Labor and delivery

Comfort measures that work

By Jennifer Vanderlaan

As your baby's birth approaches, you are probably wondering which comfort measures for labor are the most effective. The Childbirth Connection included questions about comfort measures in their survey, Listening to Mothers II. The results might surprise you.

Best methods

Regional analgesics (epidural and spinal) were the clear winners in providing pain relief. 81% of the women who used them said they were very helpful and another 10% said they were at least somewhat helpful. That gives a total of 91% of women who use regional analgesics who find them at least somewhat helpful. What was interesting was the same percentage of mothers, 91%, who used immersion in a tub or pool said it was either somewhat or very helpful during labor. Remarkably, 91% of the mothers who used massage for pain relief said it was either somewhat or very helpful.

Second place goes to the application of heat or cold. This can be in the form of ice or heat packs, rice socks or warm or cool washcloths. 81% of the women who used either or both found them at least somewhat helpful. The next best ways to handle pain were a shower and environmental changes such as music and dim lights. 78% of the women who used either of these methods said they were at least somewhat helpful.

Tied at 77% of the mothers finding them effective were mental relaxation strategies, position changes and breathing techniques. However, the mothers who used these were more likely to find them somewhat helpful than very helpful. 75% of the mothers who used narcotics, such as Demerol, found them to be at least somewhat helpful.

What this means

While any of these techniques is likely to provide some relief, it is important to understand regional analgesics were the only type of pain relief that more than half the women who used it found it to be very helpful. The comfort measures most likely to be not helpful at all were narcotics and the shower. This can tell you a few things about comfort measures while giving birth.

First, while comfort measures can reduce your pain and help you cope with your labor, you will probably still feel some of the discomfort of giving birth. The goal of comfort measures is not to remove all pain, but to provide you with tools to keep your labor progressing effectively. Many times, reducing the pain is enough.

Secondly, there are a variety of comfort measures that may work in your labor. Give yourself a few contractions to see how a comfort measure is working. If it does not help you cope with labor, try something different. You have a very good chance that the next thing you try will work.

Consider using more than one comfort measure at a time. For example, position changes with deep breathing and hot or cold therapy can do more together than any of the techniques will be able to do on their own. You might also want to combine laboring in a tub or shower with massage and listening to music.

Finally, small things such as changing positions or dimming the lights, can make big differences in your ability to cope with labor. Just because something sounds as if it is insignificant does not mean its effect on labor will be. Be willing to try all types of comfort measures. You never know what is going to work the best for you.