Labor pain relief technique - attention focusing

Having a laboring mama practice attention focusing to divert labor pain is often used by doulas, nurses, and other labor support individuals. How attention focusing works: This technique can help to lessen labor pain by diverting the attention of the mama away from the labor. During contractions, a mama's labor support individual can prompt her to divert her attention away from the pain and focus on an item, thought, or sound. Ideas for attention focusing: 

• Looking at a meaningful picture or object.
• Looking at something that reminds the mama that there is an actual baby coming - this makes the labor seem more positive, in that it reminds the mama that the pain is not abstract; it's happening for a reason. Ideas could be looking at a baby outfit, the sonogram images, or a special gift for the newborn (like a teddy bear).
• Focusing on touch like massage, hair brushing, or a hug.
• Concentrating on a special drill or chant - this usually involves a laboring mama repeating some sort of song or phrase over and over so that it becomes a rhythm and pattern not related to the rhythm and pattern of labor contraction pains.
• Listening to music, a soothing book on tape, or a movie.

Tips for success: When using attention focusing as a labor pain diversion it helps to keep it simple and soothing. For example, a movie with too much going on is distracting and not easy to focus on, so it won't help as much as a soothing music CD might. Whatever the new attention focus is, should be calm, repetitive, and is sound is involved, the noise level should be low. Lastly, it can help if a mama chooses her attention focuses before labor start and chooses more than one. During labor it's hard to know what will work and what won't so it's better to have a calm CD and a nice picture picked out, just in case one doesn't work.