Acupuncture and Pregnancy

Acupuncture of the Bladder Meridian in Pregnancy

This ancient drawing of a pregnant woman with points on the Bladder Meridian highlighted, shows a long history of Bladder Meridian stimulation on pregnant women.

For hundreds, even thousands of years, Chinese Medicine practitioners have used acupuncture to assist pregnant women. The Bladder Meridian is shown in this ancient drawing and has been used to treat pregnancy over all these years.
In my Toronto practice, the most common uses of the lower Bladder Points shown in the drawing include:
B67 – by the mother’s baby toe, to encourage turning from Breech position and turning from posterior position.

B60 & B62 – on the outside of the ankle, to encourage the head to descend and engage.

For more information: contact me at dawn@dawnaarons.com or 647-209-8259

Another breastfeeding success story

Tong Ru Dan is a Chinese Herbal Formula used  to increase breastmilk production (for women with “Qi and Blood Deficiency”).

D came to see me for the first time last week. She is 38 years old and gave birth to her first child (a Boy!) 4 months ago. D has been committed to breastfeeding the whole time. Due to minor complications at birth, her son did not latch quickly and was given formula. Mom’s milk came in day 6-7. She came to see me hoping to get her son off formula completely. He was having one formula feed at night (at which time she would pump breastmilk) and otherwise nursing and drinking expressed breastmilk the rest of the day.

I treated D with acupuncture and asked Dr. Yuxiang Wang (www.cgicm.ca) to make her a herbal formula (the picture in this blog is of one day’s worth of herbs).

I saw D today, 6 days since we began working together and she had great news. After one day, D felt soreness and fullness in her breasts. Her milk production has been increasing steadily and last night she pumped 180ml. Before she started treatment she was pumping less than 100ml. Both mom and baby are happy and doing well. Wow!

C-Section can be a positive birth outcome

Hi Dawn,
We had a baby boy last Friday. R wouldn’t flip despite
our best efforts so he came out via scheduled c. Like you said, once
he was born safe and sound that was all that mattered. He is doing
really well, eating like a champ and sleeping well too.

NM- Toronto, 2013

I saw NM for an acupuncture appointment in which I also showed her how to use moxibustion to help turn her baby from a breech position. Moxibustion has proven to increase the chances of a baby turning to a head down position; however, of course it does not always work. If it is successful at helping to turn the baby or not, I have found that moxibustion empowers women. They are making their best effort and eventually need to come to peace with whatever the outcome is. I always reassure women that “as long as you and your baby are healthy, you will be thrilled no matter how your baby is born”.

Acupuncture helps woman go into labour

Women often book acupuncture appointments to address their eagerness to go into labour. In some cases, they are past their due dates. It may also be that their water has broken and contractions havn’t started.
I always explain that an “acupuncture induction treatment” is an invitation to the body to go into labour, but can not force something that is not meant to happen.
In Chinese Medicine, the two common reasons that labour can be delayed are
1) the woman is exhausted
2) the woman is stressed or anxious
Acupuncture treatment encourages labour (by stimulating points that direct energy downward and opening energy). Treatment also address the physical and mental emotional state of the woman at that moment – inviting her to feel both relaxed and energized.
I was pleased to receive an email from a patient a couple days ago. This woman came to see me last week pregnant with her 3rd child. Her first two children were born at home with midwives. She was disappointed that her water broke at 38 weeks with no sign of contractions and hoped to avoid a hospital induction. She came to see me at 11am. Her labour started at 2pm that same day and her baby was born at 5pm! She was thrilled.

Newborn baby Viviane

It was a honour to assist Viviane’s mother at her birth. Her mom especially liked the pain relieving support from auricular acupuncture (pressure on the “shenmen” spot on her ear during contractions). Acupuncture is used to support women in labour, for progress, to help turn babies and for pain relief. For more information, contact Dawn or your local acupuncturist.