A birth ball or exercise ball as they are sometimes referred to, are a great tool to use to help promote comfort and well-being throughout pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum.
Remember to consult your healthcare provider or a personal fitness expert, before starting any new exercise routines during pregnancy and remember to listen to your body postpartum, don't do anything that feels too strenuous.
There are lots of great prenatal and postnatal classes around, where you can use birthing balls as part of the exercise class. This can be a great way to learn how to use the birthing ball properly. In Leeds, Leeds Physiotherapy and Pilates and PhysioFit offer prenatal and postnatal Pilates classes, which are great to do during pregnancy and postpartum and are an opportunity to meet other people too.
1. During Pregnancy - Prenatal Exercise & Stretching
Gentle Bouncing: Sit on the birth ball, with your feet flat on the floor and gently bounce up and down on the ball. This can improve ciculation in your legs and help relieve any tension in your lower back.
Pelvic Tilts: Whilst sitting on the ball, practice pelvic tilts, by rocking your hips forwards and backwards. This can alleviate back pain and strength your core muscles. This will be so helpful during labour.
Hip Circles: Sit on the ball and rotate your hips in circles, to improve flexibility and reduce discomfort in the hip and pelvic area.
Wall Squats: Stand against a wall, with the birth ball between your back and the wall. Slowly lower yourself into a squat postion by bending your knees, using the ball for support. This can help build strength in your legs and prepare you for labour.
Using a birth ball during pregnancy cannot only improve your strength and reduce common pregnancy ailments, such as back or pelvic pain. It can also be a great tool to help get baby into an optimum position, ready for birth. Regularly having a straight spine and being upright, can really helps baby to get into a head down position, with their face looking towards your spine.
2. During Labour & Birth
Active labour positions: During labour, the birthing ball can be a useful tool for mainitaining comfort and promoting progress. During labour, you want to be in an Upright, Forward and Open position (U-F-O). A birth ball can really help promote this position. Being in a U-F-O position, this doesn't only help labour to progress, by having gravity on your side, but it also allows for 30% more space in the pelvis. This makes giving birth much easier for you and your baby. You can rock, sit or sway on the ball, to ease contractions and encourage your baby to move down the birth canal.
Pelvic Circles: Whilst in labour, you can sit on the birth ball and gently rotate your hips in circles. This encourages optimal fetal positioning and can relieve any backache.
Forward leaning positions: Leaning forward on the birthing ball, while on your hands and knees, can reduce pressure on your spine, making contractions more manageable and facilitate labour progression.
3. Postpartum Recovery
Gentle Rocking: After giving birth, the birth ball can provide soothing rocking motions, that can comfort your newborn and help them to sleep.
Core Exercises: As you recover postpartum, the birthing ball can be used for gentle core-strengthening exercises, such as seated leg lifts or pelvic tilts.
Back Support: Sitting on the birth ball with good posture, can help alleviate back pain, as your body recovers from the strains of pregnancy and childbirth.
If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of using a birthing ball during pregnancy, labour and postpartum, read this recent article by Chess Thomas.
During pregnancy, it's important to prepare the body for birth, but it's also really important to prepare the mind too. On my Hypnobirthing courses, I teach you how to prepare the mind and body for labour, birth and postpartum. I teach you Hypnobirthing tools and techniques and skills that you can use for the rest of your life. As a Doula and Hypnobirthing teacher, I always teach my families about great labour and birth positions that they can use, which will allow them to be in Upright, Forward and Open positions and about how and why it's important for baby to get into optimum positions, ready for birth.
If you'd like to know more about my Hypnobirthing course or my Doula Support packages, please visit my website or drop me an email.
Julia x