Pain Relief During Labour

Follow the links below to find information about the various methods of pain relief available during labour.

Reviewed May 2008

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20 Resources Found
Results 1 to 20 displayed.
Title:   Childbirth - pain relief options
Publisher:   Better Health Channel
Description:   Childbirth is usually a painful experience. A range of options for pain relief are available. These include drug free methods as well as medications such as nitrous oxide, pethidine and epidural anaesthesia. Each option has possible side effects and complications, which should be discussed with your doctor or midwife.
Date:   Aug 2008
Title:   Childbirth: elective caesarean
Publisher:   myDr
Description:   Read one woman's account of why she chose to avoid the pain of childbirth by having an elective Caesarean section.
Date:   Apr 2002
Title:   Epidural versus non-epidural or no analgesia in labour
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Epidurals for pain relief in labourEpidurals are widely used for pain relief in labour. There are various types, but all involve an injection into the lower back. The review of trials showed that epidurals relieve pain better than other types of pain me...
Date:   Aug 2005
Title:   Pethidine in labour (Comments for Consumers)
Publisher:   Australian Prescriber
Description:   Pethidine is a strong painkiller which has been used for more than 60 years. Although it has often been given as an injection to reduce pain during childbirth, it usually does not work very well.
Date:   Apr 2004
Title:   Does pethidine still have a place in the management of labour pain?
Publisher:   Australian Prescriber
Description:   Pethidine was first was first used in labour in 1940. Since then pethidine has been the most widely used systemically administered opioid for obstetric analgesia1. While pethidine relieves acute pain for 24 hours, there are concerns about its efficacy in labour.
Date:   Apr 2004
Title:   Epidurals
Publisher:   myDr
Description:   Learn about the anaesthetic procedure often used in childbirth, known as an epidural.
Date:   Jul 2006
Title:   Combined spinal-epidural versus epidural analgesia in labour
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Regional analgesia has been shown to be effective in providing pain relief in labour. Regional analgesia can be an epidural, a spinal or a combination of the two. Because spinals are only effective for a short period of time, they are not used on their ...
Date:   May 2007
Title:   Discontinuation of epidural analgesia late in labour for reducing the adverse delivery outcomes associated with epidural analgesia
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Not enough evidence to suggest that stopping an epidural late in labour lowers the risk of instrumental delivery or other unwanted outcomes....
Date:   Oct 2007
Title:   Childbirth: drug-free home birth
Publisher:   myDr
Description:   Read the story of Vanessa, who had a drug-free delivery in a birth centre for her first baby and chose to have her second baby at home in the bath!
Date:   Apr 2002
Title:   Prophylactic intravenous preloading for regional analgesia in labour
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Regional (epidural, spinal or combined spinal-epidural) analgesia is a common form of pain relief used during labour. Some women have hypotension (low blood pressure) following regional analgesia which can affect both mother and baby. Intravenous fluids...
Date:   Jun 2004
Title:   Interventions to help external cephalic version for breech presentation at term
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Babies born in the breech position (bottom first) are at increased risk. During external cephalic version (ECV) practitioners use their hands on the woman's abdomen to gently try to turn the baby from the breech position. The review of trials found that...
Date:   Sep 2003
Title:   Rectal analgesia for pain from perineal trauma following childbirth
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Women often suffer pain if their birth involves trauma to the perineum (area between the vagina and the anus). This trauma can result from an episiotomy (surgical cut) or from a tear that requires stitching. There are ways to reduce the possibility of t...
Date:   Apr 2003
Title:   Therapeutic ultrasound for postpartum perineal pain and dyspareunia
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Too little evidence from trials to show whether women have less pain if they have ultrasound treatment for perineal pain after childbirth....
Date:   Jan 2008
Title:   Complementary and alternative therapies for pain management in labour
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The pain of labour can be intense, with tension, anxiety and fear making it worse. Many women would like to labour without using drugs, and turn to alternatives to manage pain. Many alternative methods are tried in order to help manage pain and include ...
Date:   Jun 2006
Title:   Continuous support for women during childbirth
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Historically women have been attended and supported by other women during labour and birth. However in many countries these days, as more women are giving birth in hospital rather than at home, continuous support during labour has become the exception r...
Date:   Apr 2007
Title:   Continuous versus interrupted sutures for repair of episiotomy or second degree tears
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Continuous stitching causes less pain than interrupted stitches when used for repairing the perineum after childbirth...
Date:   Jul 2007
Title:   Absorbable synthetic versus catgut suture material for perineal repair
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Approximately 70% of women will experience some degree of perineal trauma following vaginal delivery and will require stitches. This may result in perineal pain and superficial dyspareunia.
Title:   Immersion in water in pregnancy, labour and birth
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Water immersion during the first stage of labour significantly reduces epidural/spinal analgesia requirements and reported maternal pain, without adversely affecting labour duration, operative delivery rates, or neonatal wellbeing. Immersion in water du...
Date:   Jan 2002
Title:   Enemas during labour
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Giving women enemas during labour has been routine practice in many countries for a number of years. Occasionally women leak from their back passage whilst giving birth and it was thought an enema in early labour would reduce this soiling and the conseq...
Date:   Jul 2007
Title:   Soft versus rigid vacuum extractor cups for assisted vaginal delivery
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The original cups used for vacuum extraction delivery of the fetus were rigid metal cups. Subsequently, soft cups of flexible materials such as silicone rubber or plastic were introduced. Soft cups are thought to have a poorer success rate than metal cups.
Results 1 to 20 displayed.