There are a few different types of pain relief during labour, some medical, some natural.

  Unmedicated relief

Tens Machine: Tens stands for Trans-cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and it works by blocking the pain from the nerves using an electrical current. You wear it attached to your back, and control the level of electronic pulses using a hand-held device. Best for early labour.

  Massage -   Rubbing the lower part of the back can give huge relief to a woman in labour, as can applying firm pressure to the buttocks.

Walking around -   Staying mobile relieves pressure on your back, so walking, leaning and wiggling your hips all help reduce pain.

Water -  Water relaxes you, and can help to dull the pain of contractions.

  Making noises -  Being as vocal as you like during your labour can help you to focus, and let out the pain.

  Acupuncture   -   This is only recomended for people who already know it helps them deal with pain.

Hypnosis -   If this is something you would like to try, it is important to start hypnotherapy sessions a few weeks before the birth to ensure you are susceptible and that it will work for you. For those who can use this method, it often makes labour a relatively pain-free experience.

  Drugs

  Gas and air -   is a mixture of oxygen and gas called entonox. You breathe it in via a mask or a mouth piece during a contraction, and it works immediately. Side effects - Gas and air have no side effects on your baby, and for you it can be of varying degrees. Some women feel a little floaty or giggly, others drowsy.

  Pethidine -   Pethidine is a derivative of morphine and is given intra-muscularly. It acts on the nerve cells in the spine and brain. It can take up to 20 mins to take effect. Side effects - Pethidine can make your baby drowsy, depress breathing and affect his sucking reflex after birth. You may feel drowsy, or very out of it, as again women respond differently. You might be confused and dizzy, and you may suffer nausea.

  Aneaesthetics

Pudendal block   - This is an anaesthetic injected into your vagina blocking the pudendal nerve, and is usually used if you are having an assisted delivery or an episiotomy.

Epidural     - An epidural is given via a thin tube called a catheter into the epidural space in the spine. To start, you will be given some local anaesthetic to numb the area, then a needle inserted, and the tube is passed through it. The tube is left in your spine so that it can be topped up at any time. This is a very good pain reliever as you should be totally numb from your waist down, preventing pain. This is because the nerves are blocked in the spine. The epidural takes about 20 mins to set up, but once given acts quickly.  Women who have an epidural often end up with a lot more medical intervention than those who don't have an epidural. Side effects -  The woman may have difficulty knowing when to push, so a midwife would direct her, although mobile epidurals are becoming more popular, and often women can feel the sensation to push with these. Some women suffer a fall in blood pressure. Occasionally the anaesthetist may puncture the dura mater. This means that some spinal fluid will leak out and can cause a very bad headache which may last for up to a week. However in this instance, it is possible for the anaesthetist to introduce some blood into the space where the leak has occurred to prevent the headache. Patchy block - Sometimes the epidural may not be as effective on one side of the body and sometimes one small area may go without any pain relief at all. With an epidural there is a higher increase in the chances of assisted delivery. After delivery, the women may have backache where the epidural was sited.

Spinal block -   A spinal block is when local anaesthetic is injected into the subaracnoid space. It works immediately, but it is felt it is better used for shorter procedures, rather than whole labours, although it is possible to perform a c-section using this method of analgesia.  Side effects - no effects on baby but there is a bigger risk of a drop in blood pressure with a spinal block for the woman.  Pain relief for stitches: The most common pain relief given while being stitched is lignocaine, which is a local anaesthetic injected in to the area to be treated.

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