Reflexology to induce labor: How reflexology can help induce labor & which reflexology points to use

Over the past almost 20 years I have used reflexology to help women go into labor completely naturally and today we are going to share with you the only four reflexology points which you will need if you too want to go into labor naturally. Plus we're also going to explain how exactly reflexology can help you induce labor and what you can do if it's not going fast enough for you! I am Nathalie, a Pregnancy and Birth Consultant and TCM Therapist and I am Mathias, a Researcher and Science Geek and we love helping mommies and their babies naturally and science-based! For more useful tips and tools on pregnancy and baby related topics, subscribe to our channel and hit the bell so you don't miss any of our videos! So just in case you're not familiar with reflexology: Reflexology is very similar to acupressure in the sense that we press and massage pressure points. However in reflexology, all these pressure points are located on your soles and feet instead of all over your body. And we can use them to influence certain functions in the body. In our case, we stimulate reflexology points to help you soften your cervix and to release the right kind of hormones so that your body can go into labor faster, as we're going to see! And just a final note: please keep in mind that reflexology should not be applied if you have a history of miscarriage a risk of pre-eclampsia or if there are any other pregnancy- related complications. Moreover, you cannot have reflexology if you have deep vein thrombosis or any other blood clotting issue. That is why we recommend letting your healthcare provider confirm that it is okay for you to have reflexology. And if they give you the green light, your job is to relax while your partner does all the work! Yeah, you got the easy part here! Well, a well-deserved easy part. A well-deserved easy part, that's very true! And while you relax, here is what your partner needs to do. The first reflexology point we focus on represents the pituitary gland which is responsible for the release of oxytocin. So, the aim of stimulating that point is helping the body establish that hormonal balance that is required so that it can go into labor eventually. So, first of all, your partner needs to find the approximate center of your big toes! Then he needs to press his thumbs against these points in a slightly upward direction! This is easier to accomplish when your partner secures your toes from behind with his fingers. He should now firmly press and massage the toes for at least one minute! Moreover, he can alternate between firm pressure and firm rotating movements if he likes. The next reflexology point represents the uterus which we want to prepare for contractions. To find the point, you first need to find the highest point of the medial ankle bone on the inside of one of your legs. Then find the approximate end of the bone of your heel! Draw an imaginary straight line between the two points and take the midpoint of that line! Your partner should now massage the point as well as the area above and below the point for at least one minute. He can alternate between rotating movements, rubbing as well as firmly pressing the point. Afterwards, do exactly the same on the other leg! Okay before we continue, can we quickly ask you a question? How are you liking this video so far? Is it easy to follow? We would be super grateful if you could leave us a short comment in the comment section below! Tell us what you like or don't like about our video or simply subscribe to our channel and/or like this video so that we know that you have found it helpful! Any feedback is more than appreciated because it helps us enormously to improve our videos. Thanks so much! Next, we focus on your nervous system in order to help you relax. That's because relaxation is a major prerequisite for the body to establish that hormonal balance that we talked about earlier. In order to find the area that represents your nervous system, simply palpate along the bone on the inside of your foot, starting at the bony prominence below your big toe and finishing on the point which represents your uterus from the previous step! So the line that you can see here is located right on the edge of the bone. Tell your partner to massage three to four times from one side to the other side! Alternatively, he can also start at the center of the imaginary straight line along the bone and move with both thumbs into opposite directions. Afterwards, do exactly the same on the other leg! The last point represents your pelvis. We stimulate that point in order to engage your baby because the pressure of the baby's head on the cervix will help soften the cervix and bring it into the right position. And second, it can help with pelvic pain which is often an issue in pregnant women as I know from personal experience. What your partner has to do here is really simple: your heel represents your pelvis! And so your partner simply needs to massage your heel for at least one minute in various ways! For example, rotating movements, massaging from one side to the other side, massaging upwards and downwards, pressing firmly against the heel etc. Whatever you find most convenient! Afterwards, do exactly the same on the other foot! Okay, so what we would normally do at the clinic is start with reflexology in the second half of week 38 of your pregnancy! And normally we would stimulate the reflexology points that we just showed you up to three times per day. But again, you would need the approval of your healthcare provider! Right! The purpose of starting with reflexology early enough is making sure that your body is indeed ready for labor as you're getting closer to your due date. Because if your cervix is not soft, it cannot dilate. If your body does not produce the right kind of hormones, you cannot get any contractions, right? Yes and that is why we call tools like reflexology "labor acceleration tools" because they can help you speed up the time until your body is ready for labor. In other words, we use labor acceleration tools like reflexology to enable your body to go into labor in the first place, by softening the cervix and by releasing the right kind of hormones. And very often this will be enough for your body to go into labor completely naturally all by itself. However, that's not always going to happen, particularly not if you try to induce labor before your actual due date! In such a case a much more effective and efficient approach would be to apply reflexology or other labor acceleration tools to first help your body get to a point where it is ready for labor. That's right! And then you can apply one of the tools which we call "labor induction tools" because they are much more powerful to actually induce labor compared to reflexology, if your body is ready for labor. In fact, if you apply them correctly such labor induction tools could help you go into labor within 72 hours. And that's because now, that your body is ready for labor, the tools for actual labor induction are much more likely to work! Let us give you an example so that you really understand what we mean here: Nipple stimulation is a great tool to help induce labor because it is much more powerful than reflexology. However, according to scientists nipple stimulation is only likely to work if you apply it once your cervix is soft! Moreover, the chances of getting contractions from nipple stimulation are almost twice as high if you have had at least some contractions already prior to stimulating your nipples. Yes and both is exactly what we try to achieve with reflexology if your plan is to induce labor naturally. In other words, reflexology is supposed to help your body get to a point where you can indeed naturally induce yourself with nipple stimulation because now it is much more likely to work since your body is ready for labor. That's right! If you are interested in getting to know other "labor acceleration tools" and also if you want to know what kind of tools are more powerful to actually induce labor, then check out the video that you can now see somewhere at the top of your video screen! It shows you the exact tools that Nathalie applies at the clinic almost every single day, to help women go into labor completely naturally! Exactly! Thanks for watching! And please remember to leave us a feedback in the comment section below or simply like and share our video if you have found it helpful! We really appreciate each and every one of your reactions because your feedback helps us a lot to improve our videos! That's right! And for more useful tips and tools on pregnancy and baby related topics, make sure to subscribe to our channel and to hit the bell!