By Eileen Sullivan, EFT-Cert1

I was a doula (professional birth and postpartum assistant) and childbirth educator for over 20 years, before retiring and becoming an EFT practitioner. One of my best friends is a midwife who attends home births.

She took an EFT workshop from me several years ago, and she now uses EFT with many of her clients. We'll call her "Jean."

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Jean, helping her to integrate EFT even more fully into her busy midwifery practice. As usual, EFT worked miracles. In my previous articles, I introduced you to Lucy, an expectant mother who used EFT to lower her blood pressure after her husband lost his job; and to Chelle, a pregnant woman who used EFT to resolve her fear of postpartum hemorrhage and her low hemoglobin level simultaneously.

Not surprisingly, Jean's experiences with these two clients led her to increase her use of EFT! Several of her clients were able to resolve persistent pregnancy discomforts during their EFT prenatals, and one expectant mother also reported that she had been having trouble sleeping until she began to tap herself back to sleep at night. Since this mom already had a toddler and was overdue as well, sleep was at a premium for her. She was delighted with her EFT results.

When this mother (we'll call her Karen) gave birth, her baby had some breathing troubles. Karen birthed rapidly, and in a different room than the one where she had intended to have her baby. This meant that Jean's equipment, including oxygen tank and masks, was also in another room.

Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN) is a fairly mild type of respiratory distress, relatively speaking. It is temporary, and often occurs when there is still some amniotic fluid in the baby's lungs. In some cases, TTN may necessitate the transfer of a baby born at home to a hospital for care. The symptoms can vary from infant to infant, but always include fast respirations. Babies may flare their nostrils, or grunt while working to breathe. A baby may also have what are called retractions, where the ribs are pulled in with each breath ... again, telling us that the baby is having a hard time getting enough oxygen.

Karen's baby had all of the symptoms of TTN. In addition to a rapid respiration rate, the little boy was having visible retractions, and his small nostrils flared wide with each breath. Little grunting sounds accompanied this effort. Jean quickly evaluated him and determined that it was safe to try some EFT.

With only a few minutes of tapping, the retractions vanished. The baby stopped flaring his nostrils, and the small grunts of effort ceased. Gradually, his respiration rate stabilized and began to decrease. This resolution was visible to everyone.

Jean didn't use any set-up or reminder phrases. Clearly, the baby was tuned in to his problem and so was she. (So was everyone else in the room, for that matter!)

TTN can often mean that a newborn spends hours or even days in the special care nursery, receiving oxygen therapy. It may take up to three days to resolve all the symptoms, even with that type of specialized care. This is hard on mothers, fathers and families, as no one wants to wait nine months and then be separated from their precious newborn. It's hard on babies too, who are primed by nature to expect a very different type of welcome: a welcome that helps to insure their continued good health in many ways. With all of our technological proficiency, we still don't understand the full effects of separating mothers and babies in the sensitive period after birth.

Thanks to Jean's quick intercession with EFT, Karen's baby was able to stay at home with his family in spite of his breathing troubles. While EFT did not reduce the baby's respiration rate to normal immediately, it did lower it to the point that staying home was possible. It also relieved all the other troubling symptoms, no doubt making the baby much more comfortable while his body worked to clear the residual amniotic fluid from his lungs.

In terms of compassionate care that is also fast and effective, you just can't beat EFT.

Eileen