Anyone heard or tried gripping a comb during labour for pain relief?

[4athomeand1cooking]

I have come across this recently and it seems to be to do with acupuncture and pressure points in your hands connected to the uterus.

Has anyone tried this?

Never heard if it. Sounds like rubbish.

This isn't exactly the same but it was very hot the day i gave birth to DD and I had a fold out fan which I gripped tightly throughout labour. I had a synoctin drip induction and squeezed the fan tightly throughout each contraction, and didn't have any pain relief, nor did I feel any pain. The contractions were weird but not painful.

DD was my first so I have nothing to compare it to and my pain free labour may hsve had nothing to do with the fan but I was very insistent on not letting it go!

The specific points are supposed to be in the fold where fingers meet palms, some people seem to swear by it but I have never had acupuncture either so no idea

I was squeezing the fan really hard in my left hand, so that's where the pressure would have been.

I am due to give birth in the next month so I will try it and let you know if it worked this time around. I have been told pain relief is an epidural or nothing, and I don't like people messing with my back or feeling tied down so will give anything a try to avoid it.

Yes, I'm a doula and I've had two clients use it successfully for hours during labour, for one lady it was all she used.

A gentle mans metal comb just sits at the right acupressure points in the hand.

Altered images, can I ask why epi or nothing?

Ooh this is interesting!

I have never heard of this but I used a TENS for early labour and I suspect that mainly helped as a distraction - never underestimate a good sidetrack

I then got in the pool when I was about 7cm, no other pain relief - I had expected it to get much worse than it did. The midwife commented it was hard to judge how far on I was as I was so quiet.

Everyone is different, I suspect every birth is different, and I tried one suck on G&A and personally hated it I also told a student MW to fuck off when she popped in to see how I was doing, poor girl.

Good luck all x

lia I am going to be giving birth in a very old fashioned french hospital and the anaesthetist laughed when I asked about gas and air, and said it wad completely ineffective. It's a shame, I had DD in Egypt where there was no gas and air and pain relief aside, thought it might be quite fun to have a go.

I can only presume they don't have enough staff/facilities to offer other forms of pain relief or they think it is too risky for the baby. They seem quite risk averse here!

France. Ahh right.

You could take a tens machine or use water for pain relief ?

Gas and air worked for me!

Juju Sundin has written a book on this stuff, like squeezing/banging stress balls, stomping feet etc as a way to manage labour. I don't come accross it very often but it may be interesting to have a look at her stuff.

Whatever works, works is a fantastic rule for coping in labour, but the downside of gripping things tightly in labour is allowing tension to creep into the body which may also cause the mum to start holding her breath/breathing shallow which the body will interpret as sign of danger/problem which leads to further tension etc. If you want to grip something, make sure everything else stays nice and relaxed still.

Havnt heard of it but anything is worth a try. I bit through a flannel during labour (actually bit a hole) it really helped. I say try it all i it works amazing, if not your not loosing anything.