More and more women are turning to alternative therapies like acupuncture during pregnancy, reports mum-to-be LUCY STEPHENS.

LOOKING after yourself becomes a top priority when your body goes through the incredible journey of pregnancy.

Current NHS guidelines contain a whole raft of new instructions for the mum-to-be: lists of foods it is not advisable to eat; new exercises to consider; ways of looking after your body for the challenge ahead.

Among the recommendations is some general advice to avoid taking medicines if possible.

Because of that, many women opt for "alternative" therapies to help them cope with any problems they might be experiencing - from nausea to heartburn.

Dr David Fair, of Jorvik Medical Practice - who admits he is not a fan of alternative therapies - says: "Many of the conventional options are unavailable during pregnancy, so at least it leaves the alternatives treatments open.

"Most of them are harmless and available to pregnant ladies."

Alison Gould, clinical director at the Northern College of Acupuncture on Micklegate, says the ancient needle technique can offer real help with a wide variety of pregnancy symptoms - from helping women with fertility to providing pain relief during labour itself.

Between 15 and 20 per cent of her current clients are women who are either pregnant or who want help conceiving - and she says acupuncture can count some real successes in this area where other treatments like IVF have failed.

So why is acupuncture so effective for pregnancy? "Because its basic mechanism is about rebalancing anything that's out of kilter," says Alison.

"It's making everything more effective and getting the best out of your body.

"It's very nurturing and supportive for pregnancy and women during those months.

"It's gentle and the side effects are positive. You can go for acupuncture just to have your pregnancy go better.

"I think for the people who come in who haven't had acupuncture before, probably the biggest trigger is the nausea."

Among the things acupuncture can be useful for, says Alison, is helping women in labour to have shorter, more effective contractions, and even helping to turn breech babies.

She has also experienced success helping women who have experienced miscarriages in the past during the vulnerable early months of pregnancy.

Seven months pregnant myself, I have tried to avoid medicines as much as possible which has made life difficult when it comes to the plague of the summer months from which I suffer: hayfever.

So I decided to go along to the Northern College of Acupunture to try the treatment out of myself.

I was keen for the experience, and was also interested to know whether it might help alleviate my own hayfever symptoms.

An acupuncturist started by taking down some medical history, before checking my tongue and my pulse.

Needles were then placed at various points around my body, including my face and elbows.

Having an acupuncture needle pierced into your body is a strange sensation: I found I didn't feel the needle so much as a strange ache under my skin - which was stronger in some places than others.

I was warned that I might feel heavy and lethargic for the rest of the day because of the power of the treatment.

I found that to be true: I felt extremely relaxed and tired afterwards, and slept very deeply that night.

* The Northern College of Acupuncture is open to the public five days a week.

You can book an appointment by phoning 01904 343305, or just drop in.