Reflexology for pregnancy

Reflexology and acupuncture are often hailed as the two key therapies to assist with fertility issues of conceiving, having a good pregnancy and for promising a shorter labour. More than ten years ago I first became aware of the positive influence reflexology has on fertility in my own practice when a client who had come for help getting through a particularly stressful phase in her life suddenly revealed that the treatments had given her regular periods for the first time in her life. She had been given fertility drugs to have all three of her children and she then thought if only she had known of reflexology then.

About the same time an old friend was having great trouble conceiving and I was not really surprised as she had no sense of smell. (Vital for falling pregnant - notice how it peters off in menopause, is at it strongest when you are ovulating or in early stages of pregnancy.) They had tried IVF and found it expensive, intense and disappointing. I suggested at this point that she try Reflexology because it would regulate her cycle and make it easier to determine fertile days. My friend became pregnant within a few months and later took a course in Reflexology to use on her two lovely children.

In my practice over the years I have become quite well known for fertility issues such as helping people conceive, have good pregnancies and shorter, easier labours though reflexology. I think it is actually very hard to fall pregnant and we all seem to expect it to be so easy; correction - unless you are a teenager who hopefully doesn't want to anyway. Using contraception such as the pill often (when taken out of the system by couples wanting a family) means either fall pregnant immediately or not for 18 months. (Before I advocate not using contraception, I think itís very important as a barrier method for certain diseases but I am not sure that such methods as the pill give the control they claim to.) Among the ëPost Pill Generationí it appears we have lots of women in mid to late 30's who want to have a family but have postponed this to have a career etc and now find it difficult to conceive. This was not something they advertised when promoting the pill. The increase in IVF proves this and it is sad to look around at your friends having IVF and struggling with it, knowing what fabulous parents they would make.

So how does Reflexology help? It essentially brings the body into balance, into its natural state of homeostasis, or perfect functioning order. Thus it brings the body back into health by balancing any over - or under - active organs, hormones etc. To begin with, clients might need sessions weekly to get them in balance and then monthly, more for maintance. Then, in the final stages I recommend having weekly sessions with one just a few days before the birth. Initially Reflexology regulates the cycle, which makes it much easier to determine the fertile phase. When the body is in this natural balanced state it is the most natural thing to fall pregnant easily. (In aromatherapy people also
comment on how the anti depressant oils are also the aphrodisiac oils; that is because when people are well and in vital health they are successful, confident, happy, fertile people).

Reflexology helps in the early stages with symptoms such as morning sickness and breathlessness etc. I have never had a client who has had more than 8 hours in labour after having reflexology. I have had several breach babies who were to be 'turned'. They were referred to me by midwives first to see if reflexology could help and each case has been successful. Working on the diaphragm seems to be a key thing for, if the baby has not been able to turn fully, reflexology can release the diaphragm and then hopefully allow baby to move.

I work with the right, then the left foot in the original Ingham Method, preferring to follow the clockwise pattern of the colon. Different therapists may work differently going back and forth between feet, but I find when I finish with right foot and move onto left, the baby has normally started to move and stretch out and reposition itself.

Remember too this contact is good for the baby. Baby massage reports show that (if attached to a scan) the baby's hand comes up to meet the mother's massaging hand on the abdomen - what a lovely bonding opportunity? The same is true with the feet. Recently I worked on a colleague as often as possible through her pregnancy and the baby could be seen doing cartwheels virtually through her clothes when we got to the left foot.

People have the misconception that reflexology will bring on birth. In the last year I have had so many people show up believing that if we press a particular point you go immediately into labour. Mercifully this is not the case. One of the most magical things I think about carrying the child is that it overrides the mother and takes what it needs from her body and so is always protected albeit at the cost of mum. If mum decides to diet, the baby won't so mum will end up undernourished, not the other way round. Likewise the baby will be born when it is ready and not before. All reflexology does is create the best environment by bringing about these conditions in the body, but will force nothing. (Having said that, in early stages we do not touch the reproductive reflexes as we don't want to unsettle development.

Author: Melanie O'Brien