My Labour and Birth Playlist: What Got Me Through Birth

You’re probably here to see what this “best labour and birth playlist” is — and I regret to inform you that the best playlist is one only you can create.

So, stop right here, and think what are the songs that have those hhhaaaa feeling.

Today, 31st of May 2025 — five years later — I finally found my birth playlist, I thought I had lost it forever, but for some reason, I don't know exactly how it happened but I was able to find it!

I hear and see a lot of people sharing their favourite birth hacks — “the best this,” “the best that” — and music is no different. Some people love rhythmic songs, while others prefer mantras or meditations (these are probably the most common and trendy choices), and others might go for something a bit heavier.

But as I said at the beginning, there’s no such thing as the best or the worst.

I’ll stop rambling and just give you my two cents on how to create your own birth playlist.

I love music, and for me it had to be something that transported me to places full of love and good memories. Songs that, the moment I heard them, would transport me right back to those moments — those sensory memories with smells, tastes, and deep feelings. I could feel it in my whole body, songs that sparked little explosions of oxytocin, my body was full of love.

Some people are more sensitive than others when it comes to sounds and music.

I remember arriving in the birth room at the Royal Maternity in Belfast in May 2020, the radio was on and was playing something like Cool FM or Blast FM. It was just background pop music I didn’t connect with, and it was creating like a barrier for me. I couldn’t fully relax or dive into the experience of giving birth, it was almost something that was pulling me out of the birthland dimension.

I had already pushed once or twice, but something was holding me back, almost like there was a puzzle piece that was out of place (believe me, sometimes thie puzzle piece is a sound, a smell...). Then I asked my partner to change the music — and wow, what a shift. The moment he changed it, I felt that rush of love and calm again. I felt held. Safe. Like I was home. - Even though it was a bright sunny day, in a very white room with four midwives (I think the midwives from admission were still popping in and out to pass notes), my body knew: this baby is coming out now - It is time! (Imagine this with Rafiki's voice when he is telling Simba)

And it was!

I remember the moment the music changed — and my baby was born.

As I said, my list is my list. Most of these songs probably won’t mean anything to you — but I’m sharing them anyway, just so you can see what helped me and that they are completely different and each of them are from a part and time in my life.

These are the few songs I remembered the most

especially from being here at home — while my poor mother-in-law was panicking, thinking I was freebirthing at home...

Everyone’s soundtrack is different. What was yours? I’d love to know which songs made your birth feel more like you. Ânia 🧡