Hormones in Labour and Birth

Birthing Hormones – Nature’s Secret

The integrate wonder of birth also allows us to release certain hormones that aids our coping mechanisms during birth.

It is important to understand when and how these hormones are released and what the ideal environment is for them to work at an optimum level, ensuring that birthing becomes a time to remember, rather than a time best forgotten.

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is often known as the “hormone of love” because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labour and birth, and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviours.

Receptor cells allow a woman’s body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy, and then sharply in labour. Oxytocin is a potent stimulator of contractions, which help to dilate the cervix, move the baby down and out of her body, give birth to her placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labour and birth, the pressure of the baby against the cervix and then against tissues in the pelvic floor stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a suckling newborn.

Low levels of oxytocin during labour and birth can cause problems by:

causing contractions to stop or slow, and lengthening labour
resulting in excessive bleeding at the placenta site after birth
leading providers to respond to these problems with interventions

A woman can promote her body’s production of oxytocin during labour and birth by:

staying calm, comfortable, and confident
avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
staying upright and using gravity to apply her baby against her cervix and then, as the bab

is born, against the tissues of her pelvic floor (these stimulate oxytocin)

engaging in nipple or clitoral stimulation activities before birth and giving her baby a chance to suckle shortly after birth (these stimulate oxytocin)

Endorphins

Endorphins are calming and pain-relieving hormones that people produce in response to stress and pain. The level of this natural morphine-like substance may rise toward the end of pregnancy, and then rises steadily and steeply during un-medicated labours. (Most studies have found a sharp drop in endorphin levels with use of epidural or opioid pain medication). High endorphin levels during labour and birth can produce an altered state of consciousness that helps women flow with the process, even when it is long and arduous.

Despite the hard work of labour and birth, a woman with high endorphin levels can feel alert, attentive, and even euphoric as she begins to get to know and care for her baby after birth. Endorphins may play a role in strengthening the mother-infant relationship at this time. A drop in endorphin levels in the days after birth may contribute to the “blues” that many women experience at this time.

Low levels of endorphin can cause problems in labour and birth by:

causing labour to be excessively painful and to feel intolerable
leading providers to respond to this problem with interventions

A woman can enhance her body’s production of endorphins during labour and birth by:

staying calm, comfortable, and confident
avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
delaying or avoiding epidural or opioids, as a pain relief method

Adrenaline

Adrenaline is the “fight or flight” hormone that humans produce to help ensure survival. Women who feel threatened during labour (for example by fear or severe pain) may produce high levels of adrenaline. Adrenaline can slow labour or stop it altogether. Earlier in human evolution, this disruption helped birthing women move to a place of greater safety.

Too much adrenaline can cause problems in labour and birth by:

causing distress to the unborn baby
causing contractions to stop, slow, or have an erratic pattern, and lengthening labour
creating a sense of panic and increasing pain in the mother
leading providers to respond to this problem with caesareans and other interventions

A woman can keep adrenaline down during labour and birth by staying calm, comfortable, and relaxed. The following can help:

being informed and prepared
having trust and confidence in her body and her capabilities as a birthing woman
having trust and confidence in her caregivers and birth setting
being in a calm, peaceful, and private environment and avoiding conflict
being with people who help her with comfort measures, good information, positive words, and other support
avoiding intrusive, painful, disruptive procedures