EBB 352 - Calming Breathing Techniques for Pregnancy with Dr. Shilpa Babbar, Obstetrician and Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist

Evidence Based Birth®

Rebecca Dekker

Pregnancy, Health & Fitness, Childbirth, Parenting, Birth, Medicine, Kids & Family, Doula, Obstetrician, Midwife

4.6 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. Shilpa Babbar, a double board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialist and OB/GYN, joins Dr. Rebecca Dekker to discuss the role of integrative obstetrics in pregnancy and birth. Dr. Babbar shares her journey into maternal-fetal medicine, how she became interested in yoga and breathing techniques, and the growing body of research on prenatal yoga. They discuss how breathwork can support pregnant individuals, the physiological effects of deep breathing, and how birth workers can incorporate these techniques into prenatal care. Dr. Babbar also shares her experience using alternate nostril breathing to manage blood pressure during pregnancy and her vision for making integrative therapies a standard part of obstetric care.

(01:41) Dr. Babbar’s Journey into Maternal-Fetal Medicine

(04:16) How Yoga and Prenatal Yoga Research Began

(09:37) Studying the Effects of Prenatal Yoga on Pregnancy

(12:46) Yoga’s Impact on Labor Duration

(14:33) The Role of Breathwork in Pregnancy

(17:48) How Dr. Babbar Used Breathing Techniques for Her Own Pregnancy

(22:30) The Science Behind Alternate Nostril Breathing

(28:52) Guided Demonstration of Deep Breathing Techniques

(35:10) Applying Breathwork During Pregnancy and Labor

(39:08) The Future of Integrative Obstetric Care

Resources

Learn more about Dr. Shilpa Babbar’s work at drshilpababbar.com

Follow the Integrative Obstetric Care Conference on Instagram: @IOBCare

For more information about Evidence Based Birth® and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram and YouTube! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. On today's podcast, we're going to talk with Dr. Shilpa Babar about integrative
0:05.8	obstetrics and breathing techniques for relaxation in pregnancy and birth.
0:14.0	Welcome to the evidence-based birth podcast. My name is Rebecca Decker, and I'm a nurse
0:18.8	with my PhD and the founder of evidence-based birth.
0:22.6	Join me each week as we work together to get evidence-based information into the hands of families
0:27.9	and professionals around the world. As a reminder, this information is not medical advice.
0:34.1	See eBbirth.com slash disclaimer for more details.
0:39.4	Hi everyone and welcome to today's episode of the Evidence-Based Birth Podcast.
0:44.6	Today I'm so excited to welcome Dr. Shilpa Babar, a double board certified maternal fetal
0:51.0	medicine and obstetrician gynecologist physician, researcher, and yoga instructor.
0:56.8	From 2020 to 2024, Dr. Babbar was at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City,
1:03.4	where she served as medical director of maternal fetal medicine specialists at Advent Health Shawnee Mission in Kansas,
1:13.4	and Dr. Babbar was associate professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Dr. Bavar has been publishing on prenatal yoga
1:19.0	research for more than 10 years, and she's a nationally recognized leader on this topic.
1:24.2	She served as guest editor for the Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology Symposium on
1:29.4	complementary and alternative medicine in obstetrics, published in 2021. This publication included
1:36.7	the first in-depth review of research evaluating the impact of meditation in pregnancy.
1:43.4	Following her most recent pregnancy herself, her research expanded to
1:47.7	investigate the effects of various pranayamas, which she'll talk with us about, and related
1:53.3	complementary and alternative therapies during pregnancy. Welcome, Dr. Shilpa, to the evidence-based
1:59.1	birth podcast. Thank you so much.
2:01.3	It's such a pleasure to be here.
	...

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