Are you readying to give birth and wondering if Acupuncture could induce labour naturally?

Is this much-talked-about induction approach simply a myth or a much-needed treatment?

Is there a scientifically-substantiated link between Acupuncture and labour benefits other than induction?

Given that medical induction can come with side effects — like increased pain, failure to progress, and the potential for harm to mother and child during the birth and beyond — you may be searching for alternative options to promote birth naturally. Acupuncture is undoubtedly beneficial during the last trimester of pregnancy, but can it be trusted to help you navigate the challenge of birth, let’s take a look…

Can acupuncture bring on labour?

While we might like to think that birth is straightforward, it’s a complicated process that depends on many factors... Like how (biologically) ready Mum is for labour and how mature the baby is.

A delicate balance of hormones controls the readiness of mother and child. The hormones in the mother’s and baby’s bodies are designed to work in unison. Ideally, the hormones align perfectly when the time is right to promote a smooth and efficient birth. Timing is key to the orchestral harmony of birth.

But sometimes, this doesn’t happen. Glitches and mistiming can happen, like two instrumentalists who’ve not quite learnt how the other plays. To be successful and seamless, an intervention should match what’s happening in both bodies. This is tricky. This trickiness is one reason why medical induction can create problems, and why natural interventions often fail.

As the due date of your baby approaches, your body begins to prepare for birth by releasing various hormones that play essential roles in the process. Oxytocin, the “love” hormone, helps to promote feelings of calm, encourages bonding with your baby, and contributes to pain relief during labour. It also helps to stimulate the contractions of the uterus that are necessary for giving birth and for the release of breast milk after your baby is born.

The “fight or flight” stress hormones, adrenalin and noradrenalin, become more active near the end of labour. These hormones help to energise uterine contractions and urge the mother to push, speeding up the delivery. They also play a role in protecting the baby from low oxygen levels and promoting healthy breathing.

Another hormone, beta-endorphin, acts as a natural painkiller during labour and helps reduce pain perception. This hormone can also elicit euphoria during birth, a rush of joyful power and confidence.

Finally, prolactin, the “mothering” hormone, promotes breast milk production, breastfeeding, and motherly instincts. However, the amount must be finely balanced as high prolactin levels have been associated with anxiety.

Together, these hormones help to prepare the mother’s body for the birthing process and promote a healthy and positive transition for mother and baby.

As you can see, it’s a complex process. One that has been carefully calibrated over millennia. So, intervening to speed things up naturally isn’t easy because holistic methods don’t force change. They don’t introduce external hormones in an attempt to “make” delivery happen. In short, inducing labour is difficult to do naturally.

Yes, including the gentle approach of Acupuncture.

The many benefits of acupuncture in childbirth

So, what’s the hoo-ha about?

Why do women swear by Acupuncture during and in the latter stages of pregnancy or even during delivery?

While Acupuncture does not induce childbirth, it offers other significant advantages for birthing mums. Ones well worth considering because, while medical intervention can work and be life-saving, it comes with risks. According to birthing expert Sarah J. Buckley, MB, ChB, Dip. Obst, medical inductions are overused at the potential cost of the mother and baby’s health.

Medical induction can disrupt the mum and baby’s hormonal physiology around birth. The finely tuned orchestral masterpiece we spoke of earlier. This can negatively impact the processes of labour, delivery, bonding and breastfeeding.

So, what alternatives are there?

Acupuncture can support maternal readiness for birth

Acupuncture can help you to be ready for birth in various ways. By relieving discomfort and pain, ripening the cervix, and soothing psychological stress, you can prepare physically and psychologically for a healthier birth experience.

Let’s see how…

Relieve pregnancy discomfort and pain with acupuncture

In the third trimester, it is common to feel discomfort, even pain. After all, your body goes through monumental changes to grow your baby. It’s hard work!

Acupuncture may offer relief.

An estimated 40–70% of women report low back and pelvic (lumbopelvic) pain during pregnancy. A study published in the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies investigated the impacts of using Acupuncture to treat pregnant women experiencing lumbopelvic pain. They found that 88.9% of its participants reported “a clinically meaningful symptom reduction following their treatment.” There are few therapies that can claim this level of success.

Acupuncture may promote healthy body tissues and engage mechanisms that inhibit pain, including opening the doors to the brain’s natural drug cabinet. Increasing production of endorphins, the body’s pain-relieving compounds, for example.

Less pain can help you move more freely, feel energetic, and encourage sounder sleep. This is profoundly beneficial during pregnancy and in the psychological and physical preparation for the birthing process.

Ripen the cervix: Acupuncture readies the body for labour

Cervical ripening refers to the process by which the cervix, the lower part of the uterus that opens into the vagina, becomes softer, thinner, and more flexible in preparation for childbirth. The cervix must dilate and open up for your baby to pass through the birth canal.

In some women, the cervix can be firm and closed as their due date approaches. This makes it more difficult for labour to progress. Helping the cervix to ripen, then, may encourage dilatation and prepare your body for delivery. Promising research suggests Acupuncture can aid this process by affecting hormones like oxytocin.

An article published in the revered Cochrane review called Acupuncture or acupressure for induction of labour reported that Acupuncture could help to soften and dilate the cervix. This may reduce labour pain and help birthing mums avoid a “medical induction with other methods such as prostaglandins.”

So while Acupuncture may not be a silver bullet for labour induction, it is likely helpful.

Soothe psychological stress to ease pregnancy & labour

Psychological stress is understandably common during pregnancy. It’s an exciting, incredible, and nervous time! The birthing process is emotionally and mentally taxing, particularly for first-time mums.

But when in excess, tension matters because the “stress hormones,” adrenalin and noradrenalin, are involved in the birthing process. The saying “right time, right place” applies here.

In the wild, birth can happen in an unsafe place. So, a potential threat — one that could harm the mother or baby — inhibits labour. The stalling process may be due to the stress hormones’ inhibition of the uterine muscles. It makes sense. By delaying birth, there is time to find a protected location.

Like our wild ancestors, women are still impacted by stress. While most women, thankfully, give birth in safe environments, high levels of stress hormones in early labour can slow progress. More prolonged labour can result.

However, as birth becomes imminent, a surge of adrenalin and noradrenalin should activate the foetus ejection reflex. This reflex spurs the uterus to contract strongly to push bubs out into the world. Again, this makes evolutionary sense. If a threat were to present itself close to the baby’s worldly entry, Mum would need to give birth to her child and be ready to fight or flee.

Not ideal, granted. And rare in our modern world. But the fantastic genetic blueprint we carry — the one that still informs physiological responses — was designed aeons ago. This reflex is still essential for birthing your baby quickly and easily.

Again, as you can see, timing is crucial. Each “instrument” (hormone) requires synchronisation to perfect the orchestral masterpiece of birth.

So, managing psychological stress before and during most of one’s labour — that is, until near the final throes — could promote a healthy birth.

Acupuncture may offer soothing, synchronistic support.

Acupuncture for perceived stress in pregnant women: an intervention study found, “The use of acupuncture to treat stress during pregnancy reduced the stress perceived by pregnant women.”

Acupuncture may also stimulate the release of endorphins, considered “feel-good” hormones, because they soothe tension, boost the sense of contentment, and inhibit pain perception.

However, your Acupuncturist must be experienced and know your body well. When strong acupuncture stimulation is used, it may have the opposite effect on stress-related hormones. Research has shown that Acupuncture can increase and decrease stress hormones. This is likely related to individual responses to strong stimulation, which some women may find unsettling. 

On that note, being forced to relax into (or endure) strong stimulation could create a dump of endorphins[1]  in the central nervous system. Although less likely, if levels soar, it can slow labour. 

With this in mind, strong acupuncture stimulation aimed at inducing contractions is a questionable practice. However, once labour is well-established, and pushing is required, increasing the stress hormones may prompt the foetus ejection reflex and help to birth bubs quickly and easily.

If we think back to our orchestral analogy, the timing of intervention with strong stimulation is critical.

Which leads me to specific questions I’m commonly asked by my patients: how may Acupuncture help once labour begins, what happens after attempted labour induction with Acupuncture, and where are the Acupuncture needles inserted?

Acupuncture & labour: What happens after attempted labour induction

A typical medical or holistic treatment aims to induce labour by stimulating uterine contractions.

Acupuncture is commonly used to (try to) induce contractions, but research and my experience show it’s not very effective. I believe this may be a question of timing. As I’ve mentioned, birth is a biological masterpiece. Every hormonal instrument must sync flawlessly to give the perfect performance; in this case, a healthy, timely birth.

But we can’t exactly know what’s happening within a birthing Mum. This means we can’t know — because we can’t succinctly time — whether applying Acupuncture will support or even inhibit the birthing process.

Many acupuncturists strongly stimulate points on the sacrum (tailbone), legs, and hands. This strategy often leads to the tightening sensations of Braxton Hicks’ contractions. These can be considered the body’s way of readying for true labour. But it doesn’t mean that labour has commenced.

These “false contractions” may occasionally develop into regular contractions, sometimes within hours. On the flip side, they may also result in no progress or lead to ongoing tightening sensations that cause fatigue before labour.

Still, you may be wondering where are the needles placed.

Labour points: Where are the acupuncture needles inserted?

Many acupuncturists use strong stimulation at points BL32, SP6, and LI4. This approach is recorded in the foundational texts of this ancient therapy and is commonly used.

But, as I said, I don’t promote Acupuncture used with the aim of labour induction. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that stimulating contractions to induce labour is a myth. The research doesn’t support its purported benefits. Unless, perhaps, it is timed to promote the foetus ejection reflex. This would require an Acupuncturist who specialises in, and is infinitely experienced with, labour and who will be with you during the birthing process.

Instead, research and my experience tell me that Acupuncture may be invaluable in supporting women during pregnancy, including during the last trimester.

How may acupuncture support a woman in the lead-up to labour?

By relieving pregnancy discomfort and pain, ripening the cervix, and soothing psychological stress, Acupuncture may promote the ideal conditions for healthy natural labour. Remember, these factors contribute to the harmonious melody of the orchestral masterpiece of birth.

The overall birthing benefits of acupuncture

While Acupuncture may not directly induce labour, this gentle, ancient therapy can offer positive outcomes for birthing mothers.

Relief from pregnancy discomfort and pain, promoting cervical ripening, soothing psychological stress, and the endorphin-driven sense of contentment contributes to a feeling of safety. As Sarah Buckley says, safety is critical to achieving undisturbed labour and healthy birth.

Acupuncture may also make the birthing experience more manageable, connected, and natural. Acupuncture has a vital role to play by promoting maternal readiness for birth in various ways and as a helpful addition to a holistic and medical approach to childbirth.

But as mentioned, timing and individual responses are vital factors. Seeking care from an experienced Acupuncturist who will work with your body is essential.

If you’re interested in exploring the benefits of Acupuncture for pregnancy and childbirth, book your consultation at our practice. Discover how Acupuncture can support your well-being during this beautiful, transformative time.

Author

Adam Hjort is a Registered Acupuncturist and member of Australian Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA). He has been practicing since 2010 and maintains a clinic dedicated to the treatment of pain located in Ashmore, Gold Coast. This article was last updated 17th February 2022.