Why Use A Birth Comb?

A comb is a cheap and simple tool that many of us may have hanging around at home that might make all the difference to how you manage pain or the strong sensations you feel during labour.

It works in 3 main ways:
1️⃣ Distraction - squeezing it gives you and your conscious mind something else to think about while your body does it thing
2️⃣ Acupressure - we have acupressure points just below our fingers and triggering these can actually help to promote relaxation (and we like relaxation because it creates more oxytocin for labour and a feeling of well-being from endorphins)
3️⃣ Pain Gate Theory - our brains can only think about certain things as a priority at once and will demote other thoughts/sensations as less important. By squeezing the comb we aim to divert the neural pathways and effectively distract our brain into thinking about what our hand is doing rather than what our uterus is doing. Pretty cool, huh?!

What sort of comb do you need?
You’ll find all sorts available these days, but believe me you don’t need to spend a fortune on one specifically designed for birth. It needs to fit comfortably in your hand to be squeezed and ideally also be made of a material that won’t hurt you, like plastic which could have spiky bits, bend or snap, so wood is a better choice. If you’re in the UK and you’d like to buy one like the one I’m demonstrating, drop me a DM.

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