Perineal Massage...

[Freeasabird58]

Has anyone done this & found it beneficial in regards to labour & birth (tears etc) x

I'm 35+4 and am trying to do it - but tbh not sure if I'm doing it right so don't know if it will help or not so very interested in this thread!

I have attempted it when PG with DDs and found it too much of a faff but perenium so tattered and scarred now that I am going to knuckle down and really do it this time. Very interersted to hear about peoples experiences too.

Only do it if it helps you relax. Really - just poking around and making yourself tense cs you're not 'doing it right' is very little help at all tbh.

Go to the physio if you find your muscles are tight and you find it painful. It's so so so worth the visit. She'll help you stretch them gradually, and give you some idea of what's to come.

Remember to relax your muscles though when the baby is crowning - like when you have a massive poo!
Listen to you own body and also to the midwifes' advice as when to push, and just be aware that your body has done very well at pushing out poos before, and it will be able to push out a baby.

Good luck with the births.

See the physio after the birth to get your pelvic sling muscles back in action.

Oh, should add, if anyone is as worried as me about inflexible scar tissue actually preventing the baby exiting, MW says this will absolutely not happen and that the perenium couldn't obstruct the birth of a baby that has passed through your cervix. No guarentees that I won't tear obviously, but I was genuinely concerned that baby could get stuck behind the skin!

am just bumping this as I too am interested - started trying to do it last night (DH did it - no way can I reach!!) and would be interested to hear from any MNers who can comment either way on whether they think it made any difference in terms of avoiding a tear/episiotomy.

don't think it made one jot of difference, tbh

I did it with dd1 and 2, and still had 2nd and 3rd degree tears. I think a lot more depends on the position you give birth in, and whether any instruments are involved.

I did it with my first and had very tiny tear that didn't need stitching, he was born face up not sure if that helped or not.

Have been a bit more slack this time, probably due to being busier and have had a couple of boughts of thrush after doing it and it has put me off a bit, not sure if it was related at all though.

have read plenty of sheila kitzinger and natural birth books that say it helps- to be honest i think anything that reduces the chance of tears or episiotomies is a good thing. and tissue there is meant to stretch so it makes perfect sense to gradually do it in the weeks before birth. certainly can't do any harm.
cinnamongreyhound: i don't think it could be causing thrush- most women carry some thrush internally anyway, it just overgrows sometimes (and one of those times is pregnancy of course).

The midwife at my antenatal class said that it's difficult to say whether it makes any difference because

• you dont know how the outcome would have differed if you had/ hadnt done it

ie Some people are more stretchy than others so they might have not torn even if they hadnt done it, whilst others do it, tear anyway, but might have been worse off if they hadn't, or might not have been.

As Towan says, her point was that it can't do any harm, although she did say that other factors, such as birthing position and speed of delivery, may be more important factors. She is a big advocate of "stand and deliver" so she would say that!

[sits on fence]

Very interested in this thread as i have had pretty bad tears with boy DS1 and 2 and was going to start trying this week (35 weeks). Trouble is, was going to get DH to do it, but i just know that if i do he'll get, how can i say it?.....uhm, he might enjoy it too much and i just don't know if i can be bothered with that sort of thing at the moment!....am i sounding unreasonable?!

Interested in this thread... how do you do it???

Lol at cluds!!!

I was told I should start doing it at 20 weeks. Was reluctant to do it that early, so I'm hanging on. I'm 26+5 now.

TBH I don't actually think there's anything a perineal stretch does that a good old shag wouldn't do!

Go for it cluds

I found that perineal stretching made me very tense as it felt so unnatural, and medicalised, and a friend I know used a vitamin E oil and she had a bad reaction to it .
I also got thrush from using oil, so maybe you are right cinnamonGH

Basically a good old shag will stretch your muscles just as well as a perineal stretch and it's a lot more enjoyable.

The thing to remember is that you are to relax your muscles.

Get a physio to really stretch them by leaning on them with her thumbs if you feel the need to give it a go, but from what I know now (having extensive physio for damage) I think lots of sex will actually do the trick - especially if your DP/H 'leans' on the perineum - i.e. doggy style penetration. It's certainly a lot more fun than the rather tense making, medicalised perineal stretching..

Good luck!

My obstetrician told me it is more to do with a) you and your perineum, ie some are more stretchy than others and b) the speed of delivery of the head.

With DD1 we took almost an hour to deliver her head, and she came out sideways (was OP but turned at last minute). No damage at all. And she was a decent sized baby with a very big head (just like DH).

I doubt I'm that stretchy - as I tried to use an epi-no but hated it so gave up in favour of eating icecream. So I think the speed of delivery might have some merit.

Think you may be right there zazan, as DS1 was born at 37 weeks when I went into labour after a shag and having tried the massage yesterday on my own, I have to agree that even a shag sounds more fun than trying to be double jointed and massage my own perineum!

I did it twice a day for most of the pregnancy with DS using a Boots Perfect Perineum Gel - total waste of time since DS didnt even use that exit due to needing an emergency c-section!