Post-Natal Health
Adjusting to a new baby brings physical, mental and emotional challenges.
The key to getting through is having the support to look after your health as well as your baby.
Naturopathy and acupuncture can help with:
- Boosting your energy levels
- Physical recovery and healing from the birth
- Combating stress, anxiety and post-natal depression
- Lactation issues
As a new Mum you might also have to cope with an unsettled baby.
Your diet and natural medicine can effectively treat your new-born if he or she suffers from colic, reflux, constipation, rashes, or sleep patterns that make you tear your hair out.
Induction
Tick-tock… tick-tock… Still waiting?
Medically induced labour is appealing when you're past your due date. But it increases the need for medical intervention during birth.
Acupuncture is a great way to bring on labour when you're overdue. Make sure you come and see us at least 3 days before your medical induction is planned so the treatment can take effect.
Herbal medicine can be just as effective if acupuncture's not your bag.
Neither of these treatments are as strong as medical induction. If you're baby's not ready to be born then it's unlikely that herbs or acupuncture will be able to shift it. However, both may help to shift blocks within your body, so this natural process can progress as it should.
Birth Preparation
Even if you've had the cruisiest pregnancy possible, acupuncture is a fantastic pre-birth treatment.
A team of researchers discovered that the average labour time for women having their first baby was reduced by 1.5 hours if they had pre-birth acupuncture.
That makes sense. Pre-birth acupuncture helps ripen the cervix and gets good energy flowing through the pelvis and uterus. It also helps to calm the nervous system and connect you into your body.
The process involves 4 treatments - either twice a week from 38 weeks, or once a week from 36 weeks.
Herbal medicine can also prepare your body for an easy labour by encouraging strong uterine tone and good circulation and calming the nervous system.
Morning Sickness
Morning sickness isn't limited to the morning. Some Mums-to-be feel nauseated right through the day, but naturopathy and acupuncture are fantastic ways to combat it.
If you've been through a preconception care programme you'll have minimised your chances of suffering from morning sickness.
If not, there's still hope!
Naturopathy focuses on preventing nausea through your diet. It's about choosing the right types of food and eating them at the right time of day.
There are certain vitamins and minerals that can help, too. And herbs are great for preventing and treating nausea.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture has completely stopped morning sickness in some cases.
Can Chinese Medicine help turn a breech baby?
The simple answer is yes!
The standard treatment to turn breech babies in Chinese medicine is the application of moxa (a heat stick containing the herb Artemisia vulgaris, or Mugwort) to an acupuncture point found on the outer corner of the fifth toenail.
Why? The treatment is said to increase foetal activity.
In a Chinese study carried out in 1999, 130 patients with breech babies at the 33-week mark had this treatment every day for seven days.
This was compared with a control group of another 130 patients with breech babies who received no treatment.
At 35 weeks' gestation, the babies had turned for 75.4% of the group who received the moxa. That's compared with only 47.7% in the control group. Check out this study.
If you've been told your baby is breech, come in for an initial consultation and acupuncture treatment.
We'll figure out the causes and put a plan in place to remedy them.
You'll learn how to use the moxa sticks, and we'll send you home to treat yourself daily.
We follow up with weekly acupuncture to help maximise blood and energy flow to the uterus - and this usually fixes the problem!
Debra Betts Acupressure: Free Booklet, Plus How Pre-Birth Acupuncture Helps You Prepare for Labour
Debra Betts acupressure is a set of simple, drug-free pressure techniques your birth partner can use to help you manage pain and support your body during labour — and you can download Debra Betts' free acupressure booklet here. Below I'll show you how to get the most out of it, and how pre-birth acupuncture — weekly treatments from around 35 weeks — can help prepare your body for a smoother birth. In over 20 years of clinical practice in Auckland, these are two of the most practical tools I share with women in the final weeks of pregnancy.
Download the free Debra Betts acupressure booklet
You can download Debra Betts' free acupressure booklet here. It walks your partner or support person through the exact points to use — and when to use them — to help manage pain and encourage a more efficient labour, all without needles or drugs.
The booklet is designed to be learned before your due date. My advice: download it early, read through it together as a couple, and have a practise run in the weeks leading up to birth so the points feel familiar when the day arrives. That preparation is what turns a nice-looking PDF into something genuinely useful in the room — your partner pressing points on your lower back or hands between contractions, helping you stay grounded and in control.
What I love about acupressure is how much it hands back to you both. At a stage when many pain-relief options come with trade-offs, this is something safe, portable, and entirely in your hands. It costs nothing, it travels with you into any birth setting, and it can be used alongside whatever else you choose on the day.
Who is Debra Betts, and why trust this booklet?
Debra Betts is a nurse who trained in acupuncture in London in 1989. When she returned to New Zealand she set up a private practice in Wellington focusing on pregnancy and women's health care, and by 1997 she was teaching acupuncture courses to midwives.
She went on to complete doctoral research on the effect of acupuncture in pregnancy, and today she is regarded as one of the world's most recognised authorities on acupuncture and acupressure in childbirth. The free booklet came out of her belief that women deserve access to information that helps them have a calmer, more supported birth — and it's why she has spent years teaching midwives these techniques too. In other words, this isn't a generic download; it's the work of a genuine authority in the field, which is exactly why so many women and midwives rely on it.
Take it further: pre-birth acupuncture and what the research shows
The acupressure booklet is for the day itself. Pre-birth acupuncture is what you can do in the weeks before to help your body get ready.
Pre-birth acupuncture is a series of weekly acupuncture treatments, usually beginning around 35 weeks, designed to help your body prepare for labour — encouraging the cervix to ripen, supporting your baby's position, and helping your nervous system settle before birth. The aim isn't to force anything; it's to help your body do what it's built to do.
The research here is promising:
In the 1970s, Kubista and Kucera found that acupuncture given once a week from 37 weeks was associated with a reduction in the average length of labour.
A German randomised controlled trial (Römer and colleagues, 2000) of 1,000 first-time mothers found that specific acupuncture points, once a week from 36 weeks, improved the readiness of the cervix, resulting in shorter labour and fewer caesarean sections.
A New Zealand observational study by Debra Betts and Sue Lennox (2006), following 169 women across 14 midwives, found that — compared with local population rates — women receiving pre-birth acupuncture had a 35% reduction in medical inductions (43% among first-time mothers), a 31% reduction in the epidural rate, a 32% reduction in emergency caesarean deliveries, and a 9% increase in normal vaginal births.
I always want you to have the honest version: the New Zealand study was observational rather than a randomised trial, and its authors called for further research. So pre-birth acupuncture is best understood as a supportive way of preparing your body — not a guarantee of any particular outcome. But paired with the acupressure your partner learns from the booklet, it gives you a genuinely well-rounded way to prepare for the birth you want.
Other ways acupuncture supports a healthy pregnancy
Preparing for labour is just one part of the picture. Acupuncture is completely safe during pregnancy, and at a time when most medications are off the table, it can offer welcome relief across the whole journey:
Morning sickness — acupuncture can provide real relief from debilitating nausea and vomiting. Read more on my page about acupuncture for morning sickness.
Breech presentation — moxibustion, a gentle warming therapy, is a well-established approach for encouraging a breech baby to turn. I explain it in my article on turning a breech baby with moxibustion.
Early pregnancy support — acupuncture is also used to support women through the vulnerable early weeks.
How I use Debra Betts acupressure and pre-birth acupuncture in my Auckland clinic
I've spent more than 20 years helping women through fertility, pregnancy, and birth, and I bring together acupuncture, naturopathy, and herbal medicine so I can look at the whole picture rather than one piece of it.
When you come to me in late pregnancy, we usually start pre-birth acupuncture at around 37 weeks, with weekly sessions up to your due date. These are calm, restorative appointments — many women tell me they're the one hour in the week where they actually stop and breathe. Alongside the treatments, I'll teach you and your partner the Debra Betts acupressure points in person, so the booklet stops being theory and becomes something you both feel confident using on the day.
There's always a reason your body responds the way it does, and my job is to support it — not override it. If you'd like that kind of hands-on preparation in these final weeks, I offer pregnancy acupuncture in Auckland from my Sandringham clinic.
Ready to prepare for your birth? Book your pre-birth acupuncture consultation and we'll put together a plan for your final weeks — including a run-through of the acupressure points your partner can use on the day.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I download the Debra Betts acupressure booklet? Debra Betts offers a free downloadable acupressure booklet that walks partners through the points for labour. Download it early and have a practise run in the weeks before your due date so it feels familiar on the day.
Is acupuncture safe during pregnancy? Yes. Acupuncture is completely safe during pregnancy when carried out by a qualified, experienced practitioner. Points are chosen specifically for each stage, which is why it's worth seeing someone experienced in treating pregnant women.
When should I start pre-birth acupuncture? Most women begin at around 35 weeks, with weekly sessions up to their due date. It's worth booking earlier in your third trimester so the appointments are ready to go when you reach 35 weeks.
Does pre-birth acupuncture bring on labour? No — it isn't an induction. The aim is to help your body prepare, so that when labour does begin it can progress more efficiently. It's about readiness, not forcing anything before your baby is ready.
Can my partner use the acupressure during labour? Yes — that's exactly what it's designed for. You can learn the points from the free booklet, and I also teach couples them in person during pre-birth appointments.