During and after pregnancy

Women come to us at every stage of pregnancy, and in the months after the birth. Dr Zhang spent seven years in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St George’s Hospital before she returned to Chinese medicine practice — so she has seen a great many pregnancies from the hospital side, and that shapes how carefully she works.

Your midwife and maternity team come first

Your pregnancy is looked after by your midwife and your maternity team, and that is exactly as it should be. Everything here sits alongside their care and is planned around it. We do not monitor pregnancies, we do not give second opinions on what you have been told, and if something needs their attention we will send you to them.

What a session is like when you are pregnant

Gentler and more careful than a standard session, and the practicalities change as you go:

• Early on you can usually lie comfortably on your back as normal.
• From around the middle of pregnancy you will be settled on your side instead, with pillows under your bump, between your knees and behind your back. Lying flat on your back for any length of time is avoided later in pregnancy, and we will get you comfortable before anything starts.
• Points are chosen with your stage of pregnancy in mind, and some are conventionally avoided in pregnancy altogether. Dr Zhang will tell you where she is working and why.
• Needles are very fine, sterile and single-use, as always — see the acupuncture page if you have never had it before and want to know what it feels like.
• Needles stay in for about twenty minutes. If you need the loo — and you will — just say. Getting up part way through is completely normal and nobody minds.
• Say if you are too warm, too cold or uncomfortable. Being comfortable matters more than staying still.

Most women find the time itself restful. Quite a few fall asleep, which in the third trimester is not nothing.

Moxibustion

You may come across this. Moxibustion is a traditional technique in which the dried herb mugwort is smouldered near a point on the body to warm it. It is held above the skin or placed on the end of a needle — nothing touches you, and it should feel pleasantly warm rather than hot. It has a distinctive smell, a little like incense. If the smell bothers you, say so; in pregnancy that is common and it is easily dropped.

The two things people ask us about

We would rather answer these plainly on a web page than have you book an appointment hoping for a particular answer.

A breech baby. You may have read that moxibustion is traditionally used when a baby is breech. We are not able to tell you that it will turn your baby, and we will not imply it. If your baby is breech, this is a conversation for your midwife or consultant — they will talk you through the options, which usually include a procedure called ECV (external cephalic version), typically offered from around 36 to 37 weeks, as well as what your birth options are either way. Please have that conversation with them, and do not let anything you do here delay it.

Sickness and nausea. We are not able to tell you that treatment here will settle it. And there is something more important to say: if you are vomiting so much that you cannot keep food or fluids down, are losing weight, or feel very unwell, that is not something to manage with complementary therapy. It needs your GP or midwife, because it can be treated and because dehydration matters. Please go to them first.

What to bring and tell us

• How many weeks you are, and your due date.
• Your maternity notes or app, if you have them with you.
• Whether your care is midwife-led or consultant-led, and why, if you know.
• Anything that has been flagged at your appointments — blood pressure, placenta position, growth, gestational diabetes, a previous caesarean.
• Any medication or supplements you are taking.

None of this is nosiness. It changes how Dr Zhang works and, sometimes, whether she thinks she should be working at all that day.

Telling your midwife

Please do. Most maternity teams simply want to know what their patients are doing, and being open about it is better for you than not. If your midwife or consultant has questions, we are happy to answer them, and if they would rather you did not have treatment at a particular point, we will follow their lead without argument.

After the birth

Traditional Chinese Medicine has always placed great importance on the weeks after a birth, and many women come back during that time — often, frankly, for the hour of quiet as much as anything.

• Babies are welcome in the room. So are car seats, slings and all the paraphernalia.
• You can feed during a session. It happens often and is not a problem.
• If you had a caesarean or stitches, tell us — it changes how you will be positioned.
• There is no rush. Come when you feel ready, whether that is three weeks or six months.

One thing we will say plainly, because it matters more than anything else on this page: if you are struggling with your mood, feeling unable to cope, or having thoughts that frighten you, please tell your GP, your health visitor or your midwife. Postnatal mental health is treatable, it is taken seriously, and it is not something to bring here instead. We will always say this rather than book you in.

What we can and cannot tell you

We are not able to tell you that acupuncture or Chinese medicine will ease pregnancy symptoms, turn a breech baby, prepare you for labour, bring on an overdue baby, or speed your recovery afterwards. The evidence needed to make claims like that is not something we hold, and pregnancy is the last area in which anyone should be stretching what they know.

What we offer is an unhurried hour with someone who has spent years in hospital obstetrics, who will be careful with you, and who will tell you honestly when the answer is your midwife rather than us. The NHS has thorough, reliable information about pregnancy at nhs.uk/pregnancy.