How Birth Partners Can Best Support Birthing People in Labor

​Every few months I teach a Partner Yoga for Birth workshop that helps pregnant folks and their partners explore how yoga and breath can help prepare for labor and also ways they can explore together what support looks like during labor.

With restrictions in place on the number of support people currently allowed at hospital births, many folks have been inquiring about how to better prepare their birth partners for supporting them in their labor. Here are some key takeaways from that workshop that will hopefully be of service to you and to them.

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Tips for Labor

• For partners you offer support through presence, just being there and not doing anything is a huge support, your job is to hold space and be the protector of the space
  • There can be pressure to be the coach but serve them best by being the partner
  • Your job is to be the protector of the space
• Explore if there is anywhere in pregnancy, birth plan or with new baby where you’re not seeing eye to eye?
• Remember in labor that when the laboring person turns inward the connection between the two of you can feel small, but know that its there
• Partner’s job is to keep the labor rituals going if they stop
  • Labor rituals can be anything: movement, sound
  • Labor rituals stop when things get hard, and that’s when the birthing person needs them the most
• A huge tool is distraction during contractions. This forces the brain to split its attention and it can only then spend so much time focused on the intensity of the contraction. Ways to distract that work vary from person to person and may change throughout labor, but might look like:
  • Massage
  • Gentle touch, rubbing or scraping with fingernails
  • If in tub or shower, pouring water down their back or over their body
  • Song, making noise, music
  • Eye contact
  • Breathing together
  • Aromatherapy

 
Communication in Labor

• What does support look like: verbal, physical, presence, distraction
• Practice communication:
  • Remember communication may be limited, especially later in labor
  • How can we communicate without words?
  • Listen with eyes, look for non-verbal feedback
  • Try not to ask open-ended questions, ask things that can be answered with "yes or no"
  • Don’t take things personally

 
Poses for Labor

• Slow Dance Pose: perfect for labor because you utilize gravity while standing, it’s a way to be close and also for the laboring person to be supported (what a video of it here).
• Double Hip Squeeze: which is helpful for back labor and contractions (watch a demo of it here)

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Birth Partner Support During Labor
Don't forget to think about what kind of support the Birth Partner will need during labor:

• Wear comfortable clothes
• Pack snacks and beverages for yourself
• Hydrate, use the bathroom and rest as you can
• Remember, you are in charge of your needs so make sure they’re getting met

 
Homework

• Make time to spend with one another and connect
• Explore these questions together, giving your partner the opportunity to share without trying to jump in and “fix” whatever they have mentioned:
  • What are you the most worried/anxious/scared about? About pregnancy, labor and birth.
  • What are you the most excited/happy/joyful about? About pregnancy, labor and birth.

 
Resources

• The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
• Spinning Babies https://spinningbabies.com