If you have given birth, or if you are pregnant, you might be worried about tearing. Even though you understand the vagina is meant to stretch to let baby ease out during birth, there are things you can do to help the process.
Enter perineal massage: A technique that can help your perineum (the area between your vagina and rectum) be more pliable during birth and less prone to tearing or damage.
You can prepare your perineal area for childbirth with some simple massage and you can also ask your birth workers to help you during birth to make things go more smoothly – and hopefully make for an easier recovery.
So, what is perineal massage? It is a gentle way to stretch and massage your perineal tissues and help make your pelvic floor ready for the birth of your baby. It can help loosen the muscles and tissues, so you have less tearing, scarring, pain and healing that needs to be done.
If done during the last few months of your pregnancy, perineal massage can help you have an easier – and possibly less painful – birth and recovery. That’s because it can help reduce the risk of tearing.
While there aren’t conclusive studies about its benefits, it isn’t shown to do any harm, so it’s definitely worth a try!
You might be wondering how to do a perineal massage. You can learn how, or you can ask your partner to do it. A good pelvic floor physical therapist can help you as well, by teaching you a few proper techniques. Your birth provider (a midwife or doula) might also be able to show you some techniques as well.
Give it a try!
Everything Birth
At Everything Birth, we hope you have a beautiful birth and peaceful babymoon.