Traditional Chinese Medicine has been commonly linked to issues like joint pain and chronic pain.
However, the reach of the therapeutic capacities of TCM goes above and beyond what we might think, one of such cases is pregnancy and labor. In this post, you will learn how useful Chinese medicine is for pregnancy and labor and leverage it for the best pregnancy possible.
This post will be divided into three main periods: Before pregnancy given TCM’s important role in preventative measures and preparing for rainy days; During pregnancy; and Labor and postpartum. Here you will have a full and in-depth breakdown of what to do in each stage.
Table of Contents
Chinese Medicine for Pregnancy: Before Pregnancy
The main goal when using Traditional Chinese Medicine before pregnancy is to attain the highest quality of life possible. In TCM theory, this equates to having a healthy Essence and a healthy Qi. Essence is the most important of the vital substances and is the ultimate determinant of life quality. The Essence is closely related to reproductive function, thus the need for keeping it healthy.
A healthy Qi ensures your Zhang-Fu Organs work properly, this in turn allows your reproductive organs to carry out their functions optimally improving the quality of your pregnancy.
By combining both Acupuncture and herbal medicine along with an adequate diet, you will reap immense benefits not just for your pregnancy but for your overall health also. Acupuncture has been shown to improve fertility, and sometimes even treat infertility in couples who had been told there was nothing else to do.
Nourishing your Essence and Qi
One of the best ways to have the healthiest pregnancy possible is to pay attention to the unfolding of the Essence throughout the years. This is the natural cycle of your Essence.
As you mature, your Essence will make your body capable of different functions, and within those functions is the reproductive one.
The natural cycle of the Essence shows that there are years in which pregnancies are healthier overall; these are the years of the highest reproductive maturity. This goes for both men and women.
Check out this chart I made summarizing the unfolding of the Jing/Essence:
For more information on what is Essence and how to better understand it, please read this article:
What is the Chinese Medicine Jing/Essence?
Paying attention to this natural cycle will help you decide when to have a baby so you can plan.
If you are not in those ‘golden years’, don’t get discouraged, you can still have a healthy pregnancy.
Paying attention to your Essence cycle is just one part. The other and truly vital one is to nourish your Essence.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, conception consists of the merging of the Essence of both parents, this determines the future baby’s Prenatal Essence.
This Prenatal Essence is the determinant of your baby’s initial health, makeup, and core characteristics. This means that both parents are required to nourish their Essence so their baby can be the healthiest possible.
Nourishing your Qi
Your Qi is both the energy and the structure of your whole body. Qi is the representation of your body’s vitality and functioning. Whenever Qi is referred to, it is mostly related to the functioning of the Organs. Qi is vital for keeping your organs in place and well as for keeping everything in motion.
Just like Essence is the ultimate determinant of your quality of life, Qi is the determinant of your daily life. Deficient Qi makes your organs unproductive, hypoactive, and depressed, a healthy Qi makes sure your body keeps its vitality and health daily.
Now let’s see how to nourish the Essence using Acupuncture, Herbal medicine, dieting and lifestyle changes:
Acupuncture
Attending regular Acupuncture sessions will improve your fertility by increasing blood flow to your organs therefore tonifying your Kidneys and Essence. When stimulating the Kidneys, Acupuncture works on the HPA axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis) lowering stress.
Points like Kidney 3 (Taixi), Spleen 6 (Sanyinjiao), Liver 3 (Taichong), and Pericardium 6 (Neiguan), along with case-specific points will help you have a stronger Essence.
Herbal Medicine
Some of the most well-known herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine are also used in promoting healthy pregnancy, herbs like Ginseng which is widely known for its effects on tonifying your Qi, mobilizing it, and promoting overall vitality is a go-to choice, this herb combined with Rehmanniae Radix (Shu Di Huang) will augment both Qi and Blood.
Another herb you can use is Chen Pi or tangerine peel, taking the dried and aged peel of the tangerine and using it as an infusion or an ingredient for your meals, you will tonify and mobilize your Qi which in turn paves the way for the creation of Blood.
Always check with your TCM doctor to see which herbs are more suitable for you.
Diet and Lifestyle
When it comes to dieting many people tend to follow fad diets for a boost in their health. Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn’t fall for this and instead teaches you what is best to eat according to your condition as well as how to prepare the food you are eating.
As a general rule of thumb, when looking to enhance your Essence and Qi you should aim for foods that are tailored to tonifying the Kidneys and Blood: black beans, salmon, lamb, beef, pork, eggplants, spirulina, chlorella, beef liver, red and black dates.
Foods aimed at keeping a healthy Qi can be Chinese yams, Coix seeds, Rehmannia roots, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes, squash, pumpkins, milk, cheese, and malt syrup.
Some lifestyle changes you can do to protect and keep your Essence healthy are:
- Avoid excessive sexual activity: Yes, there is a thing as too much sexual activity. This one directly drains your Kidney Essence and should be avoided. Hippocrates said: ‘Everything in Excess is contrary to nature’, this also applies to intimate relationships. So, don’t do it every day, practice some abstinence which will help your essence and will also improve your intimate life with your loved one. PS: this also includes masturbation.
- Get regular high-quality sleep: Sleep is the cornerstone of good health. You can diet all you want, get acupuncture regularly, meditate, and go to the gym, but if you don’t get your 8 hours of good sleep your health won’t be good and your Essence will be strained. As your body cannot do its cleansing and depuration functions while sleeping, your Organs will have to work overtime to take you to homeostasis, this drains the Qi and the Essence is turned into the necessary vital substance that is in need.
- Avoid excessive seating and standing: Excessive standing stresses your Kidneys, Excessive sitting stresses your Spleen. If left unchecked, you will suffer from Qi deficiency making your body have to turn the Jing/Essence into another vital substance.
- Avoid vices like smoking, taking drugs, and alcohol consumption: Smoking and incurring those poor habits have a direct impact on your Essence, this is why smokers, drug addicts, and alcoholics look older for their age.
- Maintain a healthy work/rest balance: Too much work drains you as well as too much resting. An old Chinese saying that explains the part of the door with the wedge is the one that doesn’t get moths illustrates the need for an adequate amount of movement and rest as the wedge of a door isn’t constantly moving or being idle. Don’t overwork yourself, and don’t be slothful.
- Practice Qi Gong: Routines like the Five Animals Play and the Baduanjin have been shown to improve vitality and increase overall well-being.
Photo by Klub Boks on Pexels.com
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, prevention is far more important than treatment, which is why TCM is mostly seen as preventative medicine.
Treating a disease when it’s already present is like digging a well when you are thirsty.
Ancient Chinese proverb.
Chinese Medicine for Pregnancy: During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a truly beautiful and complicated stage of a woman’s life. You are experiencing changes to make room and create the appropriate conditions for the creation of new life. The flood of hormones and the physiological changes a pregnant lady goes through are not overlooked in Traditional Chinese Medicine, that’s why most of the commonly known practices in TCM are forbidden during pregnancy.
You can still leverage Chinese Medicine for pregnancy.
While many acupuncture points are forbidden during pregnancy, you can still benefit from getting acupuncture when the time is right, which you will learn in a bit. Acupuncture is regarded as safe during pregnancy as long as some specific points are avoided and the technique is performed properly.
The main goal of Traditional Chinese Medicine during pregnancy is making sure you come to term healthy as well as your baby.
What Can Acupuncture Help With During Pregnancy?
Being pregnancy a highly sensitive and crucial stage, I’ll heartily advise you to go check with your TCM doctor to see which foods, herbs, and points are allowed for you to use. Henceforth, I will give you some guidelines as to how Chinese Medicine can help you during your pregnancy.
You can still get acupuncture but only when it’s advisable to do so. Many points are used to prepare the womb for labor, helping with the baby’s position inside the womb, and during labor itself.
During pregnancy, Acupuncture can help with the following:
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Pain.
- Stress management.
- Promoting better sleep quality.
For instance, there is a point on your toe that is used to fix your baby’s breach position. After the 37th week of pregnancy, many women attend TCM clinics to have moxibustion applied to that point and fix the baby’s position.
When it comes to food therapy and lifestyle, you must focus on maintaining a proper weight gain according to your gestational age (how many weeks of pregnancy you have).
Eat whole foods while avoiding highly processed foods, industrially-made foods that usually come sprayed with pesticides. Eat seasonal foods, and if possible prioritize organic, locally grown foods.
Do not overexert yourself, while some movement is necessary to avoid the onset of edemas and other complications, keep in mind that pregnancy should be spent in relaxing environments, focusing on stillness.
Maintain a good balance between exertion and rest.
Chinese Medicine for Pregnancy: Labor and Postpartum
Once you reach the term of your pregnancy, Chinese Medicine brings valuable tools for your labor and the postpartum period.
The use of Acupuncture for labor and food therapy for the postpartum period reaps the most benefits. The holistic approach of Chinese medicine for labor makes it a great choice for those who are considering more alternative and natural approaches to labor and childbirth.
Let’s see what can be done:
Acupuncture
There are Acupuncture points that can help you induce labor. Some of those points are the ones forbidden during pregnancy because they promote uterine contractions. Stimulating specific points can help ripen the uterus in preparation for labor, reducing the difference between the estimated day of labor and the actual day.
Acupuncture has been shown to reduce labor time, and greatly reduce the need for oxytocin infusion during labor.
One of my TCM professors once told us in class about an eminent doctor from Vietnam who made a trip to a maternity hospital:
He saw quite a few women having a hard time during labor because they weren’t dilating enough (those in the medical field can attest that this issue is one of the most upsetting for future mothers), when he noticed that, he told them to press their Baihui point (Du Mai 20/ Governor Vessel 20, at the top of the head).
He even stuck an acupuncture needle to one woman.
Turns out that in a matter of minutes, the women who hadn’t dilated were beginning to dilate at a quick pace.
Do not try this yourself as Acupuncture needs supervision from a qualified person. This is just for information purposes only.
It would be a great idea to have an acupuncturist during labor because there is evidence to support its effectiveness. Perhaps in the future, we can see Acupuncturists supporting the work of Obstetricians.
Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine is used mainly in the postpartum period. Because during labor and childbirth, the mother experiences blood loss, the herbs are selected to restore and nourish blood.
Here are some herbs used to nourish Blood:
- Angelica sinensis: Known as “Chinese Angelica,” Dang Gui is one of the most important herbs for nourishing and invigorating the blood. It is often used to treat blood deficiency, improve circulation, and alleviate symptoms such as fatigue and menstrual irregularities.
- Rehmannia glutinosa: This herb is used to tonify the blood and nourish the Yin. It is particularly effective for conditions related to blood deficiency, such as anemia and fatigue.
- Ligusticum chuanxiong: Chuan Xiong is known for its ability to invigorate blood circulation and dispel stasis. It is often included in formulas aimed at treating headaches and menstrual disorders caused by blood stasis.
- Paeonia lactiflora (White peony Root): White Peony Root nourishes the blood and helps regulate the liver. It is beneficial for alleviating menstrual cramps and stabilizing emotions.
- Polygonum multiflorum (He Shou Wu): Also known as Fo-Ti, this herb is used to tonify the liver and kidneys, nourish the blood, and promote longevity. It is often recommended for hair health as well.
Diet and lifestyle
Congratulations! You are now a baby mom (or dad, if you are looking up the information for your wife). Now you have entered the postpartum stage, this is a moment where you are at your weakest: after giving birth.
During postpartum and the baby’s first years, diet therapy is aimed at nourishing two people at the same time: the mother directly and the baby via breastfeeding. This means nutrition comes forth as a priority. Initially, your diet should be aimed at restoring Blood, and nourishing Essence just like before pregnancy.
Invest in whole foods, organic, locally grown, seasonal, and pesticide-free. Prioritize foods like beef, lamb, salmon, rice, kidney beans, butter, trout, spirulina, deer antler, beef liver, beets, and spinach.
Also, invest in vitamin C-rich foods like guava, oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits as they help the absorption of iron in your body which is vital for the formation of blood.
So that’s it. With this guide to using Chinese Medicine for pregnancy and labor, you should be on your way to securing the best pregnancy ever. Don’t forget to go to your TCM doctor for the finest results.
Have questions? Leave me a comment!
See ya!
0 Comments