Empowering Birth Blog

Squatting: Better birth and better bowel movements

As a Peace Corps volunteer I became very proficient at using the squat toilet (as a former Peace Corps volunteer I also have no problem discussing bodily functions, smile).  Back in the United States I didn't give a second thought to squatting until I became pregnant with my second.  At my prenatal yoga training the instructor Mary Barnes mentioned she spent a lot of time helping women learn how to relax the pelvic floor (pushing is more effective with a relaxed pelvic floor) and that the best way to do this was on the toilet.  Taking this one step further, I think the toilet is also a great way to learn the benefits of the squatting position, not just for pooping, but for giving birth. 

I don't think you need to run out and buy Nature's Platform but their site has some good information on the benefits of pooping while squatting.  Scroll down the page to see the picture of the rectum straightened by squatting.  Your birth canal is very similar.  Squatting not only makes gravity work in your favor, it tilts the uterus and pelvis forward, placing the baby in proper alignment for birth (similar to the rectum straightening for better elimination).

So the next time you have to poop, grab a stool, place it in front of the toilet, and put your feet on it, spread apart, so that you are squatting on the toilet.  You might be surprised how much easier it is to poop!  Now if squatting helps pooping, imagine how useful squatting might be when it comes time to give birth.  And don't forget to practice relaxing the pelvic floor while you're there!

A big reason NOT to hook up

I am finishing my copy of Spiritual Midwifery (for the second time, great book!) and wanted to share Ina May's thoughts on birth and position.  She is talking specifically in this case about an occiput posterior (OP) baby or a baby who comes out "sunny side up," his face facing the moms front.

One obstetrics text states that occiput posterior positions occur in 15 to 30% of all births.  Other midwifery and obstetrics texts estimate the number of persistent occiput posterior babies to be in the range of 6 to 10%.  Our rate for over 2,000 births on The Farm has been under 2 percent.  I can only guess about this comparatively low rate of such labors.  It is certainly possible that the relative freedom of the mother to choose the position in which she felt most comfortable during the first phase of labor and to change positions frequently facilitates the rotation of the bay during the process of labor.1

We have been birthing for thousands of years.  Babies are supposed to come out.  It makes sense that most babies would be in an ideal position for birth.  I have attended births where moms, free to change positions, walk the stairs etc., have turned an OP baby.  Give yourself a head start in birth.  Don't get hooked up to the monitors/IV/etc.  Stay mobile! 

1. Ina May Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery (Summertown, TN, Book Publishing Company, 2002), 397.