Birthing Spirit

After the birth of your bub, it is standard practice in the hospitals and birth centres at the moment to recommend ice packs on the perineum – I cringe just thinking about it.  To Chinese Medicine practitioners (and most of Asia) this is seen to introduce cold into the body which can lodge in the uterus causing stagnation and any number of other problems including, but not limited to abdominal pain, abnormal post-partum bleeding, hemorrhoids and future menstrual problems.  Trying to communicate this is not easy when the randomised control trial is the inquisition of modern medicine -  over 2000 years of Chinese Medical Wisdom just doesn’t cut it with most people.

I was overjoyed this morning to find support in a midwife I really admire, Gloria Lemay. Her article Midwife’s Guide to an Intact Perineum includes this:

Your perineum may feel somewhat hot and tender in the first hour after birth, and believe it or not, the remedy that helps the most is to apply very hot, wet face cloths. This is in keeping with the Chinese medicine theory that cold should never be applied to new mothers or babies. Women report that they instantly feel more comfortable when heat is applied, and any swelling diminishes rapidly.

Just the thought of an icepack on the perineum gives me the heebie jeebies and I am not alone, Heather Bruce in her DVDs for birth companions encourages birthing partners to be the “Cold Police” which includes keeping ice out of drinks and bare feet off cold tiles.

I’m sure it will all come full circle and years from now ice-packs on the peri will be one of those things that we will shudder to think we ever did.

Happy Christmas everyone! Love Heatherx