatment to begin, and an additional treatment in a comfortable side-lying position. This second treatment uses points on the sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spine. This provides gentle stimulus to the sacral nerve roots, which are the nerves that govern the function of the uterus, cervix, vaginal canal, and pelvic floor. 

All treatments are done with the patient fully clothed. You will want to wear loose, comfortable clothing that allows easy access to your arm below the elbow and leg below the knee. 

Postpartum Recovery

If you’re reading this and coming near the end of your pregnancy, it can be challenging to think about what life will be like on the other side of the monumental event of childbirth.

But I encourage you to read this next post, because how your postpartum recovery goes can have a major impact on your health for the rest of your life. There’s a great deal you can do to ensure that your recovery goes smoothly. For the sake of keeping things organized, you can find the whole post on postpartum recovery here.

Acupuncture Research

Birth preparation acupuncture for normalising birth: An analysis of NHS service routine data and proof of concept.

The Use of Electroacupuncture for Cervical Ripening in Pregnant Women