Spinning Babies and Homeopathy

Homeopathy and fetal positioning
I’m not a homeopath. Seek a professional homeopath out for the best results. Here’s some stories. This information is not enough to direct someone on the use of homeopathics. This information is for discussion only.

Pulsatilla, wind flower, is especially helpful when tissue tension is an issue, such as tight round and/or broad ligaments. Pulsatilla seems to soften the lower uterine segment and give the baby room to reposition. Other remedies are discussed further down the article.

Homeopathy is simple to take, but does take some care. Don’t touch the remedy with your hands.  Place in a clean, taste-free mouth. Avoid mint, menthol, tea-tree oil and coffee until after you achieve the effect you want, in this case, after the birth. The numbers and letters after the name of the remedy indicates dosage strength. The higher the number the deeper the action on the body. Using a dose strength of 30 or less is considered "over-the-counter" and safe if not repeated unnecessarily. 

4-5 pellets is one adult dose. Use  as needed. If you observe no effect after 4 doses, you probably have the wrong remedy and should discontinue that remedy so that you don't bring on the symptoms you are trying to overcome. If you observe a little good and not enough, its said you are on the right track but need a deeper dose (higher number). You actually use fewer doses of remedies with higher numbers (200C or 1 M), only one or two times typically. Again, seek a homeopath for professional advice.

Pulsatilla

Homeopathic Pulsatilla, 30 C, is an over the counter dose available at natural food stores and online.
Some women take Pulsatilla 30 C once a day for three days, then take a day off and, if baby is still breech or posterior, try a dose of Pulsatilla 200C one time.
 If that schedule of dosing doesn’t work, or you don’t have the time to risk it not working, seek a professional homeopath. Homeopathic fetal repositioning can take 1-3 days, or may take more days. Taking days off is actually helpful, I’m told. A homeopath can bring up the dose to 1 M or 10M if needed, but supervision is necessary.
Women have had benefits and success from Pulsatilla, but also side effects.  I was a doula for an asthmatic woman whose obstetrician said her breech baby would never flip because her abdomen was so tight. And it was really tight! She went to right her homeopath. With a dose of 10 M, her baby flipped head down and she had a severe asthma attack (then she had no attacks for 2 years and was very happy! I still feel tight in the chest when I remember that effect! She was delighted with it, though. She felt the asthma attack was a healing crisis and accepted it enthusiastically. Which shows attitude is everything!

We recommended Pulsatilla 1 M for three of our February, homebirthing moms with posterior babies. They all went into labor between 24-36 hours of the dose, had fast labors, and then - each had a postpartum hemorrhage! One had a short cord that pulled the placenta, one had a cord over a shoulder, and one said it was her constitution to bleed because she ran hot(!), so these may or may not have been linked to the use of 1 M Pulsatilla. These three posterior births were easy and fast. I was surprised at how easy and fast they were. If you have any experiences to share with associated bleeds, please let me know! I’d not seen a correlation in the years before, but hadn’t used 1M much either. (Nearly one year after publishing this, no one's emailed to say they've noticed a bleed after Pulsatilla.)

Later: We've used Pulsatilla 1 M to help 4 more moms with overdue, posterior babies. All the mothers had shorter births than average. All the babies rotated. One bled a bit more than we liked, but she had no ill effect from the blood loss (about 650 cc). Her baby had rotated to an anterior position before labor began on the day after the dose of Pulsatilla. 

Pulsatilla may not be a good choice if there is a low lying placenta in case the softening of the lower uterine segment adds to a tendency to retain the low lying placenta or the increased chance of excessive bleeding due to a low lying placenta. This comment is my speculation.

Kali Carbonicum

Kali Carb relieves lower back pain, including back labor. A vial of tiny pellets can be purchased for less than ten dollars. That’s a lot cheaper than an epidural and though it’s not as numbing as an epidural, kali carb 30c has certainly helped many women, intent on natural birth, to manage persistent lower back pain and maintain their ability to cope in labor. Use the standard care for taking homeopathics; clean mouth, don’t touch the remedy and wait again to eat or drink until the pellets dissolve under the tongue and its been another 15 minutes. Its great, too, for the partner, doula or midwife whose been bending over rubbing a woman’s back!

Arnica

Arnica is an anti-inflammatory commonly used during pushing and after birth to prevent and then, relieve swollen and bruised tissues. We often give 1 dose of Arnica 200C during pushing and 2 doses after birth, an hour apart. We see less perineal swelling. The effect is best when supplemented with frequent doses of Arnica 30C about every 30 minutes after birth, in between eating and drinking for at least four hours, and then as needed. Arnica is a lovely help on the 2nd or 3rd day after birth when many women experience sore muscles from the physical exertion of labor.

Staphysagria

Staphysagria 200C helps surgical wounds heal. Some women use 1 dose of 5 pellets, 1 hour before and after a cesarean. Following up with Arnica 200C, 2 doses, after surgery and then Arnica 30C every half an hour. skipping at meal time, is a common routine post surgically. After an episiotomy some women will take 1 dose of Staphysagria 200C (5 pellets), It really seems to help the healing impressively. Follow up with Arnica.

There are variations in how homeopathics are used and what strength or how many pellets are taken. In homeopathy, this isn’t as critical as it would be for a drug. If you are the kind of person who wants specific directions, seek a homeopath. This is general information designed to open up the topic, not to give complete usuage instruction.  Please don’t continue to take doses of any homeopathic without symptoms, this behavior could bring on the symptom that the remedy is designed to cure.

Read more about Homeopathy at Homeopathy-soh.org/ http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/about-homeopathy/what-is-homeopathy/pregnancy-and-childbirth.aspx

See Anna Foxell's Information Sheet on Homeopathic use in pregnancy and birth on Docstoc.com http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22085188/Homeopathy-in-Labour-and-Childbirth