Most of us pregnant mommies are looking for every single option possible to reduce our labor pains during birth-especially you and me that are doing things naturally and unmedicated.
From preparation beforehand with exercise and learning relaxation techniques, implementing positions and using other tools-I have come across another great find studied with success.
Did you know you can find pain relief when your vitamin D levels are good?
Image courtesy of Wikipedia commons.
Vitamin D For Pain Relief
Presented by the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting, a recent study about vitamin D deficiency in birthing women revealed a surprising find.
The study looked at 93 women who received epidurals during their deliveries. Their vitamin D levels were measured just prior to giving birth, and then the amount of pain medication they received was recorded.
When the results were compared, those women who had higher levels of pain medication also had lower levels of vitamin D. Then oppositely, women who had lower levels of pain medication had higher levels of vitamin D.
Now if that’s too wordy, I drew a cute little generic graph to explain what this means:
So I scribbled a few different lines on there. The study article only declared that there was an ASSOCIATION between the levels of vitamin D and received pain medication. Read this post to learn more about what Association means.
This DOESN’T mean that the levels of vitamin D in the women is the EXACT cause of lesser or greater need for more pain relief.
It DOES mean that somehow the two measurements are connected. It doesn’t take into consideration the many other factors that are at play with all these individual women.
So that’s why I drew a few different lines on this graph. In a perfect world the purple line would mean there is an exact one to one correlation between these two variables. But almost always when we’re talking about biology we see other types of correlations, like the orange and green lines.
Confused yet?
⇒ The bottom line is this: the higher natural level of vitamin D you have, the greater likelihood you will have LESS pain during your labor and delivery.
How Can I Up My Vitamin D?
Pregnant mommies like you and me already have lower levels of vitamin D because our babies are taking all they need. Which is why you hopefully are taking your prenatal vitamins, right?
But there are actually different forms of vitamin D and different ways to get more of it. The two forms our bodies need most are D2 and D3.
Image courtesy of bfydiets.com
- D2 (calciferol) - this form is naturally made in plants and we can get it from our diet, like in supplemented milk.
- D3 (cholecaldiferol) - this form is made in our skin from direct sunlight, but you can find it in supplements too.
Apparently, our bodies’ need for vitamin D can be successfully met with just 15 minutes of exposure to the sun. Then our bodies do the rest with converting D3 to D2 and so on.
But most pregnant mothers still lack what they need. I know you’re taking your prenatals. But what else can you do?
- Take a daily walk in the sun to get maximum use of that natural resource.
- Have sufficient servings of dairy or vitamin D fortified soy milk (which is what I have to do).
- Or consume more of these foods:
- healthy fish (make sure you don’t eat the wrong kind)
- cheeses
- egg yolks
- mushrooms
- Subscribe to posts and you can get my eBook Your Pregnancy Diet Plan that outlines many great foods for you to eat, plus with meals plans.
- Or more great foods to eat in general are here.
- Or consume more of these foods:
- Make sure your calcium intake is also adequate.
- Why? Because calcium and vitamin D are used by our bodies at the same time. If we don’t have enough calcium either, we can’t utilize all our our vitamin D properly.
This interview with Dr. Oz discusses even more great benefits and ways in incorporate vitamin D into our health.
What Will Happen If I Don’t Get Enough
Well, as described, you’re more likely to have greater pain levels with your contractions and labor when it comes time to deliver. But sometimes that’s not fully measurable and cannot be compared directly for yourself because you’re only one person. And if you’ve never given birth before you have nothing to compare it to.
However, a study published by the British Medical Journal and the University of Calgary in 2013, showed direct associations between a mother’s vitamin D levels and how it affects them and their babies:
- you have a greater likelihood of developing gestational diabetes
- you have a greater likelihood of developing pre-eclampsia
- your baby’s risk for being small for their gestational age goes up
- you can have higher chances of getting bacterial vaginosis (I haven’t had this, but I’ve had a yeast infection during pregnancy and they’re terrible!)
- your baby’s birth weight decreases
So you can do a few simple things mentioned already to help these things not affect you and your baby. Now, KNOW that just keeping your vitamin D levels sufficient is not guaranteed to prevent these things that can happen, but they contribute.
When I first read this article describing what we’ve discussed, I looked at the calcium and vitamin D levels in my soy milk and compared it to our regular cow milk. I found that my soy milk had MORE calcium.
I also thought about how with both of my pregnancies I made an effort to walk or hike outside instead of on a treadmill for part of my daily exercise as much as possible. I DO think I had sufficient vitamin D levels because of this and that it contributed to my ability to get through labor.
It’s so difficult sometimes to categorize exactly what variables effect everything else when it comes to us as human beings. Biology is difficult to understand at times, and it’s even more difficult to predict. But even small points of view in galaxy-sized interactions can make a difference.
Master Your Pain Relief With This Easy Birthing Kit
What are your thoughts? Have you checked your vitamin bottle and the quantities in your milk lately?
Jacques says
Unquestionably belirve that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeeared tto be on tthe internet
the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I
certainly get annoyed while people tink about worries that they just
do nott know about. You managed to hit the nail upon thee top and also defined out the whole thing without hving side-effects , people can take a signal.
Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
I appreciate your comment, Jacques. You’re right, people DO get worried about things they don’t know much about, quite often. The same thing happens to new mothers all the time. Education eliminates fear in many cases when it comes to natural baby birth.
Feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything. Thanks for sharing, have a nice day!
http://www.areshumor.com/ says
This website really has all oof the informjation I needed
conbcerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
Glad that you’ve found what you’ve been looking for. Feel free to ask questions or subscribe so you don’t miss anything helpful. Thanks for your comment!
Michelle Medeiros says
Awesome information, Sarah! I’m not looking for baby related stuff, but this was very helpful to me. My gynecologist has always said to me that vitamin D is the most important of all to women. And every time I get blood tests she prescribes more vitamin D. I try my best to eat fish and drink milk, but I didn’t know that mushrooms also have vitamin D. However, I don’t like them at all! I guess I will have to eat more fish…. 🙂
I’m not huge on fish either. That’s why I’m glad that sunlight does it quickly and easily for us. Getting out for even a few moments daily does so much more for us than just vitamin D too.
There are fruits and vegetables that have higher levels of vitamin D in comparison to other plant foods, like oranges, almonds and dark green. If your gyno is prescribing them, then it’s possible you just naturally don’t have enough staying with you. Make sure your calcium is good too and I’m sure you’ll do fine.
Thanks for your comment Michelle!
Michelle Medeiros says
Thank you for these tips, Sarah! I think you’re right, maybe getting some sunlight is the best option, since my calcium levels are good. I used to use sunscreen everyday until I heard about this scientific research that we shouldn’t do that unless we are going to really expose ourselves to the sun. Using it could cause more damage than good because we naturally need the sun light and the sunscreen does not block the worst carcinogen sun rays.
Thank you for all this great information and keep up the good job on your website!
I agree with you about the sunscreen. Sure I don’t have perfect skin because of it. But I don’t put it on unless I know I’m going to be outside for a long period of time. Good luck!
Marie says
Great information! I had no idea that my calcium intake is adequate. It’s like iron and vitamin C, isn’t it? I’ll try to monitor my calcium intake for a few days to make sure I get enough…
Marie
Where you’re not pregnant right now Marie, it’s likely your just fine if you have a healthy balanced diet. If not, simply add a supplement or multi-vitamin to help with all the suggested natural ways with food and sunlight too.
Thanks for commenting.
Vince says
Great information here. Had no idea that vitamin D had an affect like this as well. Good to know that calcium is also important to help with getting the most out of your vitamin D
Calcium and and vitamin D are like epoxy glue-you have to have both parts to combine in order for it to work in the first place. Almost all molecules in our boy work that way in never ending circles of function.
Thanks for your comment, Vince.
Marie says
Hello Sara!
I think this information is really interesting. Where I live, I have about 6 hours of sun every day during the winter and about 18 hours of sun during the summer. At winter, I hardly see the sun since sunset and sunrise are during my work hours. I can’t go outside during lunch break every day (I try).
I’ve been reading on the net about vitamin D and what happens if there is a lack of it. Numbers I’ve gotten is that in the north of Sweden over 80 % of youth lacks vitamin D. The sun is strong enough May - August after that the sun is so low it has very little effect if we’re out. I had no idea! Need to investigate more.
Marie
I’ve never had to worry about that because I’m in the states and have pretty even days with light and dark most time of the year. But yes, it’s a greater problem than a lot of people realize.
In your case, supplementation and diet just may be what to do most of the year. That’s great that you try to get out daily though. Have your doctor run a test to see if you need to worry about chronically low levels so it doesn’t lead to worse things. Then you can get an idea on how much you need to up your consumption of it.
Thanks for sharing Marie!
Jann says
What great information to help so many woman. Good work!
Thanks Jann! Feel free to share.
Rob Christian says
Great article! I was unaware of the relationship between vitamin D levels and pain tolerance as it relates to natural childbirth. As a male, I have used Vitamin D as a health supplement as it delivers a variety of benefits. It truly is a versatile and important vitamin in our quest to become healthier!
You’re absolutely right, Rob. It’s benefits are great for everyone in any stage of life. Just more reason for its importance now as well. Thanks for your comment.
Paolo says
right , take care of mother is the firs sight of take care of the incomnig baby
Thanks Paolo.
Darin says
another great article. I have passed it on to my wife and daughters. I wonder if the connection between Vitamin D and pain in general is the same. It might be good for my aches and pains….hhmmmm
Thanks for the information.
I wouldn’t doubt the general relationship between any pain also applying here. I know that vitamin D is also shown to help people with depression, thus emotional pain too. So it’s greatly beneficial to anyone.
In the video I found, hope you watched it, Dr. Oz discusses how it so beneficial for MANY other things too, not just labor pains as discussed here.
Thanks for sharing Darin. Have a nice day!
Sarah says
You have done an incredible job of research and writing here! Well done! This article is really to the point and informative and I will keep it for when I’m pregnant!!! =)
Cheers ! =) Sarah
Sure, just let me know if you need anything in the future. I look forward to hearing from you again. Best!
Jenny says
This is a very interesting study. Thank you for the research and the help to those of us who want to give natural birth
Your welcome, Jenny. Let me know anytime if you have questions or are looking for anything in particular.
Elasa says
Thanks so much for sharing this information. I had no idea that low vitamin D levels could cause you to have more pain during labor and delivery. I do know that so many people are not getting the amount of vitamin D that they need. I am 2 months away from my due date and would love to be able to deliver without having medication. I am all for natural and holistic alternatives to pharmaceuticals and drugs. Love your entire website 🙂
You ABSOLUTELY can deliver without any medication. And you still have a few months to make a HUGE difference in how your birth will turn out.
If you haven’t already, get the right kind of exercises in and develop a mastery of the relaxation techniques I talk about.
Let me know if you ever have any questions and how things are going for you, Elasa. I appreciate your feedback too. Anytime, I’m here. Best!