Perineal Massage - Sensitive topic

Last night at our antenatal class we went over a few massage techniques one of them being perineal massage. For those who don't know what this is it's a gental massage of the perineum (skin between the anus and vagina) during the last few weeks of pregnancy. It reduces the incidence of episiotomy and perineal tears during childbirth.

Anyway the MW taking the class really recommends this and my question is has anyone tried it and did it really help?????

Sorry if you find this offensive or to much of a personal question to be asking.

Not offensive!!

I remember my midwife talking about it the first time around. But I didnt actually do anything about it. I dreaded having to be cut down there more then the birth itself!!! Fortunately I didnt have to.

I am sure it would help in some ways by making the skin more supple and better able to stretch???

I suppose if you look at this way...Anything thats is going help and ease the birth and after care must surely be something to try?

*blushes*
Yep Kelpa, we downloaded (oops I mean "borrowed" ) a birthing vid off the net and we saw the cut , it was the most horrific thing I've ever seen! I now have it in my birth plan that I want a local before being cut and certainly not left to tear! That's probably the only thing in my plan that I have insisted on.

I didn't know about that sort of thing before having Kiya, and I didn't tear there but I did have surface tears (labia tissue rather than muscle tissue).

Nat and I tried it a few times a week for the three or four weeks before Josiah was born... I don't know if it specifically helped, but I did not tear at all... and only had one small graze!

at least if you do do it ahead of time, you can feel like you are doing something proactive - rather than worrying about what may or may not happen. I did it for the last few months ( i am a massage therapist so i was really interested in that side of it all) i got a friend to make up an aromatherapy blend for me that would help in the oil too. I had one stich in the end, because xanthe had her hand up over her ear - blimmin elbow! other wise all was good, (was more of a graze than tear)
try it, it isnt that hard, you just moisterize "there" same as other parts of your body.

Just another question about tearing i have read if u sit in a birthing pool for awhile it softens it all and makes stuff stretch better?? Did anyone find this true? Coz ill be sitting in the pool for quite awhile

Yer im gonna squat to have Ella let gravity help me out hehe

i never did it - and i would never let any one else do it for me either - my poor hubby had to go thru enuf let alone massaging that for me...

i tore and had stitches for my first, they said we are going to have to cut you and i said no way and kept pushing so they didnt have time.... a tear will heal better than a cut and is usually less deep.

with my second i had a graze and no stitches, but when i had a feel later it felt like a canyon... it was easier to heal with no stitches and made sitting easier. oh and i laboured in a pool for that one too.

massage prob wont hurt, just deciding what to massage with i suppose.

I had heard about it first time round from my midwife and anitnatal etc, and had never really got round to doing it more than a couple of times.. I didn't tear too much downwards (after now reading my old notes i do realise though that i did tear a little bit downwards there) but had bad labial grazes and tore up and sideways. after that, my oldre sister (who has had 5 kids!!) said to me about perineal massage again, and second time round i made sure that i did it (still not religiously but more so than last time) and this time i did not have a prob - it may have been cos Paris made such a mess of me first time round maybe, but still i beleive it worked.

With the softening thing and the birthing pool - i didn't have the birthing pool, but somehow squatted in the bath at home while i was in there, with my arms over the side so i was supported and could also rest my head on my arms during contractions (2 hours 1st time, and only half an hour the second) and i firmly beleive that being upright and in water helped everything go very smoothly - for me both times, once i got in the water everything just progressed extremely quickly - and while it may be i'm just like that, it could be that it was from a combination of the water (which also helped the pain for a bit) and being upright, also squatting opens up the pelvis. so for those contemplating it, why not give it a go - if it doesn't work then you haven't wasted too much effort - but if it does work for you then it was worth it.

I read somewhere that massaging with almond or olive oil helps too. My thought is if it doesn't do any harm then may as well try it...it might just work!