Acupuncture For Prenatal & Postnatal Care

Prenatal Care

For over 3,000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine has promoted specialized treatment for women in pregnancy care and postpartum recovery. Today, this care is becoming increasingly popular and practiced by acupuncturists and specially trained midwives. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal recovery are viewed as a window of opportunity to enhance the woman’s well being. Conversely if adequate care is not taken, problems may continue long after the birth. Therefore, value is placed on promoting preventive care before, during, and after pregnancy to strengthen the mother and baby and dealing with any pregnancy problems as they occur. Acupuncture can be used in a variety of ways to promote fetal and maternal health and offers a safe, effective, and drug free treatment option during pregnancy.

Common pregnancy conditions that are treated with acupuncture include:

  • Nausea and vomiting

  • Musculoskeletal pain/swelling

  • Breech and posterior position babies

  • Hypertension

  • Labor preparation and labor induction

Other pregnancy concerns that can be relieved with acupuncture:

  • Headaches

  • Heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids

  • Sinus problems

  • Anxiety/depression

  • Insomnia

  • Carpal tunnel syndrome

POSTNATAL Care

Acupuncture has techniques to promote recovery; these include diet advice and the use of specific strengthening and blood-building herbs. Other postnatal conditions that acupuncture helps include insufficient lactation, wound healing and scar tissue repair, postnatal depression, and urinary incontinence.

A Prenatal Care Success Story

“During the third trimester of my second pregnancy, I was referred to acupuncture with Allison by a close friend. I had been experiencing a lot of back and shoulder pain, as well as heartburn, and was not sleeping well. I had never tried acupuncture and Allison immediately put me at ease; she met with me to discuss my symptoms and health first, and then applied the needles. I was surprised at how calm I felt; the needles did not hurt and the room was very soothing. I left feeling relaxed and in less pain.

Around this time, I found out that my son was breech, and that it was most likely too late in the pregnancy (37 1/2 weeks) for the baby to turn himself around. The doctors told me my choices were to schedule an external version to manually turn the baby, or to leave the baby as he was and plan for a cesarean section. I scheduled the version and then went home to research alternatives. I kept coming across acupuncture and moxibustion as having proven successful for many women in my circumstance. Allison worked with me for three more visits (and helped me with ideas for techniques I could use at home) prior to my scheduled version. I started to feel better, as if the baby was sitting in a more comfortable position. The morning of my procedure, I was admitted to the hospital and found out that the baby had in fact turned around and was vertex! I was happily discharged and sent home to wait for my due date. Allison continued to see me to the end of my pregnancy, even as my due date passed she helped encourage my body to prepare for labor. I saw her when I was 2 days past due, and the next morning I was in labor. I would absolutely recommend Allison; she's professional, relaxed, and caring, and the acupuncture treatments really helped my health and well-being during my pregnancy and labor.”

Lara H.