{"id":20921,"date":"2024-03-25T10:31:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T00:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/?p=20921"},"modified":"2025-03-11T17:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T07:20:22","slug":"episiotomy-tearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/episiotomy-tearing\/","title":{"rendered":"The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing!<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-120666 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-300x171.jpg\" alt=\"The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing! \" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-1024x585.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-1536x878.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-610x349.jpg 610w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-450x257.jpg 450w, https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Website-featured-images-46-scaled.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>In all the years that I have been teaching childbirth education, one of the most common fears that mothers have communicated with me has been&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;I&#8217;m so scared about being cut (episiotomy) and tearing!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>So what is an episiotomy?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b><i>surgical cut intended to widen the vaginal opening<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; and the prospect of having this very delicate area &#8216;cut&#8217; can be a very scary concept for a woman!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, let&#8217;s explore the subject further so that we are armed with <\/span><b><i>knowledge<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and can make <\/span><b><i>informed decisions<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should the need arise during birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clinically unwarranted episiotomies can cause pain, laceration and more serious perineal trauma (when the cut extends). Natural tears tend to heal more quickly and be less painful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 20 years of research indicate that <\/span><b><i>episiotomies should never be a routine practice<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and that a restrictive policy is best. The World Health Organisation recommends episiotomy rates of below 10%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the article<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/episiotomy-during-childbirth-not-just-a-little-snip-36062\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Episiotomy During Childbirth: Not Just a &#8216;Little Snip&#8217; (The Conversation)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Professor Hannah Dahlen says,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But despite international health bodies advocating a restrictive rather than routine approach to the procedure, episiotomy rates remain high among women who give birth in private hospitals in many countries \u2013 including Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>How to reduce the likelihood of tearing during birth:<\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, there <\/span><b><i>are<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> things that you can do to prevent the likelihood of having an episiotomy and reduce the likelihood of tearing during birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your position for birthing\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adequate nutrition through pregnancy<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using breathing techniques learnt in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hypnobirthing Australia Positive Birth Program<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/18021143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warm compresses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the perineum<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/evidencebasedbirth.com\/?s=perineal+massage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perineal massage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during the last weeks of pregnancy using lubricant like vitamin E oil, almond oil, olive oil or coconut oil<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to your body\u2019s urges to push<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your choice of caregiver can also make a big difference.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to note that you always have<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/humanrightsinchildbirth.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the right to refuse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> any procedure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/motheroffact.wordpress.com\/2012\/01\/06\/evidence-based-medicine-episiotomy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">link to a great article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that explains more about episiotomies and explores the risks and alternatives to the procedure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Preparation is the key to success. This is why we at Hypnobirthing Australia are <\/span><b>so passionate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about providing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/evidence-based-childbirth-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">evidence-based<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, positive, practical and high quality childbirth education.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is always better to be proactive &#8211; rather than reactive. ?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So if you haven&#8217;t already looked into joining classes &#8211; please<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/find-a-class\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> CLICK HERE to find your closest class<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. If you don&#8217;t have a practitioner close by, just<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/hypnobubs-hypnobirthing-online-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> CLICK HERE for our Online Course options.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knowledge is power; and the power is <\/span><b>always<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with you, mama!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing! In all the years that I have been teaching childbirth education, one of the most common fears that mothers have communicated with me has been&#8230; &#8220;I&#8217;m so scared about being cut (episiotomy) and tearing!&#8221; So what is an episiotomy? It is a surgical cut intended to widen the vaginal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing! - Hypnobirthing Australia\u2122<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the most common fears that mothers have communicated with me has been...&quot;I&#039;m so scared about being cut (episiotomy) and tearing!&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/episiotomy-tearing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The fear of Episiotomy and Tearing! 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