44 Labor Positions, and the Judgement to Choose One
A visual, evidence-informed 117-page guide that equips birth doulas and professionals with clear positioning instructions, hands-on comfort techniques, partner coaching cues, and clinical awareness boundaries.
The Gaps This Guide Was Built to Close
Labor rarely goes to plan. Knowing the list of positions is one thing; knowing which one to reach for when the room changes is another.
You want to understand functional pelvic anatomy well enough to follow the conversation in the room, without using it to decide what a baby is doing.
You’ve had a client report intense back pressure and wanted a fast list of forward-leaning and counterpressure options to offer.
You want exact partner-coaching cues so partners feel confident, empowered, and actively involved rather than watching helplessly from the corner.
You need clear safeguards to stay firmly within your nonclinical doula scope while maintaining respectful collaboration with L&D nurses and providers.
You need practical modifications ready to go when an epidural is placed, mobility is restricted, or the hospital room has limited equipment.
You want a fast, beautifully organized visual reference you can review before heading to a birth or pull up on your phone during quiet moments.
Designed for Real-Time Reference in the Birth Room
Every position in the guide uses the same 12-part spread. Learn one page and you can read all 44 without hunting.
Structured Clarity When Seconds Matter
What works in early labor often stops working twenty minutes later. Comfort, energy and mobility all shift, and the position has to shift with them.
Each page is built to be scanned, not read. You should be able to find the setup and the coaching cue in seconds, without working through paragraphs of theory.
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Get the Digital Guide for $59.99The 12 Sections on Every Position Spread
Every one of the 44 positions is laid out the same way. Examples below are taken from the Walking spread on page 13.
Movement Focus
Quick visual tags in the corner of every spread, so you can find a kind of movement without reading the page.
The tag vocabulary is consistent across all 44 positions: Upright, Mobile, Rhythmic, Standing, Seated, Kneeling, Resting, Asymmetric, Supported, Leaning, Water, Private and Specialized.
What This Position Offers
A plain-language account of what the position actually gives the client — written to avoid outcome claims.
From the Walking spread: “The value is not that walking guarantees faster labor; it gives the client an upright, self-directed way to move and change posture.”
When It May Feel Helpful
Client-centred reasons to reach for it, phrased from the birthing person’s experience rather than a clinical indication.
Walking: “The client wants to move, change scenery, or avoid staying in one position.” You are matching a stated preference, not treating a diagnosis.
How to Set It Up
Numbered, reproducible setup steps for the position and any props.
Each spread gives the steps in order, starting with the setting check — for Walking, step one is simply confirming that walking is allowed where you are.
What You’ll Need
The equipment and support the position assumes, listed before you start.
Birth balls, peanut balls, pillows, rebozos, a handrail, a stable chair, a support person — so you know what to gather, or what to substitute.
How the Doula Can Help
The practical, hands-on, nonclinical actions that make the position work.
Walking: “Stay beside the client, manage cords or belongings only when appropriate, offer water, and notice when walking is becoming work rather than support.”
Partner Support
A meaningful role for the client’s chosen support person — without making them responsible for managing labor.
Walking: “Walk at the client’s pace. During contractions, become a stable place to lean rather than pulling or steering.”
Comfort Options
Nonclinical comfort measures that pair well with this particular position.
Counterpressure, hip squeezes, heat where appropriate, water, breathing and relaxation support — matched to the position rather than listed generically.
Try a Variation
Ways to adapt when the room, the equipment, or the client’s energy will not allow the position as written.
Walking: “Try slow dance, standing forward lean, hallway swaying, or walking only between contractions.”
Keep in Mind
Balance, fatigue, numbness, equipment, monitoring, environment and client preference.
Walking: “Stop for dizziness, unsteadiness, new discomfort, or whenever the client wants to rest. Mobility may be limited by medication effects, monitoring, equipment, or care-team guidance.”
Stay in Scope
Appears wherever a position is commonly discussed in relation to fetal position or labor progress.
The boundary the guide uses throughout: support the person in front of you; do not diagnose the problem you think you are solving.
Evidence Note
Appears only where a specific claim needs context — including to say that a claim is not supported.
Walking: “General mobility and upright positioning are supported options in labor; walking should not be presented as a guaranteed way to dilate the cervix, engage the fetal head, or restart labor.”
Built for the Question You Actually Ask Mid-Labor
The position library is only half the guide. The last fifteen pages are lookup tools, organised around what is happening in the room rather than around position names.
Position Finder. Twelve pages of “what are you supporting right now?” — wants to move, wants to rest, exhausted, intense back pressure, has an epidural, been in one position too long, partner wants a role — each mapped to positions to explore, why they may fit, and what to keep in mind.
Quick reference by setting. What is actually available to you in a hospital bed, a hospital room with mobility, a shower, a birth tub, or a home and birth centre — plus a second-stage list separated into rest-focused, forward-leaning, upright and bed-based options.
The A&V MOVE framework. A four-part way to think when nothing on the page fits: Movement options available and wanted, Offer choices rather than instructions, Variety over more activity, Energy — because protecting rest is labor support too.
Scope, stated plainly. A full page on what a doula does not do — diagnose fetal position, determine dilation or station, interpret heart-rate patterns, or prescribe a position as treatment. Useful to have in writing when you are the newest person in the room.
Trusted by Birth Workers & Doulas
Here is what practicing birth professionals are saying about the Labor Positions for Doulas reference guide:
"This guide is the bridge between doula training and real-life hospital shifts. The partner coaching section alone gave me the exact words to guide an anxious dad through 4 hours of intense active labor."
"Having registered nurses write this makes such a massive difference. The 'Clinical Awareness' and 'Stay in Scope' sections give me complete confidence when collaborating alongside L&D nurses and midwives."
"The visual layout is pure gold. I loaded the PDF onto my iPad, and the peanut ball position modifications helped a client with an epidural rotate her baby smoothly during a 20-hour labor."
Veronica Simpkins
RN, MSN, IBCLC, WHNP
Ashley Green
RN, BSN, IBCLC
Choose the Digital Professional Edition
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High-resolution PDF format · Read comfortably on tablet, laptop, or phone bedside
Digital PDF Edition
Complete 117-Page Professional Reference Guide
- 44 Positions, 117 Pages: Every one with step-by-step setup
- 12-Part Spread Layout: The same 12 sections on every position, for rapid reference
- Partner Coaching Prompts: Exact cues and hands-on techniques
- Position Modifications: Peanut balls, birth balls, epidurals & bed rest
- Clinical Scope Reminders: Clear nonclinical role boundaries
- Personal Print Permission: Permission to print 1 copy for your birth bag
Single-User Professional License: One purchase provides lifetime access for one individual buyer. File sharing, redistribution, or resale is prohibited.
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