People Magazine had this news in their health section and I hadn’t heard of it before. Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, commonly used for dental procedures, was approved in the United States for use during labor in 2012. It’s only gradually gaining popularity and being offered to women in labor as an alternative to epidurals. It is of course more flexible than an epidural, which supposedly can be given during any stage of labor according to my research but are usually only offered in the first stage, and are long-lasting. Laughing gas is self administered and wears off quickly.
Many women are turning to a new option for pain relief while in labor.
As an alternative to epidurals, some hospitals across the United States are offering nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas.
Nitrous oxide is a tasteless and odorless gas that “reduces anxiety and increases a feeling of well-being so that pain is easier to deal with,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Laughing gas, which is more commonly used in a dentist’s office, has long been offered to women giving birth in other countries like England, Canada, Sweden, Finland, but wasn’t introduced in the United States until 2012, when the FDA approved it for laboring women.
Use of nitrous oxide is sometimes preferred to an epidural, which relieves pain but can cause minimal feeling and limit mobility in the legs. With nitrous oxide, which is typically mixed with oxygen and inhaled through a mask, a woman can hold the mask herself and control when to inhale. Once the mask is removed, the effects of nitrous oxide quickly wear off.
“We are the second hospital on Long Island to offer this. It’s becoming more available,” Laura Jabbour, a certified nurse midwife at Northwell Health Huntington Hospital, told the outlet. “More women are becoming interested in having more control over their birth experience.”
“It doesn’t take the pain away, but it does give you a sense of euphoria that helps with anxiety that a lot of women experience,” Jabbour added. “It takes the edge off.”
A doctor quoted in the piece said that laboring women on nitrous are aware of everything that is happening and have the option to stop taking the drug at any time. It also doesn’t restrict movement or feeling in your legs like an epidural. I did a poll on Twitter early this morning asking if anyone had been offered nitrous while giving birth in the hospital. A woman from the UK answered that she had, but that it made her vomit and she had to stop using it. At that point she was too far dilated to get an epidural, but said it was a positive birth experience overall. A US-based source who just had a baby told me that she was informed that nitrous would be available, but that it was never offered to her in labor.
I wish this was available when I had my baby! It was over ten years ago and I didn’t get an epidural, but it was mainly because I was afraid of hospitals and used a birth center. Everyone should have the birth experience that they and their doctor agree on and I mean that very broadly.
Photos credit: Isaac Hermar on Pexels and Jimmy Conover and Alexander Grey on Unsplash
How is this only just a thing in the US?
Gas & Air is standard in the UK?
Also do you have Doctors primarily delivering babies in the US or midwives ?
It’s doctors for the most part. Midwives are more common in some areas than in others, but not every hospital or practice has certified nurse midwives (CNMs) available.
I had this in Canada….in 2007, and it wasn’t new. It’s been used practically forever for labouring women who want it.
I’m so sorry for the American women who were given no options but an epidural. Laughing gas got me through 3 births without epidural. I cannot imagine not having it.
I was offered gas and used it because my induction was much more painful than my previous labors. I also had a midwife as well as doctors present. I live in California, so maybe this isn’t standard in rural areas of the united states.
It’s interesting that there seems to be an element of negativity towards Nitrous Oxide as pain relief during labour.
Across Europe, it’s the primary source of pain relief. It’s not strong. You just feel a bit drunk and it wears off quickly, so you need to keep going with it during each contraction but it takes the edge off.
The benefits are that it doesn’t affect the baby, the mother recovers very quickly and you’re much less likely to need interventions such as forceps or c section because you can feel what you’re doing and really work with your body.
I think just about every woman gets to that point in labour where they think they can’t do it and need an epidural. I remember my midwife telling me that usually means its too late and you’re about to start pushing.
Having had three babies on gas & air, I know some labours are longer or more painful than others and it all comes down to personal choice but I personally would rather the pain in those moments than the long recovery time after potential interventions.
American here- I only found out about this recently from watching UK family channels on YouTube. All of them show laboring people using these masks and I was just like “what is that?!” I had to Google to find out it was common place outside the US. I didn’t know it was an option here at all. I’m glad it’s becoming more common bc I know 2 people who had horrible reactions to an epidural. One passed out during labor bc it went up instead of down, the other got a box clot in the brain for the same reason.
Doctors mainly. It’s a good part of the problem.
I had laughing gas with my daughter born at the very end of 2019. I live in rural FL and had her in a hospital. This was the 1st time I ever had it and boy it just made me feel super dizzy and it made everyone’s voices sound really weird to me, and oh the colors, I saw so many colors. It distracted me enough that I didn’t need an epidural so I guess it did it’s job. I was hoping to avoid an epidural since I had one with my first and suffered some really serious complications.
Is this the 60’s?!
It’s been available in Europe for decades… My mom had it in 86 for my birth and she hated it, says she felt the pain and felt drunk on top of it.
The Staff at Childrens hospital gave my son happy gas when he broke his leg. It made him vomit, and he was sick on and off the rest of the night.
It made me vomit too. Maybe they don’t want you vomiting in case things go south and you need the c section? Like why you can’t have food and drink past a certain point? It made me extremely sick, not sure if that’s uncommon though
I understand its use during labor the way it is described here but what are the benefits of using this for dental work? Do people still get the injection to numb the tooth? That seems excessive? I don’t want to feel a damn thing when they’re drilling around the nerve, no amount of euphoria can calm me down during that procedure.
Yes, dental patients receive the gas first and then the numbing shots. I had nitrous for the first time this year, dealing with emergency extraction, and it was awesome!! No anxiety, I was flying high instead of focusing on my usual tooth pain. I’m thinking those that felt nauseous were given too high a dose? I’d absolutely love to have it for laboring!
For dental work it’s used to calm the patient down if they have anxiety about the dental work. The dentist will still give you all the injections to numb your mouth. They’re not going to drill into your tooth without numbing you. Even if you opt for the gas.
I had nitrous oxide during oral surgery. It was in addition to the normal anesthetic.
I sometimes get laughing gas and novocaine for dental procedures. I have anxiety around the dentist and the combination helps for the more intense work.
Okay, got it. This is – as far as I know – not a thing with German dentists. I’m not afraid of the dentist as long as I know I won’t feel anything. Just numb my whole head, don’t be stingy.
I’ve used it during dental procedures. I didn’t feel euphoria but I felt like I just didn’t care about anything, everything was fine. It was great, honestly.
My epidural didn’t work properly so I wasn’t able to move my legs, but I felt everything. It was horrible. But I’d like gas the next go round.
@KFG, I’m sorry this happened to you! It happened to my mother as well, and she had a C section. She says she could feel everything happening on the left side of her body. I think it’s due to a small curve in her spine, which I also have. I don’t know if I’m going to have kids, but I know that I want to nope out of an epidural.
My sister in law had an epi that only worked on one side of her body because of a mistake in how they administered it. It sounded horrible.
@KFG that is awful! I had a “hot spot” with my epidural where I could still feel certain parts. And of course, they were parts that tore…
Second baby came too fast for the epidural, so I did it unmedicated. Done having kids, but if I were to have another, I might opt for the gas!
Actually I researched this while pregnant last year: this was in common use in the US through the 1970s but fell out of use when the epidural came in as its pain management was considered more effective. I ended up laboring in water and getting gas and air. Worked for me, although I wouldn’t describe the effect as euphoric.
They can also charge significantly more for an epi (and any associated complications) than the gas, so that’s definitely part of it.
I was offered it, didn’t do a thing. Let me put it this way: you need to be able to stop screaming and inhale deeply for it to even have a chance of working. Not a suitable alternative for every labour.
I had it too, almost 10 years ago. I ended up getting an epidural anyway. It made me loopy and I don’t have clear memories of the birth, which I hate
I wondered the same thing @flower. All UK women are offered gas and air as part of their pain relief. Isn’t it standard for dad’s to have a go too, if things are a bit slow and they’ve finished all the snacks?
Fwiw, not sure if gas and air helped during either of my labours, although it did help me to control my breathing so maybe that is its benefit.
“Isn’t it standard for dad’s to have a go too, if things are a bit slow and they’ve finished all the snacks?”
^^ This was funny,
Re your labour – I think timing is crucial for gas and air to work. No point offering it when some one is further on, so same issue with epidurals.
I actually had a go at my friend’s birth when the midwife was busy elsewhere …really not a fan, but it seemed to help her somewhat which was the main thing!
I didn’t have any pain-relief when I gave birth, opted out..not sure it if it was a good or bad thing, but I was young and stubborn and way too focused on the natural birth blah blah approach
In Sweden laughing gas is used at almost every birth. I’ve had four kids, and I’ve used laughing gas each time. Here they offer it when you are in active labour and you normally use it until the baby is out, also during the pushing stage. I’ve combined it with epidural, it was great.
I am in the UK and due to the speed of both my labours gas and air is all I had. I don’t think it really does anything to help the pain but it does give you something to concentrate on to control your breathing, plus something to bite down on lol! It is standard practice over here. I don’t think it is at all comparable to the pain relief of an epidural though.
Something to bite down on is key! No epidural with my second (she came too fast–I begged for the epidural!). Afterwards, I realized I bit the hell out of my lip and it took a long time to heal!
I had a rough labor with my first and can attest to the fact that they can give you an epidural even if you are 9cm dilated, lol. It’s just harder bc the patient is likely moving around more due to the contractions and pain.
Anyway, this seems like a good alternative for a lot of women; I know several who didn’t want an epidural but something like this may have helped to take the edge off delivery a bit.
I think it depends more on the contractions than the dilation. My second came so fast and I begged for the epidural, but there wasn’t time for it to take effect before she came.
Never wanted a “natural” birth, but it was kind of cool to be able to walk right after!
Oh I was having lots of contractions, lol. I’m just pointing out that so many people say you “can’t” get an epidural after a certain point and that’s not really true.
I asked for an epidural the minute I arrived at the hospital. Give me all the drugs, thank you very much! It was great for the birth but not so great afterwards when I needed a catheter because I couldn’t work my bladder. Ah, memories…
Me too. Had it very early on for my deliveries and they were a breeze. Also if you end up needing an episiotomy, I can’t imagine laughing gas numbing that like an epidural does. Ouch.
Episiotomies are not medically necessary, they shouldn’t be doing them anyway. That’s part of why I didn’t have an epidural, 3 friends from high school happened to have kids within two months of each other, in three different states. All three of them, the instant the epidural kicked in, were given episiotomies and told afterwards it was “to speed things up.” None of them were asked.
None of them healed correctly and oh my god I get mad just thinking about it. They’ve found that medically, it does nothing to help get the baby out, and it’s harder to heal correctly. I had a third degree tear with my first and it healed up amazing, no scars or lasting issues.
Anyway, episiotomies without consent is assault as far as I’m concerned. Also why I had nurse midwives.
@Lucy – my mother had very bad tears in her perineum giving birth to me and my sister, we were big babies and came much too fast, and my sister’s shoulder got stuck behind her pelvic bone. An episiotomy would have prevented that. Her tears got infected and it was a mess. Although not necessary for 90% of deliveries, there are times when it’s necessary.
@Lucy I don’t know anybody who ever had a preventive episiotomy. I had mine because my baby went into the birth canal with his arm bent upward and his hand resting on his head. As soon as they saw the hand and arm were coming out first alongside the head they grabbed the scissors. Having to accommodate the hand and bent arm alongside with the head was the equivalent of pushing out an 18lb baby. I gave birth at one of the best urban medical centers–they knew what they were doing. Thank GOD I had the epidural because no one saw this coming. I felt the cut, but had zero pain and everything went smoothly afterward despite the complication.
This was me as well. I kept reminding the nurses, “Hey you know I want the epidural right?” “You guys got that epidural coming?” I’ve seen so many movies/TV shows where for some reason the woman couldn’t get the epidural in time and I had no intention of finding out if that’s really something that happens.
Oh, it happens. When I was getting my epidural, a nurse knocked on the door and told the anesthesiologist that the woman down the hall decided she wanted the epidural after all. Apparently she had been hemming and hawing about whether or not to get it and the anesthesiologist was annoyed. He said I was there ready to give it to her multiple times in her labor and she changed her mind and said no. When she decided to have it, he was busy giving me mine and he couldn’t get to her. There is no downside to getting it early but if you wait you might miss the window.
I almost didn’t get mine in time because there was a thunderstorm and apparently that sent several women into labor at once, so I had to wait in excruciating pain for my turn.
My midwives wouldn’t give me an epidural until I was 5 cm! Which happened 4 days after my water broke, after 36 hours on pitocin. I would have very much liked to start the epidural with the pitocin, it was he’ll. But, 45 hours after I started the pitocin, I made it through and I’m grateful for that.
I tried to tough it out but eventually asked for the epidural. They had two emergency surgeries back-to-back and there was no one to administer it. Somehow I’d always had this idea like they had a guy waiting right outside the door with the cart and once you said “I want an epidural” he barreled in and did it within, like, a minute. Not so much! And then I dilated from 4 cm to 10 cm in 45 minutes (thanks, Pitocin). It was horrible.
As it turned out, I never had another baby, but if I had – well, I remember seeing Reba McEntire and Heather Locklear on a talk show soon after Locklear had given birth, and Locklear said she’d tried to go natural but ended up getting the epidural and was ashamed of it. McEntire said, “Let me tell you, after my kid was born I said, ‘If I ever have another one, I’m gonna have them meet me in the hospital parking lot with the epidural as soon as we park the car!'” Yup. There is nothing wrong with getting pain relief – labor can be excruciating!
Can confirm it was available at my hospital in NYS last year.
I think nitrous is pretty common here in Australia. Didn’t do anything for me during labour but my kids get it at the beginning of dental treatment to calm them down and it works really well. A few of my Mum friends said it made them vomit so I think that is a fairly common side-effect.
I’m in the US and did this for my second labor! Like the article says, it doesn’t really reduce the pain any, but it helped me stay calm and keep breathing strong through the contractions. It also gives you something to do in response to the pain, which I found helpful. I wouldn’t really pitch it as being “instead” of an epidural, I would say it’s more for if you’re pretty sure you don’t want an epidural but you don’t have success with getting into a good meditative state and need a little extra help to ride out the pain.
Same here, had it with my 2nd kid like 9 years ago. Maybe it was available bc I used a midwife? It didn’t help that much with pain but when I started to panic, it relaxed me so I could get back to birthin’ lol
Whipits are fun but I don’t know about labor…..
With the caveat that every birth and birthing person is different, nitrous was wonderful! I had a hospital birth with epidural for my first 12 years ago in Canada, and home birth with a little laughing gas for my second. It was there when I needed it and wears off quickly, you can still move, and it doesn’t put you “on the clock” for a section. Definitely ask your doctor or midwife about it!
not a woman but I had this when I gave birth in Canada and it was great (couldn’t have managed without it). i had no idea it wasn’t an option in the US, wow.
I had all of mine without any drugs or epidural in the 90s because that is what was important to me. At the time it was because I didn’t want any drugs to get into my babies body (all so they can grow up to drink themselves crazy in college lol). But now that they are grown and in hindsight I am just grateful I felt them come into the world. So I understand not wanting an epidural, it does take away part of the experience and it isn’t always without problems.
I remember reading that drugs like demurral that were common at the time didn’t really take away the pain but the woman’s ability to verbalize it. That horrified me. This seems like it wouldn’t do that since a woman can stop whenever she has had enough. Every woman’s experience is difference and we should be given choices instead of a one size fits all.
They also used to give laboring women “twilight sleep” so that they would forget the pain afterward. So they might suffer terribly during childbirth but not remember that they had (and at that time it wasn’t common for there to be a birth partner/father in the room, so there would be no one to remind them afterward what it had been like). This led to women not advocating for better pain relief… because they didn’t remember how awful it was WITHOUT pain relief. Absolutely barbaric.
I’m in Australia and had the gas for my first baby. It worked for about an hour and then it did nothing and I ended up “whiting out” from inhaling too much during an intense contraction. I’m saying “white out” instead of black out because I just remember everything went bright white and I had a high pitch ringing in my ears. My husband later told me my eyes had rolled into the back of my head and I had passed out. When I came too I screamed for the epidural and it was bliss, I spent the next 14 hours of my labour chilling out in the hospital bed eating jelly babies and reading magazines.
I tried to use laughing gas in 2016 and again in 2018, during my inductions and they were inserting the balloon. Both times the tanks were empty and sucking from an empty tank did not help the hellish experience. The biggest perk of being done with having kids for me is not having that balloon again. (I require induction for medical reasons.)
(For boston locals, this was at the brigham. So if you’re planning on using laughing gas, check repeatedly that they have it.)
I had to have the balloon for medical reasons with my second child.. not fun!
But my first child had an unplanned induction with JUST a WHOLE LOT pitocin, and frankly that was worse for me.
I didn’t know you could get nitrous for the balloon insertion though– good to know!
I had a Pitocin birth in the 1990s and it was horrible. Went from 4 cm to 10 cm in less than an hour (and due to there being emergency surgeries back-to-back there was no anesthesiologist to administer an epidural). I remember I was screaming and the nurse came in and chided me, saying, “Stop that! You’re scaring the other mommies!” As if I *wanted* to be screaming. I was trying so hard not to… but it really, really hurt.
Recently a friend who had had a baby around the same time told me she had Pitocin and they hooked her up to the epidural at the very beginning, before they even administered it… and her OB said that Pitocin labors are so awful, he felt it would be “like torture” to give Pitocin without an epidural in place. So there they were, my birthing team, (a) giving me this medication without telling me it had that effect of amplifying the pain, (b) encouraging me to try to labor without pain relief until I got to where I couldn’t take it anymore… but then they couldn’t provide me with an epidural, and (c) shaming me for screaming. For YEARS I felt crawling, hot shame when I remembered what that nurse said. Which is ridiculous.
But if you have a difficult labor, you’re between a rock and a hard place: you’ve been encouraged not to ask for pain relief – told that to have a drug-free labor is “doing it right” – subjected to MAJOR pressure to do it drug-free to prove you’re a good mother – and yet you’re criticized if you’re not “handling the pain well.” F*** that. If cis men had babies they’d give them the epidural in about the seventh month of pregnancy just to be sure!
Wow. Pregnancy is so amazing but so terrifying. You mama’s are true heroes in my book.
I worked in a Birthing center up until covid and Nitrous is the only pain relief the midwifes could offer. This is not new in the US, just new for hospitals.
Canadian here. I tried it with my first birth and it made me vomit and I felt terrible. If anything it gave me more anxiety. I eventually went with the epidural when i couldn’t take it any more. Looking back, I am positive my son was not in a proper position, and from what I have read I should have been up and moving or shifting around instead of lying on my back.
Second birth was all natural and in the end way better, and if i had more children the only way i would want to go. But, sometimes the drugs are great option to have and I’m glad they are available for any woman that needs them.
I had laughing gas for both my labours. You have to take like deep yoga breaths for it to work. Didn’t help with the actual pain of labour but brought my anxiety and stress down so I was happily high as a kite in between. Just allowed me to feel like I got a bit of a break in between contractions so I felt like I could keep going. It’s great stuff.
How is this a new thing? It’s been available in Canada since at least the 1960s when my mother used it for my brother and me! Did Big Pharma push it out of use and now it’s making a comeback?
With my first my water broke, I went to the hospital, I started having contractions, the gave me an epidural, 12 hours later the dr came back, said it was time to push, I remember thinking the word push without being able to feel the sensation. That was weird. 45 minutes later I had a baby.
With my second I woke up having contractions. I timed them and they were three minutes apart. I was like, um, I think we have to go now. My water broke in the car and by the time I got to the hospital I was in active labor. No time for any drugs. It was like a movie with my partner saying she’s having the baby right now. It was only two hours from the time I woke up until the time my son was born. I was not prepared for an unmedicated birth but at least it was quick and with no “complications” although walking up and down stairs was painful for at least a month after because my joints did something weird for awhile.
Every time I think about a person being forced to carry a fetus to term I think about my second labor and how hellish that would be if the person didn’t chose pregnancy for themselves.
I think more options for managing pain in labor is good. I had a natural birth, in a birth center, because my fear of an epidural was greater than my fear of an unmedicated birth…but I maybe would have had a little laughing gas in the moment! Lol, things get intense!
I had the gas & air for my first delivery and it was *amazing*, a total godsend. I used it throughout my 2 hours of pushing in between contractions and it took 95% of the pain away but I could still feel everything.
laughing gas is the worst! I was offered it giving birth in the Caribbean in 2017. Did absolutely nothing except humor my husband because it made me talk funny for 3 seconds. Felt all the pain. It’s a waste. But the videos he took of me were really funny 🙂
That was my experience too. It did nothing for me.
Laughing gas was an option for me at a hospital in Connecticut in 2019 (not sure if it makes a difference but it was a “baby friendly” hospital which is a specific category. I didn’t have it though b/c things went too fast for me (had her in ~4 hours)
I had the gas for my second birth. Would recommend to anyone. I felt like, you can feel the pain, but you just didn’t care? And if it made you pass out the mask would just fall off my face (I was holding it, not strapped to me), and I would be up a second later. Good stuff.
I had laughing gas for my labor last year in the US. I had a bit of a learning curve, the first time I tried it the mask made me a little anxious and I wasn’t so sure I liked the feeling. Then I tried again about 45 minutes later and used it for a few hours on and off, not gonna lie, I had a good time.
I’d have died three times over without a hospital. Without surgery. I’ve always been so very jealous of women who can opt for midwives or pools or gas or fancy rooms or, “Push! Push! You got this!” Nope. Enormous amounts of blood, pain and tears for weeks lol. Enjoy options! Even though some of ours are being taken from us.
My mother had this 25 years ago in the UK. It was her third labour and she did not like epidural. She felt she was way more in control of the whole process. I can’t beleive this hasn’t been a widely available option for so long!
I had nitrous oxide with my first baby in 2017; gave birth in a different hospital in May 2020, and it was not offered due to Covid.
It doesn’t stop you from feeling pain– it just lessens how much you care about pain. Honestly, I think some of its function was having to focus on breathing into the face mask while having a contraction– to distract you a little bit. I dunno. It worked until it didn’t for me. It was good to try it– it helped for a while, and a nurse has to be there while you have it, meaning I had a nurse in the room with me from then on. She gave me fluids preemptively, so when I did ultimately need an epidural (after several hours languishing at 5 or 6 cm), it could happen really quickly.
It is pretty common for nitrous to be available in the UK. Ultimately I think it’s good for women to have more, not fewer, options to pain management– so it’s great that more hospitals offer it.
My blood platelets dropped suddenly when I was in labor with my second son and I wasn’t allowed to get an epidural because of it. I had back labor the entire time, which suuuucked. I tried laughing gas as an alternative but it did not work AT ALL for me.
Give them another 5 years or so and they’ll be knocking us out like they used to
Canadian here. I gave birth to my first child in 93 and laughing gas was available then. Made me puke fiercely but they gave me other pain relief options. It wasn’t horrendous. I’m shocked they are only offering this recently.
The birth center in my area uses it but hospitals always just push epidurals so I doubt they offer it in hospital settings yet.
I’ve done two at home births, including my most recent one with my nine week old and my midwife does not offer it but I’ve heard some bring nitrous oxide to homebirths as well. I might’ve given it a try if it was available though. I did notice with my last birth at a few hours before transition I could feel my body releasing the oxytocin and all those natural drugs to get things going so that was enough for me personally. I’m not a hospital person and have a lot of sensitivities to most medication so I would not be surprised if nitrous oxide would just make me nauseous and throw up or something like that.
Gave birth 4 years ago in US and was not offered laughing gas. I personally was very happy having an epidural.
Wow…..I had this in 93 with my first, in Canada. Didn’t do much and I ended up with an epidural, but still. How is this just becoming a thing there?????????