diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 44a8323..cf0f2d2 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -62,12 +62,10 @@ def compose_up(compose, args):
   images             List images
   kill               Kill containers
   logs               View output from containers
-  pause              Pause services
   port               Print the public port for a port binding
   ps                 List containers
   rm                 Remove stopped containers
   run                Run a one-off command
   scale              Set number of containers for a service
   top                Display the running processes
-  unpause            Unpause services
 ```
diff --git a/podman_compose.py b/podman_compose.py
index fe92165..baf96fe 100755
--- a/podman_compose.py
+++ b/podman_compose.py
@@ -2344,6 +2344,18 @@ def compose_port(compose, args):
             print(published)
             return
 
+@cmd_run(podman_compose, 'pause', 'Pause all running containers')
+def compose_pause(compose, args):
+    containers = list(reversed(compose.containers))
+    for container in containers:
+        compose.podman.run(['pause'], container['name'])
+
+@cmd_run(podman_compose, 'unpause', 'Unpause all running containers')
+def compose_pause(compose, args):
+    containers = list(reversed(compose.containers))
+    for container in containers:
+        compose.podman.run(['unpause'], container['name'])
+
 
 ###################
 # command arguments parsing