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Maternity Therapies
Amy is a specialist midwife in maternity complementary therapies and a licensed midwifery consultant with Expectancy™ – the leading authority in maternity complementary therapies.
She has completed a Diploma in Midwifery Complementary Therapies and combined with 24 years’ experience as an NMC registered midwife can offer individualised clinical treatment packages for many common pregnancy conditions.
To enhance your journey through pregnancy and birth, she offers a range of therapies bespoke to your pregnancy and symptoms. Therapies include Aromatherapy, Reflex Zone Therapy (Clinical Reflexology), Acupressure and Moxibustion, providing a holistic approach to health in pregnancy and a safer alternative to conventional maternity care.
Midwife led therapies are evidence-based clinical treatments that help to promote physiology and relieve a variety of pregnancy conditions:
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Overdue pregnancy
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Breech baby
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Preparation for labour
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Pregnancy sickness, nausea and vomiting
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Headaches
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Insomnia and tiredness
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Back, pelvic pain and sciatica
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Carpel tunnel syndrome
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Heartburn and indigestion
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Constipation and hemorrhoids.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy involves the use of plant derived essential oils, which can be administered in water or by massage or inhalation. Certain oils have different pharmacological and therapeutic effects and can enhance overall well-being and promote the body’s natural healing abilities. It can encourage restful sleep, alleviate common physical symptoms, reduce stress hormones, and increase feel good hormones such as Oxytocin which is required for birth. There is evidence to suggest that regular aromatherapy treatments towards the end of your pregnancy increases the chance of a natural onset of labour.
Moxibustion for Breech
If your baby is in a breech position (bottom first) your maternity care provider will discuss your options. These may include an ECV (External Cephalic Version) to try and manually turn your baby, a vaginal breech birth or a caesarean section birth. Some care providers may also recommend Moxibustion to try and encourage your baby to turn. Moxibustion is a technique used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to help turn a baby from a breech (bottom first) position to a Cephalic (head down) position. Moxa is a plant (mug wort). It is compressed into a cigar shape and used as a heat source to stimulate acupuncture points in the body. Using Moxa on the Bladder-67 acupoint (the point on the little toe) is believed encourage the baby to move into and stay in the best possible position for birth. This is a safe treatment for women after 35 weeks gestation, who have an uncomplicated pregnancy. Research shows that moxibustion has a success rate of up to 67% - 74% with first pregnancies & up to 76% for second and subsequent pregnancies (Tiran, 2018) in comparison to the 50% success rate of an ECV. Moxibustion is not suitable if you have experienced the following: Previous caesarean section Increased fluid around the baby Low lying placenta Vaginal bleeding High blood pressure Diabetes requiring medication Multiple pregnancy Your baby is head down
Reflex Zone Therapy (RZT)
Reflex Zone Therapy is a clinical form of reflexology and uses the feet to reflect a map of the body. Manipulating, stimulating or sedating specific pressure points or zones on the feet can elicit a response in the area of the body to be treated, making this therapy ideal for some of the minor ailments and discomforts experienced in pregnancy.
RZT is not a foot massage but can be very relaxing. It is quite common to need a series of treatments if using RZT to treat a specific ailment and it has been shown to have dramatic results.
Acupressure
Acupressure is based on the same theory as acupuncture, but instead of using needles, acupressure is delivered in a noninvasive way using fingers and thumbs and applying direct pressure to certain points on the body. Acupressure can be used to start labour, as certain points are known to increase the release of oxytocin, which is your labour hormone.
Regular stimulation to these specific points during the latter stages of pregnancy (from 37 weeks onwards) can help avoid induction and encourage a natural onset of labour. Some studies have shown that it can also reduce the length of labour.
Bespoke Therapy Packages