Month: August 2023

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The BRAIN Acronym for Childbirth

The BRAIN acronym can help you make informed decisions about your birth and beyond. It is a powerful tool for preparing and planning for any event, including pregnancy, birth and parenting.

What does the acronym stand for?

Benefits: What are the possible advantages of this option? Think about the positive outcomes and how they fit with your goals and wishes.

Risks: What are the possible risks and drawbacks? Identify any negative consequences and how they might affect you and your baby.

Alternatives: What other options are there? Consider different approaches that might achieve similar or even better results.

Intuition: What is your gut telling you? How do you feel about each of the options?

Nothing/Now: What happens if we do nothing? How urgent is the decision? Do we need to act now, or is there time to think about it further, or even sleep on it?

Using BRAIN as a decision-making tool helps make sure your decisions are well considered and fit your goals and your individual preferences.

How can I use the BRAIN acronym for childbirth?

Here is one example of how you might use BRAIN for birth planning and decision-making:

Example – Induction of labour

Benefits

  • A way of starting labour when your baby needs to be born sooner because of a risk to them or to you.
  • Your baby can be born at a time when specialist staff and facilities are available, for example a paediatrician for babies who may need extra care.
  • Social reasons: having a little more “control” over the timing of the birth and being able to plan childcare and so on around it. NOTE: induction of labour often takes more than one day!

Risks

  • If your body isn’t ready to give birth yet, progress can be slow. It can take several days for labour to start, and you may need a caesarean birth if the induction doesn’t work.
  • Birth partners are not always allowed to stay for the whole induction process. Often they can only be there during (sometimes extended) visiting hours, so you may be on your own for a while.
  • It can be very uncomfortable for quite some time, and you may need more pain relief than with labour that starts on its own.
  • A higher likelihood of an assisted birth using a ventouse (vacuum) or forceps, partly because epidurals are used more often.
  • Overstimulation of the uterus, which can cause stress to you and your baby.
  • Synthetic oxytocin (the drip) replaces your body’s own natural oxytocin (the hormone of love, labour and lactation). Some research suggests this may affect your natural oxytocin release afterwards and make establishing breastfeeding harder in the first few days, although the evidence is mixed.

Alternatives

  • A membrane sweep, which may help labour start without a full induction.
  • Natural methods some people try, such as nipple stimulation, eating dates, hypnosis or acupuncture (the evidence for most of these is limited).
  • A planned caesarean birth.
  • Extra monitoring of your baby while you wait for labour to start on its own.

Intuition

How does the thought of an induction make you feel? Are you comfortable with this option?

Nothing

What happens if I do nothing and just wait? The risks vary depending on why you are being offered an induction. Ask your midwife or doctor about the specific risks to you and your baby, and find out how much time you have to think about it. Is this an emergency? Can you get a second opinion or sleep on it? Ask the question “What happens if we wait?”

When writing your birth plan or making other decisions, remember to ask questions, and use your BRAIN to make informed choices that are right for you and your birth.

Birth workers: my induction of labour informed consent and decision activity is a ready-made way to practise BRAIN with your clients, and the BRAIN acronym is also explained in my Antenatal Class Journal.

Sources and further reading
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Floppy Face Floppy Fanny

“Floppy face, floppy fanny” is a simple technique that may make childbirth easier and more comfortable, and may even help reduce tearing. How?

Childbirth can be physically and emotionally intense. It is natural to feel some fear, tension or discomfort. However, many birth workers believe that relaxing the face can make the birthing experience easier and more enjoyable, and may even reduce the likelihood of tearing. The idea is often credited to the American midwife Ina May Gaskin, who observed that a relaxed mouth and jaw tend to go hand in hand with a relaxed pelvic floor.

The concept is based on the connection between the muscles of the face and jaw and those of the pelvic floor, vagina and vulva. When the face is relaxed, especially around the mouth and jaw, the pelvic area tends to relax too. By consciously softening the face, the birthing person aims to create a ripple effect that helps the muscles of the birth canal relax, making it easier for the baby to pass through.

Linking facial relaxation with childbirth may sound unconventional, but many people find it makes a real difference. Combined with slow breathing, visualisation and a consciously relaxed face, it may bring more comfort, less pain and a smoother birth.

Of course, how well it works varies from person to person. Every birth is unique, and many factors affect how it unfolds. Talk to your midwife for personalised advice and support during pregnancy and birth.

So why do I say “floppy face, floppy fanny” rather than “relax your mouth and jaw”? Because it is much more memorable for expectant parents! I also use “loose lips, loose hips”.

Some breathing techniques are especially good for keeping the jaw, lips and mouth relaxed. One of the simplest and most memorable is “horse lips”: breathe out slowly through loose, relaxed lips so they flutter, just like a horse.

Online Birth Preparation Course only £35!

Please also check out my online course! No videos, just text and images to learn in your own time. Includes hypnobirthing mp3s, scripts, workbook, handouts, infographics and much more! Lots and lots of information at your fingertips! Includes:

  • hypnobirthing mp3s
  • hypnobirthing scripts
  • written information
  • infographics and other imagery
  • printable handouts
  • printable workbook/journal
Enrol now

Sources and further reading

  • Fischer MJ, Riedlinger K, Gutenbrunner C, Bernateck M. Influence of the temporomandibular joint on range of motion of the hip joint in patients with complex regional pain syndrome. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2009 Jun;32(5):364–71. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2009.04.003. PMID: 19539119
  • Dr Lauren Keller: Jaw, tongue tie and pelvic floor connection
  • MamasteFit: Breathing, our pelvic floor, and labor
  • Talasz H, Kremser C, Talasz HJ, Kofler M, Rudisch A. Breathing, (S)Training and the Pelvic Floor – A Basic Concept. Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jun 2;10(6):1035. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10061035. PMID: 35742086; PMCID: PMC9222935.
  • Van der Velde, J., & Everaerd, W. (2001). The relationship between involuntary pelvic floor muscle activity, muscle awareness and experienced threat in women with and without vaginismus. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(4), 395–408. doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(00)00007-3