Once you move from early labor into active labor, your contractions become stronger, longer, and more consistent.⁵ This is the phase when your body is working hard to help your baby move down, and the positions you use can make a big difference in how you cope and how labor progresses. Whether you plan an unmedicated birth or simply want more comfort tools, certain movements and positions can help you stay grounded and supported.

As a birth doula who has helped hundreds of families, I’ve seen how effective these active labor techniques can be. Below are the best positions to try as labor intensifies.

Understanding Active Labor

Active labor is intense but productive, and understanding what your body is doing can help you feel more prepared for this phase.

There are three phases in the first stage of childbirth: early labor, active labor, and transition labor.⁶ Active labor is when your cervix is 6 centimeters dilated and/or your contractions are five minutes apart, each contraction lasts one minute long, and that’s a consistent pattern for one hour. This is known as the 5-1-1 rule.^6,7,8 Your contractions are stronger, longer, and closer together, and it doesn’t slow down if you change what you’re doing or change positions. This is when your doctor will recommend that you start heading to the hospital.^7,9

What are some things you can do to help your body during active labor? The big thing is to move your body! Moving your body encourages your contractions to keep coming. It also helps open your pelvis to bring your baby down low.¹⁰

Related: What To Do in Active Labor

Best Positions for Active Labor

These positions use gravity, movement, and pelvic alignment to help your body work efficiently, ease discomfort, and support your progression into the next phase of labor.

1. Squatting

Squatting creates space in the pelvis and helps your baby move downward, making contractions more productive as labor progresses.

Squatting is a great position for active labor because it helps widen the opening of your pelvis. When your pelvis is widened, it causes your baby to move downward.¹¹ This causes your baby’s head to press against your cervix, and the resulting pressure helps your cervix open and dilate. This is a good thing because you need your cervix to dilate to 10 centimeters so that you can begin pushing.⁶

This squatting position can help you get there sooner.¹² I recommend squatting next to your bed, a couch, or a chair — anything to support yourself while in a squat position.

Related: Cervical Check: What Effacement, Dilation, and Station Mean

2. Leaning Forward

Leaning forward lets your body work with gravity and can ease intense back pressure, especially if your baby is in a less-than-ideal position.

A common position that women naturally move into when experiencing a contraction is leaning forward. Standing up while leaning forward is a great position to be in during active labor. It allows you to take advantage of gravity and encourage your little one to keep coming down.^11,13 As a result, dilation tends to occur more quickly.

This position also gives you something to brace against and rest on during contractions. Not only that, leaning forward helps keep baby in a favorable position and off your back. This is really helpful if you experience back labor.^14,16 (Back labor is when you feel your contractions and baby’s head pressing against your spine and sacrum, which can be extremely painful.^14,15) When you’re leaning forward, you’re moving baby forward, taking the pressure off your back.¹⁴

Related: Natural Pain Relief Options for Labor

3. Climbing Stairs

Climbing stairs helps open the pelvis, use gravity effectively, and encourage your baby to rotate into a more optimal position.

If you want to help speed up your labor or rotate baby in a more optimal position, climbing stairs can help.

Climbing stairs opens your pelvis and causes a rocking, back-and-forth tilting motion. Being upright and opening your pelvis as you lift your leg with each step lets gravity do its work to bring baby down.^11,16,17 This helps get your baby engaged on your cervix to facilitate dilation.¹⁸ And that motion you do with each step can help shift and rotate baby in a better position off your back if you’re experiencing back labor.

Additionally, climbing stairs can be beneficial if your labor is stalling. If it’s possible and safe for you, we recommend climbing two steps at a time. This can help further open your pelvis.

4. Lunges

Lunges are a great and simple technique to do in active labor. It’s a technique to rock open the mid-pelvis between the ischial spines, opening the narrowest part of the pelvis to bring your baby down.^19,20

Lunging in labor isn’t the same type of lunge you do during a workout. When you’re working out, you’re doing a walking-type lunge, stepping one leg forward, then kneeling, and stepping back. The type of lunge you do in labor is stepping up one leg to the side of your body and leaning into the lunge.^13,19

Once you reach active labor and have regular contractions, moving into the lunge position can help speed things up.²⁰ Prop up your foot on a chair, stool, or step. Wait until you feel a contraction coming and get into this position. After the contraction ends, put your leg down to relax. This helps prevent your legs from getting overtired.

5. Swaying or Slow Dancing

Swaying with each contraction helps your body relax, encourages baby’s descent, and offers a grounding rhythm you can return to.

I recommend all my birth doula clients in active labor to stand upright and rock or sway from side to side. This is a great position to get into once you’re tired of walking. It’s also great if your contractions get closer together and you find walking difficult. It’ll be easier to stay in one place and rock your hips or sway, as motion can help reduce labor duration.²² Place your arms around your belly and sway from side to side.

You can also lean on your partner for support (literally) as you rock and sway, almost like you’re slow dancing together during contractions. Wrap your arms around your partner’s neck or waist as you sway back and forth.¹³ This can help both you and baby by easing pressure on the pelvic area and encouraging the baby to move into the correct position in the pelvis.^13,17,20 Feeling your partner’s love and support can also increase and ease the contractions because it raises your oxytocin.²¹

Related: How Birth Partners Can Help During Labor and Delivery

6. Hands-and-Knees

The hands-and-knees position helps your body work with contractions and creates space in the pelvis for baby to move into a better position.

Another good position for active labor is the hands-and-knees position. Doing the hands-and-knees position during labor can increase the likelihood of spontaneous vaginal birth, reduce pain/stress, improve uterine blood flow, and enhance fetopelvic relationships.^1,2,3,4 So, don’t be afraid or embarrassed to get on your hands and knees on the bed or the floor.

This position has also been beneficial for laboring women with a fetus in the occiput-posterior (OP) position.¹ You’ll take the pressure off your back and spine, which can ease back pain. Also, kneeling while leaning forward can open your pelvis.¹¹

7. Asymmetrical Lunge

Movement and upright positions in active labor are very beneficial for the laboring woman. They can help with the frequency, length, and efficiency of contractions.²³ These positions use gravity to their advantage and help baby move down more quickly.¹¹

However, when contractions become too strong and it’s too tiring to stand, an asymmetrical lunge on the floor is a good position. It allows you to continue encouraging your body to open and your baby to come down. Asymmetrical positions help change the pelvis’s shape to help the baby find the best position for birth.^16,24

These seven positions can make active labor more manageable by reducing pain, encouraging progress, and helping your baby find the best position for birth. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to move during labor. Listen to your body, lean on your support team, and choose the positions that feel best for you in the moment. You are doing an incredible job.