What is Foetus Ejection Reflex?

Listen to your Instincts (Not the command to push)

The 'foetus ejection reflex' refers to the reflex that animals have when they give birth to their babies in privacy. Away from disturbance, mammals are free to birth without interuption to the natural birthing process. When a Mother feels safe neither hormones or the physical body are disturbed enabling a safe and natural birth.

 This applies to human mothers too!

Pushing?

The foetus ejection reflex may also be refered to as the urge to 'bear down' or 'breathe the baby out' or the 'push!'. In a natural birthing senario, most women don't need to be told to push! The reflex is instinctive. If a woman doesn't have an overwelming urge to bear down, she may find the baby works his way down with each breathe as the uterus eases him down the birth canal.

What exactly is foetus ejection reflex?

Marianne Littlejohn describes "It is a sudden awakening, a series of irresistible and uncontrollable surges of energy that empower the mother into expelling the baby from her womb. It is a spectacular release of birth hormones including adrenalin, oxytocin, endorphins, dopamine, prolactin. The mother most often needs to be upright or bent forwards in some way, needs to pull on a bar or handle(usually her husband!) with her arms. The foetus ejection reflex works best when a mother is safe from prying eyes and interventions, secluded, warm, and feeling held and loved"

The following article by Marianne Littlejohn explains in more detail:

Foetus Ejection Reflex