Stress balls?

[LeBFG]

Anyone used stress balls in labour? How did you rate them - how useful were they for managing pain? My labour book says to take some different coloured ones along as they are cheap and small and you just never know, they might be great. I've tried looked on amazon but not really sure what I'm looking for - can anyone recommend some?

I guess no one has used them then?

I haven't used any yet. But I ordered some fairly cheapo juggling balls off Amazon which look like the ones in the Ju Ju Sundjin book which I'm hoping will do the trick. I figured that my DC1 would be happy to play with them if I don't use them for DC2's birth.

I'll also be interested to hear if anyone has found them useful to help them through labour... I've only got 3 weeks left (max) till I might have to give them a go...

Goodluck LeBFG!

I did.
Thought they would be useless but packed them anyway.. My mum laughed at me and also said they would be useless!
Actually found them really helpful. Used them all the way through my 4 day labour. Didn't take the pain away but gave me something to focus on and saved dh's hand being crushed! I worked out I got up to 16 squeezes and then the pain would ease.
Would def recommend them

They are called testicles. If you squeeze really hard they turn blue!

I took one with me when having DD two weeks ago and yes, it did really help me. My DP has arthritis so I didn't want to be squeezing his hands ... I squeezed the ball, and DP held my hand over the ball. Doula held my other hand.

During some contractions I wanted to throw it at the wall, but it gave me something to focus on. I had a fairly short labour but got through it without pain relief so it's defo worth a try!!!

Oh these are great replies. Especially yours Wolf . It is Juju's book Happysurf. I was thinking the same as you!

I've been looking on ebay/amazon and these cheap ones don't look robust enough. Duchess and Jake, so you remember where you got your balls?

Mine was a foam type one in the shape of a world. Dh got it free from a rep at work. You don't need anything fancy. As long as you can squeeze the hell out it it will do the trick

The ones I've bought are these

They're a bit plastic-y but they're cheap and I won't be bothered if they break. Plus there's three so, I'll have one spare, incase I squeeze one too hard.

Thanks guys .

I did the same thing I used a stress ball to help me too!

I brought some with me but didn't really help I'm afraid! A TENS machine I found more useful during early labour but not so much once things really got going.