Fertility
Can Acupuncture Help Me When TTC and During Early Pregnancy?
Eloise Edington | 24 Mar 2022
Are you wondering how acupuncture can help you when TTC and during pregnancy?
Acupuncture has been shown to have many benefits for fertility and during pregnancy. Experienced acupuncturist, Karla Perentin, shares how acupuncture can support fertility, the health of mother and baby in pregnancy, as well as common pregnancy symptoms acupuncture can alleviate.
As a trusted FHH expert, Karla Perentin from Nature Heals specialises in using Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Arvigo Maya Abdominal Therapy to treat gynaecological, fertility and pregnancy issues. Visit her website here to find out more and book an appointment here.
Over to Karla
Can acupuncture help during early pregnancy?
Yes. When trying to conceive with fertility treatment, your body is subjected to a surge of hormones. You’ll likely be optimising your diet, improving your lifestyle and trying to minimise stress to get pregnant faster. As a result, your body might be experiencing a change to its normal functioning and fertility acupuncture can help to prepare the body for pregnancy.
During pregnancy, there are many physical and emotional changes in your body; your hormones change, your uterus changes shape and size, your breasts change, your skin changes, muscles in the body change, your blood volume increases by 50% which means that not only does your Heart need to work harder but so does your Spleen, Liver, Stomach and Kidney organs and meridians.
If your body is struggling to harmonise, various pregnancy symptoms arise such as nausea, vomiting, anxiety, depression, headache and insomnia.
Acupuncture is a safe, very effective and drug-free treatment for any trimester of pregnancy and can be a very good solution to many pregnancy symptoms when performed by a fully trained acupuncturist, focused on keeping Qi and Blood in harmony to support the healthy growth of the baby.
How often should I have acupuncture during pregnancy?
I always encourage women to keep coming for acupuncture after finding out they are pregnant to help them to have an easy pregnancy. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the mother is a physical and spiritual vessel and the mother’s well–being prior to and during pregnancy is very important for the baby to thrive.
Having pregnancy acupuncture treatments once a month promotes good health for mother and baby and can increase your baby’s quality of life. Classically in the 14th and 26th weeks of pregnancy, a happy baby treatment is needled using KID9 “Beautiful Baby” or “Guest House” points to strengthen the baby’s stomach and kidneys to help increase the baby’s health, tonify the mother’s Qi energy, calm the mind and relieve anxiety and depression, insomnia and help to reduce hypertension. These are all common pregnancy symptoms that can be alleviated by regular acupuncture during pregnancy.
What are the benefits of acupuncture during early pregnancy?
Acupuncture has been shown to help many common symptoms during pregnancy. Here are some of the ways acupuncture for pregnancy improves side effects.
Mothers who have regular acupuncture treatment during pregnancy report their babies sleep better, seem more relaxed and are sick fewer times.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, nausea, vomiting, indigestion and heartburn are very common recurring symptoms that can be very unpleasant and debilitating, making this magical time not as magic as it could be.
- If you experience pregnancy complications, it is recommended to see your pregnancy acupuncturist weekly to address morning sickness.
- If you are unlucky and suffer from severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum), acupuncture is safe during pregnancy and a proven method to reduce and remove unpleasant pregnancy symptoms.
- If you don’t experience many complications during pregnancy, you might decide to have acupuncture fortnightly or once a month.
You might feel tired or fatigued while your body is adjusting to a new life growing inside your body and you might also have anaemia as your body is making new Blood and Qi. Regular acupuncture treatments during pregnancy have been shown to be very helpful in boosting energy, ensuring a smoother flow of Qi and helping the production of Blood.
Insomnia can be another common pregnancy symptom because of hormonal changes. By treating the root of the problem, acupuncture helps the body to maintain hormonal balance which can improve sleep during pregnancy.
Very often in my practice, I have pregnant women suffering from headaches, back pain and pain in the pelvis. As a drug-free treatment, acupuncture can effectively help backache and headaches without needing to mask the pain with painkillers.
For some women, pregnancy can be stressful. If you’ve had difficulties trying to conceive or have a history of threatened miscarriage, it’s common to experience anxiety and depression in pregnancy. If you’re anxious to hit the 12-week mark, acupuncture can be particularly helpful in easing anxiety.
How can pregnancy acupuncture help in the third trimester?
If the baby does not move head–down toward the end of your pregnancy, baby isbreach, acupuncture and moxibustion is safely performed from the 34th week ofpregnancy by applying the herb Moxa on the BL69 acupuncture point. Moxa has a tonifying effect that promotes movement and warmth and encourages the baby to move.
During the last trimester from the 36th week I recommend every women to come once a week to help to prepare for labour. My signature acupuncture andreflexology Induction Combo treatment is specifically designed to ripen the uterus, promote relaxation and improve your energy levels to help achieve spontaneous labour and uncomplicated birth. Acupuncture is often very successful in inducing labour if you are overdue.
There are clearly many benefits of having acupuncture during early pregnancy when treatment is provided by an experienced fertility and pregnancy acupuncturist. Weekly sessions are usually recommended if you have certain health issues or problems during pregnancy, and monthly treatments are suitable for general well-being throughout pregnancy.
Karla focuses on pre–conception care with practical expertise for infertility, pregnancy care, birth preparation and postnatal health.
Book an appointment here.
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