?oil to reduce your chances of tearing during labor?

VMRRN23

Has anyone heard of an oil that you use to reduce your chances of tearing during childbirth? I know most women will tear with their first vaginal birth, but would love to reduce my chances of tearing or an episiotomy (?sp). I asked my doctor about it today. She said she heard of it working for some women, but didn't know what kind of oil. She thought she remembered someone using a nut oil. Has anyone heard of this?

sandylou

I feel like I read about an ointment in girlfriends guide to pregnancy but I can't remember for sure. Sorry!

houndbaby

I don't think it's just using some oil, it would probably have to be used along with perineal massage, which is supposed to help, but I think you have to do it every day.

krista613

all i can think of is baby mama...

"you rub a little E V O O on your perineum"

"what
"she wants you to rub olive oil on your taint"

lmao. so maybe olive oil? let me know if you hear anything though... id like to try it and see if it works because i dont want to tear too bad

VMRRN23

So I googled it, and apparently you can use pure vegtable oil or a water soluable lubricant. It looks like they market other oils for perineal massage.  I had NO idea what the massage actually entailed. I stupidly just thought you rubbed it on externally. Hmm-I'll be thinking about this a lot more now.

UrbanHippieMama

VMRRN23:

So I googled it, and apparently you can use pure vegtable oil or a water soluable lubricant. It looks like they market other oils for perineal massage.  I had NO idea what the massage actually entailed. I stupidly just thought you rubbed it on externally. Hmm-I'll be thinking about this a lot more now.

There's little proof that it does anything anyway.  My MWs told me last time that I could do it if I wanted, but that it wouldn't make a big difference.  I didn't do it.

kensbride08

Yes if your midwife or OB using oil on your perinuem while you are pushing you are less likely to tear. I used it and had a teeny tiny tear (I think she used 1 stitch)

KeyRyn320

When I was researching midwives, two of them suggested olive oil.

SBear12

I think that's a bit of an OWT, but probably can't hurt if you're up for the task. Fair warning: it's pretty hard to reach down there by the end of pregnancy, so you may need to enlist your DH's help.

 

IncogNeato

I'll be doing it. Probably just with olive oil or vitamin e oil. It can't hurt and it makes a lot of sense. If the skin is soft and stretchy, it makes sense that it would stretch more and tear less!

 

I found this abstract online:

Among participants without a previous vaginal birth, 24.3 percent (100/411) from the perineal massage group and 15.1 percent (63/417) from the control group were delivered vaginally with an intact perineum, for a 9.2 percent absolute difference. The incidence of delivery with an intact perineum increased with compliance with regular practice of perineal massage.

Among women with a previous vaginal birth, 34.9 percent (82/235) and 32.4 percent (78/241) in the massage and control groups, respectively, were delivered with an intact perineum, for an absolute difference of 2.5 percent. There were no differences between the groups in the frequency of sutured vulvar and vaginal tears, women's sense of control and satisfaction with the delivery experience.

The authors concluded that perineal massage is an effective approach to increasing the chance of delivery with an intact perineum for women with a first vaginal delivery, but not for women with a previous vaginal birth