Build a Birth Playlist
How Music Enhances Your Labor Experience
Many different areas of the brain light up when listening to music. It can evoke memories, produce dopamine, increase pleasure, regulate emotions and influence coordination & movement.
With all of those benefits, it seems like it might be a really great tool to add to your birth kit. Here are a few reasons why I recommend parents build their own personalized playlist for birth.
Before you completely write it off, do you have playlists for other activities such as: commuting, working, exercising, cooking, cleaning, relaxation, showering? If you answered yes, it’s because music makes you feel good, and it can help during labor as well.
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#1: Brings Joy
Listening to music makes us feel good. Feel good chemicals like oxytocin can enhance your labor and dopamine make you feel awesome. Oxytocin is your primary birth hormone – the more the merrier!
A state of bliss is beneficial for the whole labor team so bring it on!
#2: Encourages Movement
Music makes you move! Finding your flow in labor is key. Tapping into your innate birth wisdom through movement & breathing can progress labor, increase pleasure, reduce pain, decrease stress, shapeshift your pelvis and improve labor, emotionally & physically.
#3: Influences Mood
Music is a major mood modulator. A song can change the vibe in an instant. Attending a rock concert elicits a different energy than entering a spa.
Some people prefer to keep it personal and wear ear pods. The cool things is that it can shift the feel of a whole room as well. It can influence the entire labor team in a peaceful, positive or energizing way which only benefits the labor.
#4: Enhances Practice
My mission is to get people moving in labor. Creating your playlist prenatally provides an opportunity to practice. Embody birth with productive positions and breathwork and practice with your favorite songs. Not only will it get your body primed for birth, but it will condition you to move, relax and find your flow when you hear your playlist.
Musical Cheat Sheet:
Your birth music should include songs you love, feel connected to, make you want to move, help you find a rhythm, relax your nervous system & make you happy. You might have different playlists for various stages of labor; perhaps chill in early labor, rhythmic once labor takes off, and a little more hyped up for pushing. Just include some variation, and keep in mind that it’s ok to turn it off in labor because you hate it all of a sudden or need quiet. You do not have to listen.
Here are a few sample birth playlists to get you started: