One of the most viewed videos on YouTube, if you are interested in the topic of pregnancy is the one in which you see a pregnant woman breathing and in which she practically the tummy disappears. The technique that follows is the bellypump, a diaphragmatic breathing technique whose practice can protect the pelvic floor, or reduce abdominal diastasis after delivery.
We give you more details about this technique that we recommend that you learn and practice, yes, after on request to the gynecologist / gynecologist who is taking you.
Description of the Belly Pump
The creator of the Belly Pump breathing method, Brooke Cates, explains that the technique involves breathing through the diaphragm. It is about recovering the diaphragmatic breathing with which we enter the world when we are born. We gradually lose this breath and change it to a breath through the chest.
Diaphragmatic breathing helps maintain the parasympathetic nervous system, it helps to keep calm and lower stress levels. On the other hand, chest breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, which leaves our body in a constant state of stress. By way of information, we will tell you that a woman expels three times as much oxygen during childbirth as an athlete expels during a marathon. Therefore a woman must be trained and physically prepared to cope with childbirth.
You can see the video we were talking about at the beginning in the The Bloom Method Instagram account. You will be very surprised how the belly of some women "disappears", even if they are in an advanced period of pregnancy.
Benefits of this type of breathing for pregnant women
In addition to what we've talked about helping you relax and stay calm, the Belly Pump has other benefits for pregnant women. One of these benefits is the decrease in urinary incontinence. Prevents pelvic floor prolapse thanks to its strengthening. It also results in less back and pelvic pain.
After childbirth, many women suffer abdominal diastasis postpartum. Having been training in this type of breathing, Belly Pump, will help the woman throughout the pregnancy.
During labor this type of breathing would also have a calming effect on the baby. In this sense, this conclusion has been endorsed by some obstetricians and gynecologists. Arancha Fajardo, founder of the maternal education portal, aranchamatrona.com, explains that in her maternal education classes she teaches future mothers to push using this technique. It is also the most suitable to have a more effective and faster expulsive phase, and with fewer side effects.
Other types of breathing techniques during labor
We have already said that the Belly Pump focuses on diaphragmatic breathing for, through it and from physical exercises, achieve the strengthening of the lumbar, pelvic, and abdominal regions. These three areas are of great importance for a safe pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, healthy and without complications.
There are specialists who maintain that breathing is a spontaneous process that the mother acquires during childbirth. However, it is worth taking into account at least the four basic techniques that are taught in maternity courses.
- Breathing slow or abdominal, when contractions start.
- Breathing accelerated light. Inhalations a little shorter than the previous ones, with the nose-mouth pattern. They increase the baby's oxygen level and help control pain.
- Gasp or variable respiration. It is applied while waiting for the necessary degree of dilation and helps to avoid the feeling of pushing. It consists of very short breaths through the nose and mouth.
- Breathing of expulsion or push. The last of the breathing techniques in childbirth. It is important not to hold your breath when pushing, because it can damage the pelvic floor and inhibit oxygen to the unborn baby.