For all of those women out there who have experienced those awful labor pains … don’t you wish you didn’t have to do that?
Good news … there may be a way to ease those awful pains and make childbirth more enjoyable!
According to a new study, having low levels of Vitamin D can cause a woman to experience a more painful labor. Therefore, having normal levels of the vitamin could make the pains subside. Because Vitamin D deficiency is a very common problem amongst pregnant women, this could be a major find for current and future pregnant women.
“Women often experience lower than normal levels of vitamin D during pregnancy. We found that patients with low levels of vitamin D experienced an increase in pain during childbirth,” Dr. Andrew Geller, senior author and anesthesiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said in a news release.
“Given the research results, prevention and treatment of low vitamin D levels in pregnant women may have a significant impact on decreasing labor pain in millions of women every year,” he continued.
The study followed 93 pregnant women. Each women requested an epidural during labor, and the researchers measured the amount of pain medicine that was administered until the baby was born. They found that the women who were low on Vitamin D required more pain medicine during delivery.
“This topic needs to be revisited and additional research should be conducted to determine how we can improve the labor experience for women everywhere.” Geller said.
Another study that was completed at South Auckland maternity clinic has shown that women who take Vitamin D supplements during their pregnancies have babies that are less likely to develop respiratory infections.
Vitamin D deficiency has also recently been linked to dementia, depression, prostate cancer, and heart disease.