Acupuncture and Pregnancy are a very powerful combination. Alot of people ask me is it safe to do acupuncture when someone is pregnant. Yes absolutely, once the person is properly qualified in the area of fertility and pregnancy. Now we all need to start somewhere, I wouldn’t recommend going to an Acupuncture School, when pregnant. But once they are qualified and out in the world its so safe.
Its important to remember that we do have points that we dont use during pregnancy, I could count less than five fingers the number of points which we have to be careful with. And it is drilled into us do not use, do not use….
The 1st trimester is a great time to have acupuncture, typically I see people at week 6 and week 8 for acupuncture those to me are the most delicate times for acupuncture and pregnancy. And usually I let people go then until 38 weeks of pregnancy. Sometime people do have side effects of pregnancy, morning sickness, insomnia, cramping. I tend not to treat morning sickness until week 10. The main reason being that, well firstly acupuncture is extremely effective in resolving morning sickness. However, I noticed over time, I would get rid of the morning sickness and next morning my patient would ring upset the next day thinking something was wrong, now that the sickness was completely gone it triggered fears of a problem with the pregnancy. I had to remind them thats why they came into me, and always they would say, I think the morning sickness helped me realise the pregnancy was ok, now the morning sickness is gone, Im freaking out. So now its at 10 weeks….🙂
Between 32 weeks and 36 weeks is another amazing time to come to us for acupuncture in our Cork clinic. You may have had a scan recently and the medical team might feel the baby is no in the position they want them in, lets say its a breech position for baba….. This is my absolutely favourite type of fertility acupuncture during pregnancy. To this date, 18 years late it still blows my mind how effective acupuncture is at turning babies. Now dont worry here, we dont put needles into the stomach area, all the points I use tend to be just on the hands, elbows and feet….. so sessions at 32, 34 and maybe 35 weeks…… PERFECT !!!!!!!!
And finally we have the natural labour induction treatments…… typically I see patients at 38 week 39 week and 40 weeks. We have about 80% success here, with patients going maybe 2-3 days over their due date and a nice fast safe labour… I wish it was 100% however life is life… and sometimes baby is really happy inside mum and doesnt want to come out….🙂
So I hope this gives you a nice overview of acupuncture and pregnancy, if at any time you have questions. Do give us a call we would be delighted to chat. Have a great day. Gordon