3 Must Know Tips For A Smoother Birth

What You Can Do to Guide Your Pregnant Clients

I love letting my curiosity guide me, and I have had fun trying out new technology, including AI to see what pops up. Recently, I used an AI tool to ask “What are the main tips for supporting a smoother birth in pregnancy?” The list included relevant results, yet it was missing three key tips that are essential when working with pregnant clients.

The Tips We Know But Love

When I used the AI tool, to ask what the main tips for supporting a smoother birth in pregnancy are, I received a list that was rather predictable, but still helpful, nonetheless, for those working with pregnant clients. Here are the points that came up:

Nutrition

Eat nutrient-rich foods such as lean meats, salmon, vegetables, whole grains, lentils, and yogurt. Maintain a diet high in protein and vegetables while minimizing sugar intake. Consider eating six dates per day in the final four weeks of pregnancy, which may help with dilation and reduce the need for labor-inducing medications.

I would love to add the research shared by Dr. Hollis and Jen Aliano in this year’s (2025) Birth Healing Summit on the importance of Vitamin D to this list for supporting a smoother birth as well. This vitamin is essential for the pregnant and postpartum body.

Exercise

Engage in regular, low-impact exercise like walking, swimming, or pregnancy yoga to improve strength and stamina for labor. Practice deep squats to relax and lengthen pelvic floor muscles. Do Kegel exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, which can help prevent issues like urinary incontinence and hemorrhoids.

Relaxation and Stress Reduction

Find time to relax using techniques such as massage, meditation, or hypnosis. Practice visualization and mindfulness to help manage stress and maintain focus during labor and support a smoother birth. Use breathing techniques to relax your body and reduce discomfort during contractions.

The 3 Must-Know Tips for a Smoother Birth

While the AI generated tips are important there are 3 missing must know tips for a smoother birth that I drive home with every one of my pregnant clients.

How Body Movement and Use Set the Stage for Birth

Habits with sitting and standing are just as important as what your client is doing for exercise. In fact, I would say even more so because of the time spent in those positions. If your client is sitting at work, commuting, and sitting on the couch at night, how many hours is that? Consider how long a yoga class is or a walk they take in comparison to how many hours a day they are sitting and standing.

I appreciate Katy Bowman’s approach to exercise in that our 20 to 60 minutes of exercise a day doesn’t counteract the habits we are doing all day long. For example, Spinning Babies has 3 exercises that are excellent for helping bring balance to the pregnant body to support a smoother birth. Still, we can offer more to our clients by assisting them to become aware of the things they can do outside of just exercise.

When working with pregnant clients, I will talk about movement to help bring their awareness to what is going on in their body and to highlight their specific areas that need balance. I ask my clients:

• What are they doing all day long?
• How are they using their body throughout the day?
• What is causing the imbalances in their body in the first place?
• How are they sitting and standing?
• What can we do to help create a better balance in the body?

I will then do manual work to help adjust the pelvis and release tensions in muscles that are tighter and have more muscle tone on one side versus the other. I look for a posteriorly rotated pelvis, clenched glutes and pelvic floor muscles, and sitting on the tailbone, as these will create a more challenging birth for clients.

Quick Note: Knowing how to release muscular and fascial tension in the body can help in balancing out the body from side to side which can help baby’s position in the body. I share specific techniques in a brand new course coming May 5, 2025 called Pregnancy Pain and Beyond. We will go into the different fascial trains, techniques for working with the muscle and fascia, and learn the impact restrictions in the body have on baby’s position, and ultimately, on creating a smoother birth.

While I don’t expect everyone to be completely symmetrical, I believe we can help our clients avoid sitting or standing positions that may be hindering the pelvis from opening for birth. The goal is to help our clients be as balanced as possible, especially as they get closer to birth.

What the Body Holds Will Impact Birth

The second key point I want pregnant clients to know is that any previous injuries and impacts their body has been through may impact birth. Have they experienced any falls on their buttock or tailbone at any point in their life? Have they had any previous lower abdominal surgeries? Sacroiliac joint dysfunctions or low back pains may be clues that something needs to be addressed prior to labor to help them have a smoother birth.

Appendectomies are the number one surgery I see frequently in my clinic that causes babies to be more positioned on the right side of the body. Scar tissue from the surgery often inhibits the uterus from being able to move to the left, so the baby is stuck on the right side of the body. Just looking at a pregnant belly is not enough. We need to do uterine mobility testing to see if there is a limitation from side to side in 3 different motions. I teach you how to do this in Pregnancy Pain and Beyond course as well.

Baby’s Positioning Beyond Head Down

While most people are aware of making sure a baby is head down and not breech, there are nuances beyond whether or not baby’s head is down that providers should be aware of.

A baby’s head can be in any of the following positions and as a result can create a situation that makes birthing a baby harder and most likely longer for your pregnant clients:

• Slightly off-centered
• Oblique heading into a hip
• Really high and not engaged into the pelvis

Join me for the first live group cohort of the new Pregnancy Pain and Beyond course (starting May 19, 2025). I cover what to do with each position as well as how to help breech-positioned babies. You’ll have the skills to know exactly what to do to create space and balance in the body for the baby to choose a more midline and hopefully head down position to promote a smoother birth.

Let’s help to change the success of vaginal births by addressing these 3 key points with pregnant clients. Our client’s habits and helping them to understand their body and baby’s positioning better can lead to a more easeful and smoother birth as well as a faster recovery.

About the Author: Lynn Schulte is a Pelvic Health Therapist and the founder of the Institute for Birth Healing, a pelvic health continuing education organization that specializes in prenatal and postpartum care. For more information, go to https://instituteforbirthhealing.com