About Lamaze Breathing Exercises
Lamaze breathing is a deep-breathing pain-management technique used by women who want to experience natural labor and childbirth. During pregnancy, a mother-to-be practices Lamaze breathing exercises so that during labor, she will be familiar with important breathing techniques to help ease and transfer the focus off the pain of natural childbirth.
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The History of Lamaze
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Dr. Fernand Lamaze, a French obstetrician, introduced his child-birthing method in 1951. His methods included teaching the mother-to-be childbirth education classes, breathing techniques and relaxation while requiring a supportive husband and specialty trained nurse to provide support to the mother throughout her childbirth experience. In the late 1950s, his methods reached the United States. In 1958, Elisabeth Bing and Marjorie Karmel began to teach the Lamaze method, and in 1960, they incorporated what is now known as Lamaze International (see Resources).
How to Do Lamaze Breathing
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The Lamaze breathing exercises include the baseline breathing, slow breathing, blowing breathing, patterned breathing and the cleansing breathing exercise. The baseline breathing exercise consists of monitoring your normal breathing pattern for one minute to determine how many breaths you normally breathe per minute. The slow breathing exercise consists of inhaling as you count to three, four or five and exhaling as you count to the same. The blowing breathing exercise is done by inhaling through your nose and then exhaling by blowing out of your mouth. The patterned breathing exercise is the familiar "hee, hee, hoo" technique that is often associated with Lamaze. This is done by exhaling with two short breaths followed by blowing out the rest of the air through your mouth. Finally, there is the cleansing breath exercise that consists of taking a deep, slow breath in through your nose then exhaling with a deep, slow breath out of your mouth.
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Why Lamaze Works
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Lamaze may work because the deep-breathing exercises and relaxation techniques taught help to keep a women comfortable, focused and in control during labor and childbirth. Some women have a fear of the unknown and the childbirth educational aspect of the Lamaze method may empower pregnant women by giving them the knowledge they need to overcome their fears of childbirth.
Learning Lamaze
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Lamaze classes are available for women who are interested in learning the Lamaze breathing techniques. Lamaze classes last about six weeks and cover topics including labor education, positioning during childbirth, massage techniques, breathing techniques, relaxation skills and comfort measures that can be used during labor and delivery.
Practicing Lamaze
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If you plan on using the Lamaze breathing techniques during your labor and delivery, you'll want to learn the techniques as soon as possible and practice them daily. You'll also want to have your husband or labor coach learn them too, so that he can practice coaching you on how to breathe during the different stages of labor.
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Resources
- Photo Credit woman leaning on exercise ball image by Ken Hurst from Fotolia.com
