Labour Hopscotch. What is it?

Labour Hopscotch was designed and created by Sinead Thompson in 2015.

Sinead is a Community Midwife in The National Maternity Hospital, working on the Domino and Homebirth scheme for 20 years.

Labour Hopscotch was designed in response to the increase in epidural rates in the hospital. Senior midwifery managers recognised this, and set about asking midwives to come up with initiatives to offer aids to assist women achieve physiological births, and remain as active as possible in labour.

When LH was designed it was based on the premise that you have to train for the physicality of labour. Exactly like sticking to a training plan if you were doing a marathon or a triathlon. You would not turn up to a marathon on race day without 9 months of training, the same applies to Labour and birth, you must do the preparation to achieve a positive experience.

The stations in the Labour hopscotch are aimed at Optional Fetal Positioning (OFP) which is getting your baby into the correct position for the birth. It is important to line your baby’s head up so they can manoeuvre the birth canal easier and therefore make the birth process more manageable for you.

Think about putting a round plug into a square plug hole, it won’t work, however, once you have a square plug and you align it correctly it will connect perfectly. The same applies to birth. You as a mother must be responsible for this action. 

If you have a sedentary job, or you have long commutes in a car you are preventing the baby from getting into the pelvis in the correct position. If you sit on the couch or recliner you are encouraging your baby to sit against your back which is very uncomfortable for you, and your baby can get wedged in this position making it difficult to move them around at a later date when they get bigger.

How do you prevent this from occurring?

Contact sinead@labourhopscotch.ie