What to Do When a Contraction Hits: 6 Calming Tips for Labour

How to manage contractions and support your body through birth

A contraction is coming - are you bracing for impact?

You might find yourself tensing up, clenching your jaw, holding your breath, and freezing in place. This response is so common - but it can actually make labour more intense and harder to manage.

Instead, imagine meeting that contraction and softening.
Relaxing your jaw.
Breathing through.
Swaying your hips.
Trusting your body.

This shift from tension to trust can make a massive difference in how your labour feels and how it progresses.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through 6 simple but powerful ways to respond to contractions that support your labour, ease pain, and promote progress. Whether you’re planning a hospital birth, a home birth, or something in between, these tips will help you feel more grounded and prepared.

Why Your Response to Contractions Matters

During labour, your uterus is working hard - the muscles are tightening and releasing to open your cervix and move your baby down.

When you tense up, your body can resist this natural process, creating more discomfort and slowing things down.

But when you soften - your face, your jaw, your breath, your pelvic floor - you help your body do what it’s designed to do.

6 Calming, Supportive Things to Do During a Contraction

✔️ 1. Relax Your Face, Jaw, and Shoulders

Tension in your face often mirrors tension in your pelvis.

Try this:

• Keep your mouth soft

• Let your jaw hang slightly open

• Drop your shoulders away from your ears

The phrase “loose lips = loose lips” might sound funny - but there’s truth in it. When you relax your upper body, your pelvic floor is more likely to relax too, supporting the natural descent of your baby.

✔️ 2. Focus on Your Breath

Breathing can anchor you - even in the most intense moments.

Try slow, open-mouthed exhales (like you’re fogging up a mirror), or gentle patterned breathing like:

• Inhale for 4 counts

• Exhale for 6 counts

Breathing doesn’t just help you cope. It also oxygenates your body and baby, helping your uterus work more efficiently.

Inside my Empowered Birth course, I teach breathing techniques for every stage of labour, so you’ll know exactly what to do - and when.

✔️ 3. Keep Moving

Movement encourages labour to progress - and helps you stay more comfortable.

Try:

• Rocking your hips

• Swaying while leaning on a wall, bed or your support person

• Using a birthing ball

• Changing positions regularly

You don’t need to move constantly or energetically - just change positions regularly. Even small movements can help your baby rotate into the optimal position for birth.

✔️ 4. Stay in the Moment

One of the most common traps in labour? Watching the clock.

Labour often feels longer when you’re counting minutes and hours. Instead, bring your focus in. Stay present. Focus on just this contraction.

Between contractions, rest, breathe, and reset.
Repeat after me: “One contraction at a time.”

✔️ 5. Create a Safe and Calm Environment

Your surroundings deeply affect how your body responds in labour.

To feel safe, supported, and empowered, create an environment that’s:

• Quiet and dimly lit

• Private, with minimal interruptions

• Full of familiar, calming elements (like music, affirmations, or essential oils)

This kind of space encourages oxytocin (your labour hormone!) to flow more freely.

✔️ 6. Get Informed Before Labour Begins

One of the most empowering things you can do is learn what to expect before labour starts.

When you understand the stages of labour, what contractions actually do, and how to support your body through each phase - everything feels less overwhelming.

In my Empowered Birth course, I’ll guide you through it all so you can enter labour feeling confident and capable, not confused or afraid.

You Can Feel Calm, In Control, and Confident in Labour

You may not be able to control labour but you can absolutely control how you prepare for it.

When you approach each contraction with breath, softness, movement, and trust, your body has the space it needs to do the work it was made for.

These techniques aren’t about perfection - they’re about giving yourself practical, powerful ways to stay grounded and supported through birth.

Want to Feel Even More Prepared?

If you’re ready to move from anxious to empowered, I’d love to support you through your birth experience.

My online course, Empowered Birth, is designed to help you feel calm, confident and supported going into labour - without the overwhelm, fear or pressure to do things a certain way.

If you're a soon-to-be parent who wants to feel prepared for birth - not blindsided by it OR someone who's had a not-so-great experience and wants to rewrite your birth story this time around - you're in the right place.

Created by an Australian midwife and mum, this self-paced online course prepares you to birth your way - so you can understand your options, build your toolkit and make empowered decisions that feel right for you and your baby.

Final Thoughts: You Were Made for This

When a contraction hits, you don’t have to freeze, panic, or fight.

You can breathe.
You can move.
You can soften.
And you can trust that your body knows exactly what to do.

You are capable. You are powerful. You are not alone.

I'm here for you,
Tam xx