Dr Amanda Waaldyk · Fertility Acupuncturist
Pregnancy · Birth Preparation · Postpartum
Pregnancy Acupuncture & Birth Preparation Melbourne
Your body was built for this.
Let's prepare it accordingly
From the first trimester through to the birth room and beyond. Comprehensive integrative support that nourishes mother and baby at every stage, preparing your body, baby, nervous system and pelvis for the extraordinary journey of pregnancy and birth.
Pregnancy Acupuncture Melbourne ✦
Labour Induction Treatment Melbourne ✦
Cycle Tracking & Fertility Awareness ✦
Egg Quality Optimisation ✦
Recurrent Miscarriage Support ✦
PCOS & Endometriosis ✦
Male Factor Infertility ✦
Chinese Herbal Medicine ✦
DUTCH Hormone Testing ✦
Specialist Collaboration ✦
Dr Amanda Waaldyk · Fertility Acupuncturist
The Dr Amanda Approach
One of life's most profound transformations.
Pregnancy is the beginning of one of life's great love stories and one of the most profound transformations a woman moves through.
Pregnancy acupuncture and Chinese medicine offer something that is rarely found in conventional maternity care: a genuine, whole-body intelligence that honours what your body already knows how to do.
The nine months of gestation bring with them a cocktail of hormones, identity shifts, and an intelligence far greater than we often give ourselves credit for.
Your body grows an entirely new organ to nourish your baby.
It resets your metabolism, prepares your breasts to nurse, buffers your growing child from stress.
This miracle deserves not just medical support, but physical, emotional, and energetic nourishment at every stage.
As a Doctor of Chinese Medicine with over twenty years of clinical experience in Melbourne, Dr Amanda Waaldyk works collaboratively alongside the city's leading obstetricians, midwives, and doulas.
Integrating the wisdom of Chinese medicine with modern obstetric understanding to provide care that meets you exactly where you are.
From your first positive HCG to the fourth trimester, this programme supports what conventional care often cannot: morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum, pelvic girdle pain, breech presentation, birth preparation, labour induction support, and postpartum recovery.
Because these experiences don't need to simply be endured — they can be met, supported, and moved through.
Each woman's birth journey is unique. We honour every choice made during this time. I will have to get you to make all the changes here please as mine have been lost
The Pregnancy & Birth Preparation Programme
From first heart beat to fourth trimester.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine offer a natural, evidence-based complement to maternity care honouring the body's wisdom while relieving what doesn't need to be simply endured. From your first positive HCG through to postpartum recovery, we support you at every stage.
Five Pillars of Pregnancy Care
Prepared at every stage of the journey.
Each phase of pregnancy brings different physical, emotional, and hormonal demands. Our approach is adapted specifically to where you are, never a one-size treatment, always deeply individual. Acupuncture is safe, effective and drug-free treatment throughout pregnancy and birth.
Trimester by Trimester
What acupuncture treats in each trimester.
Acupuncture offers a drug-free treatment option throughout pregnancy that is safe and effective. A welcome alternative to medication for many pregnancy symptoms that are too often dismissed as something to simply endure.
- Nausea & morning sickness (including hyperemesis gravidarum)
- Extreme fatigue & energy depletion
- Threatened miscarriage & implantation support
- Anxiety, overwhelm & mood instability
- IVF & ART pregnancy continuation
- Headaches & breast tenderness
- Pelvic girdle pain acupuncture & symphysis pubis dysfunction.
- Lower back & sciatic pain
- Heartburn & reflux
- Insomnia & sleep disruption
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Gestational diabetes & blood pressure support
- Pre-birth cervical ripening protocol
- Optimal baby positioning (including breech)
- Pelvic & nervous system preparation
- Anxiety & birth fear (tokophobia)
- Insomnia & oedema
- Birth readiness assessment
- 3rd Trimester Acupuncture Breech Baby
Conditions Pregnancy Acupuncture Treats
What you're experiencing doesn't need to be normalised.
Many pregnancy symptoms are dismissed as simply part of the experience. Chinese medicine offers effective, evidence-based treatment for a wide range of presentations, because your comfort and wellbeing matter throughout this journey.
Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Pelvic Girdle Pain
Gestational Anxiety
Breech Presentation
Pregnancy Insomnia
Threatened Miscarriage
Carpal Tunnel
Gestational Heartburn
Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Pelvic Girdle Pain
Gestational Anxiety
Breech Presentation
Pregnancy Insomnia
Threatened Miscarriage
Carpal Tunnel
Gestational Heartburn
A 2024 meta-analysis of 21 randomised controlled trials found acupuncture and moxibustion significantly reduced nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, with no serious adverse effects reported across all included studies.— Hu Y. et al., Heliyon, 2024
Heliyon. 2024 Jan 11;10(2):e24439. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24439
Pre-Birth Acupuncture Treatment Protocol
The body already knows. We prepare the path.
Pre-birth acupuncture is one of the most evidence-supported applications of Chinese medicine in pregnancy. A structured protocol of four weekly treatments from Week 36 to 40 that prepares the body, pelvis, and nervous system for the work of birth. Research suggests women who receive pre-birth acupuncture experience shorter labours, higher rates of spontaneous onset, and reduced rates of medical intervention. This isn't magic, it's preparing what was already ready to begin.
Whether journeying into fertility solo or with a partner everyone is welcome here. Telehealth consultations are available for interstate and international patients.
- Cervical ripening and softening
- Pelvic floor and sacral release
- Optimal baby positioning encouraged
- Nervous system calming and birth confidence
- Oxytocin and prostaglandin pathway support
- Personalised birth plan review and preparation
PRE BIRTH ACUPUNCTURE PROTOCOL -Weeks 35-40
When your body and baby need a gentle push.
Labour Induction Acupuncture Melbourne (From Week 40)
Labour Induction acupuncture is available from Week 40. Offering a gentle, evidence-informed way to encourage your body to begin labour spontaneously. It works by activating the same hormonal and neurological pathways that govern natural labour onset, without intervention.
The Fourth Trimester
Postpartum Acupuncture & Fourth Trimester Recovery. The birth of a mother deserves as much care.
In Chinese medicine, the postpartum period is considered one of the most pivotal windows of a woman's life. What happens in the first 40 days shapes hormonal health, emotional resilience, and physical vitality for years to come. I treat this time with the gravity it deserves.
Physical Recovery
Lactation & Feeding Support
Postnatal Depletion
Mood & Emotional Support
Hormonal Restoration
Return to Vitality
Physical Recovery
Lactation & Feeding Support
Postnatal Depletion
Mood & Emotional Support
Hormonal Restoration
Return to Vitality
Dr Amanda · Angea Women's Health & Yoga
Over two decade's supporting modern families.
This pregnancy programme integrates the best of Chinese medicine wisdom with modern obstetric care. Working collaboratively alongside Melbourne's leading obstetricians, midwives, and doulas. Whether you're birthing with a midwife, OB, doula, or all three, we are a complement to your entire birth team.
We love that modern families come in beautiful and unique forms. Whether you're navigating pregnancy solo, with a partner, as a same-sex couple, through surrogacy, or via IVF, you are welcome here, exactly as you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to our most common questions below.
Yes. Pregnancy acupuncture is safe when performed by a qualified practitioner with specific training in obstetric acupuncture. Dr Amanda Waaldyk is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine (DCM) with over twenty years of clinical experience in women's health. Certain acupuncture points are specifically avoided during pregnancy — particularly in the first trimester — and every treatment is adapted to your stage of pregnancy, your health history, and your baby's development. Acupuncture is an evidence-based, drug-free complement to conventional maternity care.
The frequency varies by trimester. In the first trimester (Weeks 1–13), weekly treatment provides the strongest support for development, nausea, fatigue, and threatened miscarriage. In the second trimester (Weeks 14–34), monthly maintenance is generally sufficient as the pregnancy stabilises. From Week 35, weekly pre-birth treatment prepares the pelvis, cervix, and nervous system for birth. From Week 40, labour induction acupuncture can be offered as needed.
Yes — this is one of the most clinically supported applications of acupuncture in pregnancy. Treatment targets specific points known to regulate the nausea reflex and support digestive function. For hyperemesis gravidarum (severe vomiting beyond typical morning sickness), acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine and dietary guidance can significantly reduce severity and frequency of symptoms, often providing relief where medication has been inadequate.
Labour induction acupuncture works by stimulating the body's own hormonal and neurological pathways for labour onset. Specific acupuncture points activate natural oxytocin production (the primary contraction hormone), support cervical ripening via prostaglandin pathways, encourage baby's descent and positioning in the pelvis, and regulate the parasympathetic nervous system — which must be in a state of calm for labour to begin. It is not a medical induction. It is a gentle invitation to a body that is already ready.
Yes. Moxibustion (the burning of dried mugwort herb near specific acupuncture points) combined with acupuncture is an evidence-informed technique for encouraging optimal fetal positioning, including breech presentation. Treatment is typically offered from Week 32, when the baby still has room to turn. Research has demonstrated higher rates of spontaneous version in women who receive moxibustion compared to those who do not. Dr Amanda offers breech protocols as part of the third-trimester pregnancy programme.
Telehealth consultations are available for interstate and international patients. While acupuncture itself requires in-person treatment, telehealth appointments are available for initial consultations, Chinese medicine assessments, herbal prescriptions, dietary and lifestyle guidance, birth preparation coaching, and postpartum support. Book a telehealth appointment via the online booking system.
Explain: hormonal regulation, pain relief, nervous system regulation, positioning — all the mechanisms.