# Is it a natural birth if you take tylenol in labor?



## loveneverfails (Feb 20, 2009)

I had my 5th birth about 4 months ago, and it was the worst labor I've had thus far. High pitched screaming with contractions when normally you're playing board games during labor? Not Good.

So, demonstrating the force of mind and determination associated with women having 45 minute long labors, I demanded tylenol from my confused spouse, and he complied. And yes, the tylenol totally helped.









Does this count as "natural" birth or not? A friend was teasing me about how she thought I'd had a natural childbirth but evidently I had lied to her. I technically took pain medication, but "medicated home birth" sounds kind of weird. I don't know what I think, so I figured I'd poll the audience!

Thanks!


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## turnquia (May 26, 2008)

lol ummm yes that's still a natural child birth. Cuz I"m betting you still felt all of it!

Seriously someone is debating that with you? I mean really I understand being pro-natural birthing and all but to debate that just seems silly IMO.

I guess I don't understand why we put so much emphasis on HOW our children are born. Yes for me PERSONALLY it matters but to others all that should matter is I have a beautiful and hopefully healthy child, not which orafice they came out of and how much of the pains of labor I felt.


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## Amatullah0 (Apr 7, 2009)

medicated home birth









imo, tylenol doesn't count. i mean, i think most/a lot of women take tylenol in pregnancy, and they don't call it a medicated pregnancy







no but seriously, tylenol is considered safe for pregnancy, isn't it? wheras "labor drugs" are not considered safe for pregnancy. And besides, i think i remember someone(pro-epidural) laughing at me for considering tylenol when preparing for my natural birth.


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## Youngfrankenstein (Jun 3, 2009)

Sweetie! I know these types of comments cut us to the core sometimes even though, logically, we know the truth!

You absolutely had a natural birth!!!! And, yes, I'd call it unmedicated! I wished I'd thought of Tylenol. It may have even been a mental/placebo thing, but aren't many labor techniques?


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## Adaline'sMama (Apr 16, 2010)

Yes. I would totally say you had a 100% natural childbirth. I took tylenol while I was in labor, because I got a headache from screaming. Has your friend ever been through childbirth? Because if she had, it seems like she would toatlly know that there is a huge difference between tylenol and not being able to feel the lower half of your body.


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## loveneverfails (Feb 20, 2009)

Incidentally, the tylenol was helpful! GO, TEAM TYLENOL!









My friend is just teasing me, but it did leave me to think about whether it constituted "natural" birth according to the theories of whoever comes up with what "natural" birth is. I mean, I could have had a headache during labor and taken tylenol for it and I wouldn't say that that would make it "not a natural birth." But I did specifically take the tylenol because that labor was a







and a half, so those contractions from hell WERE the intended target of that analgesic goodness.


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## BirdMum (Aug 2, 2010)

According to my MIL, it is traditional in her nation to drink cherry or willow bark teas during labour. Willow bark contains salicylic acid - naturally occuring aspirin.

I am pretty sure if you ask a Native midwife if those labours are natural, she'd darn well say yes, lol. Taking a tylenol, IMO, is no different. Though it probably doesn't taste as nasty as willow bark tea.


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## Phantaja (Oct 10, 2006)

Honest to God, I'm not being rude or snarky, but what difference does it make? I thought that the whole point of natural birth was to first do no harm to the baby and Tylenol won't hurt him/her so sweet deal...you win!

A fishy pool to birth in isn't "natural" nor are tennis balls for back pressure, but their use aren't arguments against "natural child birth."

I'm really sorry, and no offense is intended, but I really don't get it.


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## mamabear0314 (May 13, 2008)

It really helped? Lol, I can't imagine tylenol doing much! How much did it help anyway?

But yeah I'd still say you had a natural birth. I got told that my birth wasn't natural because I had a water birth and we're land mammals. *eye roll*


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## AFWife (Aug 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Adaline'sMama* 
there is a huge difference between tylenol and not being able to feel the lower half of your body.

Exactly!!


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## loveneverfails (Feb 20, 2009)

Yes, it totally did. I have no idea why, but it helped. And it gave a good jump on afterpains.


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## mamabear0314 (May 13, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *loveneverfails* 
Yes, it totally did. I have no idea why, but it helped. And it gave a good jump on afterpains.

Awesome, and you didn't take a mega dose? Just the standard 2? Lol, sorry for all the questions I just find it fascinating!


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## lunarlady (Jan 4, 2010)

I'm thinking hooray for the placebo effect (or for transition ending) because I think Tylenol totally wouldn't touch my labor pains. Natural birth? Absolutly. My friend had a pit drip during labor, and a numbing shot before her episiotomy, and considers the birth natural because she didn't have an epidural. My last birth isn't natural by Bradley standards because I had fentenol during the manual extraction of the placenta, but I think it's natural because baby came out drug free. So I guess my point is that "natural" is in the eye of the birthing mama, and to H with what other people think. Next time I'm taking Tylenol too!


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## dogmom327 (Apr 19, 2007)

No way Tylenol would have done anything for my pain. I'm of the view that over the counter drugs, alcohol, even pot doesn't negate a natural birth. It's when heavy duty pharmaceuticals and narcotics come into play--that's when it becomes unnatural.


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## mwherbs (Oct 24, 2004)

Lol, Tylenol alone won't even negate hangnail pain for me, so if it worked for you








I doubt that there is a single hospital client who wants a medicated birth would agree that Tylenol fits the bill...


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## Joyster (Oct 26, 2007)

No, technically it is not natural unless you're in a ditch, in a snow storm, having walked uphill both ways and driving pins under your nails just to make sure that you're in enough pain.









Seriously? What's next, are we going to get the third degree because we used acupressure massage or had hot showers? They too bring a little (and I'm emphasizing the little) measure of relief. Tylenol *snort* I was ready to break out some Vodka, I would have felt the pain, but I would have cared a lot less!


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## MsBlack (Apr 10, 2007)

Thanks so much for sharing that info! I would never have thought of it, but I sure know I've assisted some births where something like Tylenol might have made just enough difference to a mama in a lot of pain.

Don't let those who tease you, get to you at all! They're probably just jealous that they didn't think of it. But I bet they will, next time they're in labor!









I'm going to remember this


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## loveneverfails (Feb 20, 2009)

The contractions were still there, but it took off the searing edge to them, which I really really really appreciated.

And my friend who is teasing me is a natural birthing home birthing mom herself who teases me because normally my labors are painless enough that you might actually think I had an epidural. So, me taking tylenol for childbirth confirms my status as a bizarre individual who doesn't normally have painful labors, but have some pain in labor and gee... off to the bottle of tylenol I go!







Hearing a bottle of pills rattling now makes me think of my intrapartum tylenol and smile.

And I apologize to people for thinking you were making it up when you said pushing was a relief, because it totally was this time!


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## caned & able (Dec 8, 2005)

In a culture where a natural birth is anything short of a c/sec, yes you had a natural birth.


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## BtotheG (Jan 28, 2009)

I'm a judge on the International Committee of Natural Childbirth, and I say.....

Yes. It was a natural childbirth.


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## WifeofAnt (May 2, 2010)

Its just Tylenol! The odds of it really doing anything significant are just about the same as the odds of a placebo helping. Totally natural IMO.


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## mmaramba (May 17, 2005)

Yeah, "natural" is waaaaay too ambiguous a term to be defined strictly. What "NCB" advocates are for is really what might be called "normal birth," but then that would get folks up in arms about being called "abnormal," and it's a whole big (and pretty much the same) mess. Someone arguing that Tylenol makes a labor "unnatural" or "not natural" sounds like she is caught in the barrel mentality with the rest of the crabs. Either she is some kind of extreme purist or she is trying to justify all the more injurious interventions by equating Tylenol with them. It's not supposed to be a game show with winners and losers, either way.

The bottom line (IMNSHO) is that we should all be "for" drastically decreasing the use of unnecessary interventions and promoting labor coping and birthing techniques that lead to the best outcomes for baby and mother.

Even in my "perfect world," there would be C/S, the use of some drugs, etc.-- even in the case of "maternal choice" or exhaustion when they're not strictly "necessary." However, they would be relatively rare and/or last resorts-- at least performed at a frequency commensurate with their risks.

At some point this gets to be like 9th level veganism-- not eating anything that casts a shadow. The bottom line is not fanaticism, it's improving the health and well-being of women and babies.

Really, this whole focus on pain and who is a "real woman" and who is somehow not... No. That's a smokescreen designed to divide and conquer.

Okay, off my


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## MyCalling (Sep 1, 2004)

Wow, I should have come here yesterday when you started this thread...while I was in labor! I always build up to transition-strength contractions before dilating past 2cm, then I'll jump to pushing within an hour.

_But can imagine how disheartening it is to hear you're only a 2 while in that much pain?!?_ Some Tylenol would have been wonderful about that point. I'd never even thought of it. In fact, I'm so dense I never even thought of taking it for afterbirth pains until my husband offered it my last postpartum. What a dork!


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## phathui5 (Jan 8, 2002)

I would say you can count it. Tylenol is a far cry from IV medication or an epidural.


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## Devaskyla (Oct 5, 2003)

I took some Advil for labour with ds2 & had a beer with ds3. Don't think they *did* much, bt definitely consider them natural births.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

I don't consider my vaginal birth "natural" for many reasons... it was a prostoglandin gel induction for pre-eclampsia, and I was given gas towards the end - even though, in my labour-land fuzzy-minded state, I didn't suck on the tube thingy properly because it made me "feel funny", so it turned out I was using it totally ineffectively and didn't get any actual pain relief from it.









However, it never occurred to me to not think it was natural because of the Panadol I took during early labour, or the hot wheatie bags I used throughout, or DH's massaging my legs and back during contractions. That's not to say Panadol (NZ equivalent of Tylenol) is natural - it's a drug, obviously a birth including it is _less_ natural than one without): it just didn't even register on my radar.

Oh well.







I think getting hung up on the "natural birth" terminology is divisive and depressing anyway. The "natural" course in my pregnancy would have been to go into a coma and die, so, yay. I did have an amusing incident several months ago, however, when a nurse asked me during a cervical smear if I'd had a natural birth. I started waffling on about the prostoglandin gel and how I didn't have an epidural and so on, before it finally crossed my mind she meant "C-section vs vaginal".


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## philomom (Sep 12, 2004)

Yes, still natural. Tylenol is an everyday drug for some people. This is not even in the same category as "drugs to relieve the pain of birth" drugs.

I had some Tylenol after my natural births. I had some bad after pains each time.


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## kittywitty (Jul 5, 2005)

I hate that this turns into a contest- OMG I didn't drink filtered water in labor, my birth wasn't natural! Or something. Not that *this* thread is like that, but I hate it when it turns into one. Yes, I consider taking tylenol to still = natural childbirth, personally. But really, who cares what we think, as it's your birth and what we think shouldn't matter.







But then again, I consider my half doses of nubain early in labor with two of my births to still have been natural. And no, they didn't help a bit. They did make me nauseous, though.


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## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

Where I live, "natural" childbirth seems to be synonymous to "vaginal" childbirth, since the only way I've heard it used is "Did you have a natural birth or c-section?" And I always say, "VAGINAL"


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## Juvysen (Apr 25, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kittywitty* 
I hate that this turns into a contest- OMG I didn't drink filtered water in labor, my birth wasn't natural!

filters aren't natural!


















Sorry, couldn't resist.

I vote it's still natural. I used hypnobabies... is that natural? I'd do it again in a heartbeat, either way.


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