Early labor is usually the longest part of labor, and it can be exciting when those first real contractions begin. Many expecting moms want to get up, move around, and help things progress, but doing too much too soon can leave you tired before active labor even begins.

As a birth doula, I often remind families that early labor is a time to pace yourself, rest when you can, stay nourished, and use gentle movement when it feels good. The goal is not to rush this stage but to support your body while saving energy for active labor, transition, and pushing.

Here are helpful early labor positions and simple ways to manage this first phase at home.

Related: What to Do in Early Labor: 6 Tips to Stay Calm and Prepared

What To Do During Early Labor at Home

Early labor looks different for everyone, but knowing how to pace yourself and support your body at home can make this stage feel more manageable.

During early labor, the first phase of labor, your cervix begins to efface (thin) and dilate (open up) to about 3 centimeters.^4,5 Laboring women should stay at home during this first phase to make sure that things are progressing and that they’re not experiencing prodromal labor.^6,9 Prodromal labor starts and stops but doesn’t progress to fully active labor. Many people refer to this as “false labor.”⁷ However, we feel there’s nothing false about those contractions. But we would hate for a woman to experience these initial prodromal contractions and go to the hospital too soon if labor were to stall shortly after. You may be sent back home to continue laboring until things progress.

What you do during early labor may depend on a few things:

• Is It Daytime or Nighttime?
• Did Your Water Break, or Are You Only Having Contractions?
• Are You Group B Strep Positive or Negative?
• If Your Water Broke, Are You Having Contractions?

You may be wondering why these questions matter, but all these things can make a difference in what you should do during early labor. Here’s how each situation may affect what you do during early labor:

Preparing for Birth? Start Here.

Short, practical lessons to help you feel more prepared, supported, and ready for birth.

Start Your Birth Prep

Is It Daytime or Nighttime?

Whether it’s daytime or nighttime, remember this is just the beginning. Early labor is the longest phase of the childbirth process.^6,8 It’s also usually the phase that’s the easiest to manage at home.

Early labor is the time to distract yourself, conserve energy, and get lots of rest. This isn’t the time to use all of your energy. If you do too much, you’ll leave yourself exhausted for active labor, transition, and pushing your baby out.

Those later stages require significantly more focus and energy. Remind yourself that giving birth is a marathon, not a sprint.

Daytime

If it’s daytime and you start to feel contractions, distract yourself. Keep your mind off the contractions because you have a long way to go. Some things you can do are:⁹

• Go on a walk
• Bake cookies (you can give them to your nurses at the hospital, and they will be so thankful for the treat!)
• Watch a movie
• Go to a restaurant
• Read a book
• Meditate
• Garden

Do anything you enjoy that will keep your mind off the contractions until you can no longer ignore them.

Evening

If it’s the end of the day (evening time), distract yourself with the following:⁹

• Take a hot shower
• Have a delicious dinner
• Snuggle up on the couch to watch a movie
• Make sure your hospital bag or birth center bag is ready. Here’s our full guide on what to pack in your hospital bag for labor and delivery (or your birth center bag).

Again, ignore the contractions and don’t pay attention to the clock. Only begin paying attention to them when your contractions require you to stop what you’re doing to focus on your breathing. You won’t be able to ignore them any longer, and you should begin timing the duration and frequency of each contraction with a contraction timer.

Related: 15 Things to Do While Waiting for Labor to Start

Nighttime

It’s most common for women to go into labor in the middle of the night. Why is this? Melatonin, the sleep hormone, begins to increase as sunlight decreases, and it continues to build up when our bodies are ready for sleep.¹ But in full-term or late-term pregnancies, this hormone works with oxytocin, which is the hormone that creates contractions, to work more efficiently and increase its intensity, thus causing women to go into labor. In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that most births occur in the morning or midday.² This means that the majority of women begin labor at night.

If you’re in bed or are already sleeping and contractions wake you up, try to go back to sleep. Stay in your side-lying position and focus on your breath as you fall asleep. Even if you’re unable to fall back asleep, rest.¹⁰ Don’t get up until you feel like you can’t lie down anymore. Getting as much sleep and rest as possible will give you the energy you need for the rest of your labor.

Related: When To Go to the Hospital in Labor

Did Your Water Break, or Are You Only Experiencing Contractions?

If you’re asleep and your water breaks and you’re GBS negative, get a pad and/or a towel, put them between your legs, and try to go back to sleep. Of course, check to ensure that your water is clear, does not have a foul odor (meaning there’s no infection), and that your baby is still moving.¹¹ If everything is normal, get some sleep.

The same applies if contractions wake you up. This is the time to get as much rest as possible for the busy day of labor ahead.

More Helpful Reads Popular with Baby Chick readers.

7 Things Not to Do During Labor

Birth Tips

7 Things Not to Do During Labor

Birth Tips

The Ultimate Hospital Bag Checklist for Mom, Baby, and Partner

Birth Tips

The Ultimate Hospital Bag Checklist for Mom, Baby, and Partner

Birth Tips

What to Do in Transition Labor: 6 Tips to Get Through It

Birth Tips

What to Do in Transition Labor: 6 Tips to Get Through It

Birth Tips

Are You Group B Strep (GBS) Positive or Negative?

Around week 36 of your pregnancy, you will be tested for GBS.¹² After a few days, you should receive a result indicating whether you’re GBS positive or GBS negative.

No matter if it’s daytime or nighttime, if your water breaks and you’re GBS positive, you must receive antibiotics through an IV every four hours until your baby is born. Antibiotics protect your baby from infection.¹³

(They will give you penicillin for the antibiotics, so if you’re allergic to penicillin, let your medical team know and they will provide an alternative medication.^12,13)

This is why it’s encouraged that you go to the hospital soon after your water breaks if you’re GBS positive.¹³

If you are GBS negative and your water breaks, your provider may give you different timing guidance depending on your birth plan, fluid color, baby’s movement, contraction pattern, and local hospital policy. Call your provider or birth team and follow their instructions.

Related: Understanding Your Options When GBS Positive During Pregnancy

If Your Water Broke, Are You Feeling Any Contractions at All?

It’s best if you have contractions when going into the hospital. If you go there without contractions and your water has broken, your medical team will need to give you Pitocin, the synthetic form of oxytocin given through an IV, to induce your labor.¹⁴ Pitocin can make your contractions much more intense and much faster, and lead to a cascade of other interventions. It’s something to avoid unless medically necessary.³

Related: How Do You Know if Your Water Broke?

Best Positions for Early Labor

The best early labor positions are usually the ones that help you stay comfortable, conserve energy, and gently encourage baby to move down. During the day, movement may feel helpful. At night, rest should usually be the priority.

Daytime Positions for Early Labor

If your contractions begin during the day and you’re feeling comfortable enough to be up and moving, these positions can help support your labor while helping you avoid overexerting yourself.

1. Walking

If it’s daytime and you have the energy, take a nice walk and use gravity to your advantage. You can walk around the neighborhood, the park, or even the mall if it’s cold outside.

The movement of your pelvis helps move your baby further into your pelvis, and gravity helps push your baby down further onto your cervix, which will help you dilate more.^4,15 Walking can gently encourage labor progress while helping you avoid using too much energy too early.

2. Curb Walking

What is curb walking? Curb walking is when a pregnant woman walks with one foot on the road and the other foot up on the curb or sidewalk. These uneven, exaggerated steps can further open your pelvis and increase pressure on your cervix.¹⁷ It’s not the most comfortable thing, but it can help your contractions strengthen.

Only try curb walking if you feel steady on your feet and have someone nearby for support.

3. Sitting on a Birthing Ball

Walking and standing can get tiring, so it’s good to sit down and rest. One of the best places to sit is on a birthing ball. Sitting on a birthing ball helps improve a person’s posture and allows the baby’s head to be positioned directly over the cervix.^18,19 Sway side to side on the ball, make figure-eight motions, and take the pressure off your feet, but still encourage your body to continue what it needs to do to further your labor progress.

Related: How to Use a Birthing Ball

4. Straddle a Chair

To conserve your energy, lean back against the chair as you sit down to rest. This position requires you to straddle the chair, which helps open your pelvis.²⁰ Leaning forward can also put less pressure on your lower back.²¹ Place your pillow on the back of the chair and take a break. This is also a great position for a support person to perform counter-pressure and massage your back and lower back.²⁰

Nighttime Positions for Early Labor

If labor begins overnight, your goal is different. These positions focus on helping you rest, relax, and conserve energy for the more active stages of labor ahead.

1. Side-Lying

This is the position most expecting women sleep in during pregnancy. If contractions were to wake you, continue lying on your side (preferably your left side) and try to go back to sleep. If you can’t, at least rest.²² Focus on your breath and relax all of the muscles in your body.

Many providers recommend avoiding long periods flat on your back late in pregnancy and during labor, especially if it makes you feel dizzy, short of breath, or uncomfortable.^23,24 It can reduce blood supply to your baby and cause intense lower back pain and back labor.²⁵

2. Child’s Pose

If side-lying is no longer comfortable, child’s pose can be another position to try. This pose helps the laboring woman relieve pressure off her back, stretches her hips, and is a great position to rest in between contractions and focus on her breath.²⁶

Related: Hip Opening Stretches During Pregnancy

3. Cat-Cow Pose

It’s beneficial to stretch your back when lying down too much. Do the cat-cow yoga position to stretch your back. This position also helps your baby get into a more optimal birthing position and can decrease back labor.²⁷

4. Open-Knee-Chest

Tired but want to work with your body to continue the labor process? The open-knee-chest position is great. This position is part of the Miles Circuit, which many birth professionals use to encourage optimal fetal positioning during labor.

5. Sit in the Tub or Stand in the Shower

Step into the shower or sit in the tub to catch your breath and regain your energy. Hydrotherapy is incredibly helpful and can provide the break you need.¹⁶

Don’t stay in the shower or tub for too long, though. It’s great to relax your body and muscles, which can help increase your effacement and dilation, but it’s also good to change positions every 30 minutes to an hour.¹⁵

What To Remember

Here are the most important takeaways to guide you through early labor at home.

• Rest: Conserve your energy. You have a long way to go.
• Distraction, distraction, distraction: Bake cookies, watch a movie, go to a restaurant, go on a walk. Do anything that keeps your mind off these contractions until they’ve developed a closer pattern.
• Eat and drink plenty of fluids: If it’s daytime, build up your energy for the rest of labor with these foods to eat in early labor!

Early labor is a time to rest, pace yourself, stay hydrated, and listen to your body. Gentle movement can be helpful during the day, while rest is usually the priority at night.

If your contractions become stronger and closer together, your water breaks, baby is moving less, your fluid is green or has a foul odor, or something does not feel right, call your provider or birth team. Every labor is different, and they can help you decide when it is time to go in.

Looking for positions to use later on? Here are the best positions for active labor.