Mindful Pregnancy: Meditation, Yoga, Hypnobirthing, Natural Remedies, and Nutrition – Trimester by Trimester

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For the intervention group, all post programme mental health scores improved, with changes on the DASS-21 anxiety subscale reaching statistical significance p=0.02; On the FFMQ, the intervention group showed significant increases on 2 of the 5 subscales of the FFMQ: observing p=<0.001 and describing p=0.03. No significant changes on outcome measures over time were observed in the control group. A between-group comparison of the post-programme means for the intervention and care as usual group was conducted via 2-sample t tests, and no significant between-group differences were found. Wondering how you can incorporate some of those benefits into your own pregnancy? Here are her five tips for having a mindful pregnancy and early parenthood from Aimee Karr, who teaches yoga and meditation for pregnancy at her studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Significantly more self-efficacy, more positive expectations of their births and less fearful of giving birth after completing the programme. Be a supportive partner – watching the birth is one of life’s greatest, enriching moments and a supportive partner is an important, relaxing and calming resource for the mother. This is why it is better for the partners to attend all the classes and appointments etc where possible. It is an important time to bond with our partner and baby and the stronger the relationship before the birth, the more positive the support will be in labour. Driessen E, Cuijpers P, Hollon SD, Dekker JJM. Does pretreatment severity moderate the efficacy of psychological treatment of adult outpatient depression? A meta-analysis. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2010;78(5):668–80.

Mindfulness and depression showed improvement after the programme, but results were not statistically significant. Alongside multiple strengths of this study, including the RCT design and long-term follow-up period, there are limitations that should be considered. As a modestly scaled pilot study, this work is best framed as providing an essential foundation for a larger RCT to develop evidence-based recommendations. Small sample size restricts power for detecting effects, particularly smaller-sized effects such as would be expected for interactions, and both null and significant findings in the present study should be considered preliminary. Due to the schedule of funding for this project, the timing of the final assessment was varied across participants (between one and a half to 2 years postpartum), which warrants consideration. The trajectory approach taken here, which highlights slopes of changes over time rather than change between distinct timepoints mitigates the issue this may pose in interpreting results. Future studies should include additional assessments beyond 2 years to examine trajectories into childhood. Conclusions are necessarily limited by the particular measures used, which offered a multidimensional but far from comprehensive measure of the perinatal distress umbrella. It may be worthwhile in future research to include measures of perinatal-specific psychological and somatic symptoms, as well as measures that cover different time frames from immediate state affect—perhaps using experience sampling methods—to more stable trait-like features of psychological functioning. Staneva AA, Bogossian F, Wittkowski A. The experience of psychological distress, depression, and anxiety during pregnancy: a meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Midwifery. 2015;31(6):563–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2015.03.015.

Gawrysiak MJ, Grassetti SN, Greeson JM, Shorey RC, Pohlig R, Baime MJ. The many facets of mindfulness and the prediction of change following mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). J Clin Psychol. 2018;74(4):523–35.This mindful maternity book offers safe yoga, meditation, natural remedies and nutritional and hypnobirthing advice that are specifically tailored to each stage of pregnancy. This inspiring guide offers encouraging and practical advice that will help you understand your body, embrace change and fully prepare you for becoming a mum. Pain during labour– practising mindfulness during childbirth can give enormous benefits. Studies have shown that first-time mothers who fear childbirth are more likely to have longer labours and women can often feel overwhelmed by pain, by fear of not coping and of losing control, yet there are other women who somehow Mindfulness also can help you reduce your fears about childbirth and increase your confidence about birth and parenting. Bai CF, Cui NX, Xu X, Mi GL, Sun JW, Shao D, Li J, Jiang YZ, Yang QQ, Zhang X, Cao FL. Bai CF, et al. Hum Reprod. 2019 Jul 8;34(7):1235-1248. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dez066. Hum Reprod. 2019. PMID: 31242506 Clinical Trial.