How to Increase Oxytocin Naturally in Pregnancy

Oxytocin is our love hormone, that safe and comforting emotion we feel when someone hugs us, or we fall in love. Throughout pregnancy we are regularly reminded of the importance of oxytocin, which can lead us to wonder about how to increase oxytocin naturally in pregnancy.

This magical hormone is there to guide us through pregnancy, childbirth and those precious few days after we have our baby. It is a hard feeling to describe, I have heard it referred to as “The Cuddle Chemical” before, which I just love, as we produce it when we feel calm and safe, resting in our parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic system is our “rest and digest” response, the bodily response Hypnobirthing classes teach you to access through relaxation scripts, affirmations and ways of calming anxieties or worries, which may lead us into our “fight and flight” mode - causing a spike of adrenaline.

Another great way of staying in this place of calm, is knowing how to increase oxytocin levels naturally.

Towards the end of pregnancy in particular, we want to do as many things as we can to increase the production of oxytocin, to help us and our babies feel safe, and for our bodies to be able to relax, which can help guide us towards spontaneous labour.

Here are a few ideas of how to increase oxytocin:

Being around people we love

Has there ever been a more wonderful reason to surround yourself with your favourite people? Knowing that being with the people we love can help us feel safe and happy, in return creating lots of wonderful oxytocin.

Laughter

Put on your favourite TV show / film, listen to a hilarious podcast or call a friend you know is going to make you laugh. Laughter makes us happy and joyful and floods us with oxytocin.

Yoga & Meditation

Both yoga and meditation are beautiful ways of accessing our parasympathetic nervous system, which we now know is where our natural flow of oxytocin comes from. So why not join a local prenatal yoga class, or join me at The Prenatal Yoga Library for on demand access to pregnancy yoga and meditation

Kissing, hugging, sex and intimacy

All of these things create a flow of oxytocin, which is why we often hear that “having sex can bring on labour”, it isn’t just an old wives tale, it’s true, as we produce lots of Oxytocin when we are intimate with someone we love.

Generally doing all of the things that you love!

You know yourself the best, and you know what activities and people make your heart sing. So when you’re thinking about how to increase oxytocin in your life, tap into and enjoy all of your favourite activities, there has never been a more important reason to relax, enjoying the things you love the most and being around the people that bring you the most joy.