Q: My first baby is due in a few months and I would like a natural birth. Is there anything you can recommend to help with the pain during labour?

A: It’s lovely to hear that you are expecting your first baby.  Your aim is to have as natural as labour as possible and of course that comes with a degree of pain.  There are some natural ways to help relieve that pain and my suggestion would be to start working on that as soon as you can.  You want to keep yourself as healthy as possible during the pregnancy by eating really well so that your body is ready to go into labour.  Make sure that you are having a good diet with plenty of fresh foods not processed.  I would also suggest that you take a good ante-natal supplement plus some Omega 3 essential fatty acids.  The essential fatty acids are important to the brain development of the baby especially in the third trimester and can also help with a smoother labour.  It is good to add in some red raspberry tea, which is known to help strengthen and tone the womb ready for labour.  It is rich in vitamins and mineral but should only be taken from the 34^th week of pregnancy.  Learning how to breathe properly through labour can also be very helpful.  A good ante-natal supplement I use in the clinic is AnteNatal Plus and the Omega 3 supplement is called Omega 3 Plus (see the Resources Page).