Is hypnobirthing worth doing?

[elm26]

After a loooong pregnancy of Hyperemesis, covid, growth scans etc after 13 miscarriages, I have finally accepted that I will be giving birth within the next 3 weeks 🥳

I've been quite disassociated and going through the motions as such, as it's been so hard for me to believe that I may be lucky enough to bring home a much wanted and loved baby.

I've suddenly had a panic that I'm 3 weeks away at most (being induced on 19th) and I've done no hypnobirthing. I have done the baby care and first aid, the labour course (taught different stages of labour by a midwife, what can help such as keeping oxytocin as high as poss etc).

Is it worth doing a hypnobirthing course? Shall I pay for it or are the ones on YouTube good enough? Help!

Did it twice, was completely pointless and actively detrimental - the culture and ethos was such that it left me feeling like it was my fault I wound up with an emergency section. Did absolutely nothing for the pain.

I so so so wish I had done it. It would've hugely helped me if I had practiced breathing techniques and had a positive affirmation to repeat to myself during labour.

It was worth it for me. I went to in person sessions for my first and practiced every night throughout my pregnancies. Let's be realistic, birth was still painful, but I remained calm and both times I managed without pain killers.

I would say it was more successful the first time as it was a longer birth. The second was a bit quick and I didn't have the time to get into it as much.

I would say it's too late, but you might want to download some calming music and try out some breathing exercises. Worth a try!

It actually didn't help me that much I'm afraid to say! I had a large baby at an awkward angle and frankly affirmations just weren't going to cut it when I was in a lot of pain when I reached the hospital! Great pain relief (pethadine and then gas and air), knowing my choices and building a rapport with the midwives through humour (largely thanks to DH) ended up being what helped me to have a positive birth experience - the hypnobirthing stuff went out of the window on the day! The pain ended up being totally manageable with the pain relief I had, and having people in the room keeping things positive and jokey helped me too, although that might drive you mad depending on personality.
To be honest I found some of it a bit woo-woo and I didn't like the way it looked down on interventions and encouraged you to doubt/second guess your midwives.

You still have time to make a lovely birthing playlist though. Mine really helped me.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and I hope everything goes really well for you 💐 not long til you meet your little one!

Not helpful.

OP, I left it until about 2 weeks before due date to investigate hypnobirthing. The breathing techniques were most useful for me and I really did use them all the way up until the push part. I listened to Hypnobirtjing by Siobhan Miller as an audiobook, a chapter a night, usually with my partner. You've got nothing to lose by at least learning the breathing techniques! I had my baby 5 months ago, I still use the breathing when I'm doing a poo so I don't strain. Good luck- you'll be great- your body was made to do this!

I did Kathryn Graves and would recommend it. Think of it like meditation: practice and you get better at it but there’s no perfection. What it can really help with is keeping calm through pain, which reduces pain. I definitely felt at one point that I could fall into a chasm of panic, and the hypnosis techniques i and my husband had learnt helped me not do that. Chronic pain sufferers can find self hypnosis useful, too.
Good luck x

It doesn’t have to be your only pain relief - I use it still at the dentist and I’m not going without the anaesthetic there! I didn’t need other pain relief but that was my births: if I had needed it I think I would still have found the calming techniques helpful.

I use it still at the dentist

And for all horrible medical things - should be marketed for that!

It is incredibly useful to be able to mitigate/reduce (not stop entirely) the stress response.

I found that it helped until it didn't (for me both times at transition - a stage that was very much skipped over in my hypnobirthing classes - it really started to break down for me), which still meant it was worth doing. I use the techniques quite a lot now for minor pain/to keep myself calm.

I know people who really resent hypnobirthing as they felt it set them up with an unrealistic idea of birth and that then made them feel like failures. I didn't feel like that was the case with my own course, which was run by midwives at my local hospital, but it is something to think about and look at if you are thinking of purchasing something as some courses are much more anti-intervention than others.

One final warning - I do think that it's one of the reasons why no one would examine me until I was near crowning with my first, which was an awful experience (I came really close to giving birth in a public triage ward). I was actually told 'you'll know when you need to push - you won't be this calm'! So if it does work well for you then remember to up the fuss a bit if needed...

Yes and I’ve used it for pain management in later life too

My first birth was nothing like I wanted, very medicalised and was just generally horrid so for my second I really wanted to avoid that!
I did the hypnobirthing online and, whilst I didn't buy into a lot of the imagery and music etc, the breathing techniques were certainly very helpful and my second was totally natural, even though I was still open to other pain relief options (just not diamorphine from my first). Labour still hurt, but the breathing got me through a lot of the worst of it by having something to focus on other than pain!
It also helped my husband to know a little about what I was doing so he could make sure to support it - and not interrupt when I was in my zone 😅

So in short - it helped me but definitely good to keep an open mind into other options as well :)

Good luck!

I used the Natal Hypnotherapy CDs (and had a session with an NH practitioner at home). Highly recommend it. I much preferred it to the American hypnobirthing resources which were available then (15 years ago!)
I think you would get something out of it if start straight away and have time for daily practice
Good luck!

Wasn't for me. But one little tip I got from a midwife was when I had a moment of "what on earth am I doing". She got me to take a few breaths look at the clock and to remind myself self this tim tomorrow I would be cuddling my baby. It kind of brought me back in to the now.

Labour is hard work but honestly gall and kidney stones were worse 😭. Best of luck with the arrival.

Congratulations!

I loosely followed a hypnobirthing programme, but for me, I was just grateful to consider the possibility of a different birth to the ones which we are constantly conditioned to fear. I spent lots of time considering the fact our bodies are designed to give birth, how I wanted to control my breathing and not panic etc. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t painless by any stretch of the imagination (literally 😂), but I believed in myself and I wanted a positive outcome, whilst always being aware that things may not go to plan. Good luck.

Thank you everyone so much for sharing your experiences, I think I will buy the audiobook and also watch some YouTube for breathing techniques.

In my OP, I meant that I'm being induced on 29th not 19th 🤦🏻‍♀️

Will keep you updated and let you know if it helped me!

I didn't do it, I did pregnancy yoga where they teach you how to breathe and what to do when stressed etc. it all went out tbr window when the time came

It didn’t do anything for me. (and I too had HG and a not particularly fun pregnancy) I read the book, did a class, did a class with DH….once I went in labor all plans went out of window and all I wanted was an epidural.

I did hypnobabies and found it really helpful for relaxation during the pregnancy. I also found some of the terminology helpful for preparing me what to expect. However, when I went into labour, I remember screaming at my husband to switch it off - I found it horribly distracting, and did better keeping focussed without it. So…yeah. I didn’t bother with my second.

I did the positive birth company hypnobirthing course. Found the breathing techniques helpful along with leaning about what your body is actually doing during a contraction. The affirmations I just found a bit cringe. I found it very anti medical intervention (which of course is sometimes necessary) so when I went 2 weeks overdue and had to be induced and then went on to need an EMCS, I did come away feeling like I'd failed somewhat.

Basically.... No amount of breathing and positive affirmations we're going to help me birth my baby vaginally. But I definitely recommend learning some breathing techniques. I'd also highly recommended a TENS machine which you can hire through some websites for about £25

I think a meditation app or track would work just as well. I found the meditation script the most helpful.

The biggest thing though is trust yourself and what your body is telling you. Be firm with everyone else around you about what you want, what you feel is happening and how you want to be most comfortable.

I regret being persuaded to ignore my own feelings about what what would be best for me and the baby during labour, in favour of people that I thought must know better than me. Get into the position that you need to get into, don't be persuaded to have any drugs you are not happy with, all that stuff.

You will instinctively know what to do, don't let that be overridden.

I just did the same sessions on Spotify for about the last month. I found it very helpful, but I had a 3hr labour, small baby and a tens machine. Would highly suggest renting one of those!

I wouldn't pay for a course. I found you needed to do lots of practise and 3 weeks probably isn't enough time. I'd probably look an an app and work on visualisation, deep breathing, meditation style techniques. Ita only one tool to use

I did a couple of sessions (in a fit of very out of character woo). I have to say I think it’s largely snake oil but if it helps people remain calmer for a bit longer it may be helpful at the margins.

But please don’t go into it thinking it will guarantee you a lovely pain free “natural” birth. It absolutely will not make the slightest bit of difference to this. And you risk feeling more traumatised and let down if you have a difficult labour.

I think hypnobirthing is a great tool but some companies that teach it give you unrealistic expectations as to what your body can achieve during labour.

I did the Positive Birth Company one when I was pregnant with my son. I watched all 8-ish hours of it and the main thing I retained was the breathing technique during contractions. In through your nose for a count of four, out through your mouth for a count of eight.

A lot of the other stuff in it wasn't all that useful, like for example when she talks about eating to keep your energy up, well I wasn't allowed anything but clear liquids. And staying upright and mobile, well, yes, great in theory. But my body wasn't ready to be induced, the syntocinon contractions got pretty painful, I ended up having an epidural and being continuously monitored, and let's just say it was difficult to put it into practice. I ended up having an emergency C-section anyway.

Next time round I had basically no time to prepare because I had a 21 month old at home and was working full time until 38 weeks. I didn't watch the videos again or even really read anything. In the end I went into labour spontaneously and did the breathing technique during each contraction for about 12 hours. It was useful to help me stay calm and take my mind off things. And I did manage to move around during early labour that time because I wasn't hooked up to anything. I could also have eaten if I'd wanted to, but I didn't. Then I had an epidural and just went with the flow. Baby came out quite easily.

I reckon the breathing exercises are useful, but the rest of it stressed me out more than anything because my labour just didn't go that way the first time. She also talks a lot about the cascade of interventions and how you should avoid any intervention because one thing leads to another etc. Well that didn't work for me because I was induced for reduced movement after having had five miscarriages and sorry but I wasn't going to argue with the doctor when my baby's safety might have been at stake.