Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Pregnancy
Published: 18 November 2020
Published: 18 November 2020
However, with so many specialities on offer, it can be difficult to keep up to date with current knowledge and identify which therapies are safe for use during pregnancy, and which could potentially cause harm.
For many years now, the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) movement has been driven by consumer demand, leaving midwives with the task of developing comprehensive evidence-based knowledge of the potential benefits and risks of some of the more popular therapies. As Tiran (2006) notes, it’s not enough to just say that a particular therapy is effective - it must also be proven to be safe before it can be used in maternity care.
Strouss et al. (2014) suggest that although there are a wide range of therapies that women can use either independently or alongside conventional care, they can broadly be classified into the following five categories:
(Strouss et al. 2014)
Based on recent surveys conducted by the Royal College of Midwives (2014), it’s thought that as many as 87% of women use natural remedies at some point during their pregnancy, either self-administering or via a private consultation with a trained practitioner.
Common reasons for use include:
(Hall, McKenna & Griffiths 2012)
Despite the popularity of many forms of CAM, midwives remain at risk of overstepping their boundaries of professional accountability if they have not undertaken relevant training (RCM 2014).
Although it’s tempting to assume that natural is synonymous with safe, this is not necessarily true, and many of the less well-known CAM therapies have little or no evidence-based research to support their use.
Before a midwife can prescribe, advise or endorse the use of CAM in pregnancy, many considerations must be taken into account, especially for those therapies with a pharmacological action that may interact with prescribed medications (RCM 2014).
For example, for each therapy it’s important to know:
As Strouss et al. (2014) suggest, with such a wide array of therapies available - each of which carries a unique set of risks and benefits - it can be difficult for maternity staff to maintain sufficient knowledge to safely guide or advise their patients. That being said, many women simply choose not to tell their care provider that they are using CAM therapies at all, in fear of judgement or discouragement (Warriner, Bryan & Brown 2014).
One of the reasons complementary therapies are becoming so popular is that they offer a holistic approach to pregnancy, allowing women to maintain personal control outside of the biomedical model. Not all women have an equal interest or ability to access these therapies, however.
For example, research conducted by Hall and Jolly (2014) revealed that CAM users differed significantly from non-CAM users in their level of education, parity and previous use of CAM before pregnancy. Vitamins, massage therapy and relaxation techniques seemed to be the most popular choices, but just as other researchers discovered, approximately one-third of women chose not to disclose their use of CAM to their midwife.
Strouss et al. (2014) also note the popularity of CAM in pregnancy, suggesting that 50 to 70% of pregnant women studied were found to use at least one type of CAM. Despite this, few women were asked about alternative therapies by their care team and once again, one-third of women chose not to disclose that they sought help and support outside of the traditional healthcare model.
Based on research conducted by Mollartet al. (2018), the top five CAM therapies recommended by midwives were:
Midwives were also more likely to discuss alternative approaches to pregnancy care if they had used CAM themselves or were less experienced in their role. Most midwives seemed to take an open-minded and positive approach to the use of CAM because they considered the therapies to be philosophically congruent, providing safe alternatives to medical interventions and supporting the woman's autonomy (Hall, McKenna & Griffiths 2012).
Given the rise in popularity of CAM in recent years, many midwives are now asking if knowledge of complementary therapies should be included within basic midwifery training. As Hall, Griffiths and McKenna (2015) suggest, although midwives are usually supportive, how they communicate with women about the safe use of alternative therapies has received little attention. Lack of knowledge, language barriers and workplace constraints mean that in most cases, it remains up to pregnant women themselves to initiate any CAM based conversations.
As Strouss et al. (2014) discovered, while many healthcare providers were supportive of CAM, very few recommended it. In fact, within conventional healthcare settings, CAM therapies were only recommended about 15% of the time, while family and friends recommended CAM almost three-quarters of the time.
These findings seemed to be typical across a range of research studies, which found that pregnant women often relied on advice from non-healthcare providers such as friends and relatives when deciding to use complementary or alternative therapies.
Bearing all these factors in mind, the Royal College of Midwives (2014) have published the following recommendations to help guide midwives in their conversations about CAM:
As Gaffney and Smith (2004) note, there is a need for much more research before complementary therapies can be considered safe for use during pregnancy. To date, there is still relatively little high-quality evidence-based research on the safety and efficacy of many of these therapies, yet, the use of CAM in pregnancy clearly remains a growing trend that midwives are trying to embrace.
Anne is a freelance lecturer and medical writer at Mind Body Ink. She is a former midwife and nurse teacher with over 25 years’ experience working in the fields of healthcare, stress management and medical hypnosis. Her background includes working as a hospital midwife, Critical Care nurse, lecturer in Neonatal Intensive Care, and as a Clinical Nurse Specialist for a company making life support equipment. Anne has also studied many forms of complementary medicine and has extensive experience in the field of clinical hypnosis. She has a special interest in integrating complementary medicine into conventional healthcare settings and is currently an Associate Tutor, lecturing in Health Coaching and Medical Hypnosis at Exeter University in the UK. As a former Midwife, Anne has a natural passion for writing about fertility, pregnancy, birthing and baby care. Her recent publications include The Health Factor, Coach Yourself To Better Health and Positive Thinking For Kids. You can read more about her work at www.MindBodyInk.com. See Educator Profile