How does squatting help induce labor

Sabiha Anjum Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. In This Article. What are the Benefits of Squats to Induce Labor? Precautions to Take When Doing Squats. Your Baby this Week November 15, Ruchelle Fernandes - November 10, Milo is primarily a male name that has been derived from multiple sources. Its Old Germanic form of Miles comes from the Latin word Xavier Name Meaning and Origin November 10, November 10, The information on this website is of a general nature and available for educational purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for advice from a medical professional or health care provider.

A qualitative research study investigated the impact of exercise on pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women who performed regular resistance workouts. They identified several benefits, including:. During pregnancy, the weight of your body may offer enough resistance for you to work out effectively. But you can always add weight by holding dumbbells in each hand, or by setting a barbell across your shoulders. This squat variation targets the inner muscles of the thighs and glutes.

Do not go past your normal range of motion. This exercise adds a level of instability to further engage the core muscles during the squat movement. If this exercise bothers your knees, only go as low as you feel comfortable.

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that act like a sling supporting the bladder, uterus, and other organs. As pregnancy progresses, these muscles can get weak, which can lead to urinary incontinence and other issues postpartum.

During pregnancy, squats are an excellent resistance exercise to maintain strength and range of motion in the hips, glutes, core, and pelvic floor muscles. When performed correctly, squats can help improve posture, and they have the potential to assist with the birthing process. If you have a healthy pregnancy, you can do them throughout. Not only it is a convenient form of low impact exercise most women can do easily, it also induces uterine contractions. Further, walking can also move the baby to the lower part of the uterus, thereby dilating the cervix and inducing labor Kegel Exercises: Kegel exercises work on the pelvic floor muscles, which are the most important muscles in terms of delivery.

If you do Kegels for 10 minutes twice or thrice a day, the muscles become stronger, thereby making child birth easier Lunges: Lunges also work great, on the same principle as squats.

It makes your hip region and upper leg stronger. This gives the baby inside more room to move to the lower part of the uterus, thus inducing labor Climbing stairs: While you might have avoided taking stairs for most of your pregnancy, it might actually help you in labor in the last leg.

Climbing stairs slowly and carefully, we do not want accidents that involve falling or slipping can open up your pelvis, start cervix dilation, descend the baby to the birth canal and induce labor naturally Butterflies: This is a simple stretching exercise that you will be familiar with if you work out regularly. It stretches your back, pelvis and thighs, increasing blood flow to these regions, making them more flexible and consequently easing the labor Pelvic Tilt: This is one of the most popular and simple exercise for inducing labor naturally.

You can do it twice daily and prepare your pelvic muscles for an easy labor and delivery Leaning: Leaning towards a wall or an exercise ball is another great stretch for your back and pelvic muscles, which will help in labor The most important thing to remember while you perform any of the above exercises or squatting is that you do not want to exert yourself.

You have to be very careful, avoid quick or jerky movements, make sure there are no accidents and always ensure that there is someone next to you to support and help, if you need it. We do not want to induce labor at the risk of causing physical injury.

So, ensure you understand the proper form of doing these exercises, especially if some of them are new to you. Hope you have a safe delivery experience! All the best! Already Pregnant? Preparing for the baby. Our site uses cookies to make your experience on this site even better. Exercise during pregnancy is no longer taboo, and in fact it is now promoted for its overall health benefits and in the prevention and management of gestational diabetes unless there are particular complications.

But ever since reading a quote from the infamous midwife Ina May Gaskin 'Squat times a day and you are going to give birth quicker' I have also been extolling the virtues of yoga style deep squat throughout pregnancy to ready the pelvic floor, assist with gravity during labor and use as a non-medicated pushing position.

Search for 'squat in pregnancy' online and you'll find hundreds of articles and video clips informing women of the benefits of remaining active and squatting throughout pregnancy. Some of the information refers to 'parallel' squats where the bottom does not go lower than the knees and knees do not go out further than the foot and some refers to 'deep' squats where the bottom is dropped very low in between the knees in a yoga style position.

Parallel squats clearly help to build quad muscles and I did them for weeks hoping to strengthen my legs for ski season, but parallel squats in pregnancy can be hard if you are not already used to doing them and put your knee ligaments into an unstable position. An alternative version is demonstrated roughly a minute into this video clip. Deep squatting seems to offer a better overall way to stretch and align the pelvis in pregnancy and help the baby to descend.

Many of the 50 or so clips and articles I've reviewed wisely suggest consulting your doctor or midwife prior to beginning. But only a few of the web articles differentiate between the parallel and deep squat and even less listed any reasons to avoid doing deep squats - like hemorrhoids, low lying placenta, low lying umbilical cord vessels or a baby lying breech.

But perhaps the more serious reason for avoiding deep squats is engagement when the baby descends into the upper pelvis which normally occurs between weeks in first-time moms, but could be earlier or later.