Pre birth perineum trainer devices..

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I had a vaginal birth with no traumas. I didn’t use anything and I didn’t prepare at all I only educated myself on pain relief options I don’t think its needed personally!

Definitely not needed. You can do hand perineal massage if you want to but the evidence only says it’s proven to help prevent significant tears like 3rd and 4th degree tears and the use of episiotomies. Research breathing techniques instead to be able to control the birth of the baby’s head slowly. Also 90% of first time births result in a tear of some sort!

@Becky could you please share more about the pain relief options you mentioned? Any resources will also be helpful. Thank you.

I bought one and wish I never bothered. Honestly they're just making money off exploiting women's fears. Using one outside of labour is completely different to actually pushing a baby out while in labour. In labour your body releases hormones to make your vagina "unfold" and stretch gently over a long time. When you use one of these trainers you're trying to stretch things before they're ready, without any of the hormones aiding the process so it feels way worse. It really frustrated me and made me feel like it was a pointless exercise. I used it only a couple of times, hated it, and gave up. On the day I left my body to do what it naturally needs to do, I laboured without medical pain relief so I could feel when I needed to take it slow and hold back, and when it felt right to push forward. I ended up with no external tears despite my daughter coming out back to back with her hand up by her face (I did have a second degree internal tear but honestly it sounds so much worse than it actually was!)

@Emma 🌱 omg, well I'll follow your lead here then haha thank you

Good! Yeah long story short, save your money. I know tearing sounds really scary, and it's hard to explain until it actually happens but women have been birthing babies for thousands of years without any of these things and your body already knows what it needs to do. Things like hypnobirthing and learning about physiological birth can really help you understand how to give your body what it needs to do its job, e.g not birthing on your back in a brightly lit room, being able to move freely to whatever position feels best for you, an environment that helps you feel safe and calm.. it all adds up to giving yourself the space to listen to what your body is telling you, which will help you way more than any inflatable vagina balloon ever could 😄

@Sabah whatever your hospital of birth offers! NHS have a pros and cons for each method of pain relief options you can have during labour❤️ Gas and air, pethidine, epidural ect! I had gas+air and epidural xx